UN report: Effects of Israeli’s aggression set back development in Gaza by nearly 69 years

The United Nations warns of the deterioration of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories in general, and not only in Gaza, stressing the need to take action to put an end to the comprehensive collapse witnessed by Palestinian society due to the Israeli war on Gaza and the occupation’s violations in the West Bank. A new assessment launched by the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) expects the poverty rate in the State of Palestine to rise to 74.3% in 2024, to include 4.1 million citizens, including 2.61 million new citizens joining the ranks of the poor. The gross domestic product is also estimated to shrink by 35.1% in 2024 compared to estimates in the absence of war, with the unemployment rate rising to 49.9%. The report pointed to the seriousness of the situation, one year after the war in Gaza. UN experts considered that the humanitarian crisis has reached a catastrophic level, with unprecedented human losses, widespread destruction, and severe food insecurity. The report added that the mass displacement and scarcity of safe places, in addition to Israeli restrictions on the delivery of aid, have exacerbated the crisis. The war has sharply exacerbated multidimensional poverty, with the State of Palestine’s multidimensional poverty index projected to rise sharply from 10.2% measured by a household survey in 2017 to an estimated 30.1% in 2024. The most affected dimensions, with all indicators deteriorating significantly, include housing conditions, access to services, and safety. Regarding the impact of the war in Gaza on the Palestinian people and the humanitarian situation, the report, supervised by the United Nations Development Programme, UN and international institutions and bodies, indicated that as of September 2024, approximately 3.3 million Palestinians (2.3 million in Gaza), including 1.5 million children, were in dire need of various forms of humanitarian assistance. Source: Palestine News and Inform ation Agency – WAFA