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Chan Yunis: Destroyed houses in the Gaza Strip
Photo: Mohammed Dahman/dpa
According to a UN report, the economy in the Gaza Strip has been largely devastated by Israel's ongoing attacks since October last year. The gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 24 percent in 2023 as a whole compared to the previous year, reported the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) in Geneva.
The future prospects are bleak: If the fighting stops immediately, reconstruction begins immediately and the economy grows at the average rate from 2007 to 2022 - i.e. at around 0.4 percent per year - it would take until 2092 for the economy to get back to where it was from 2022, Unctad reported. According to these calculations, even with growth of ten percent per year, it would take until 2035 to reach the GDP per capita of 2006.
According to Unctad, unemployment was 79.3 percent in December. The densely populated area has become partly uninhabitable due to the extensive destruction and people have little chance of earning a living. For the future of the people there, it is important that the airport in the Gaza Strip is put back into operation, a port is built and the gas fields off the coast are developed.
The Gaza War was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, carried out by terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7, 2023 in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. As a result, more than 1,200 people were killed on the Israeli side, including at least 850 civilians. Israel responded with massive air strikes and, from the end of October last year, also with a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The UN Conference on Trade and Development was founded in Geneva. Within the United Nations, she is particularly committed to the interests of small and middle-income countries. It has 195 member countries.
czl/dpa