Israeli bombardment and ground operations in the area have been going on for almost seven months now.
“Every additional day that this war continues is a huge loss for the people of Gaza and all Palestinians,” said Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
A new report by the UNDP and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia states that at least 370 thousand homes in the Gaza Strip were damaged, and 79 thousand – to completely destroy.
The UN agency also stated that the reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza Strip will cost about 30-40 billion dollars. dollars (28-37.4 billion euros) and will require efforts on a scale the world has not seen since World War II.
The report details how Israel’s offensive, which began after an October 7 attack by the Islamist group Hamas, has devastated the economy of the Palestinian territories and how the impact will increase as the war continues.
After previous conflicts between Israel and Hamas, housing was rebuilt at the rate of 992 buildings per year.
The report says that even if Israel were to allow five times more construction materials to enter the Gaza Strip, it would take until 2040 to rebuild the destroyed homes without repairing the damaged homes.
Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip brought the economy to a virtual standstill, shrinking by 81 percent in the last quarter of 2023.
The report said the “manufacturing base of the economy has been destroyed”, with various sectors suffering more than 90% losses. losses.
Since Hamas took power in 2007, the Gaza Strip, home to about 2.3 million people, has of the Palestinians, Israel and Egypt impose a blockade, strictly controlling who enters and leaves the territory.
Even before the war, the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip was 45 percent, and among younger workers it was almost 63 percent. When the war started, about 201 thousand people were lost in the territory. job places.
The war has also affected the West Bank, where Israel has imposed restrictions on movement for months. In 2024, the total economy of the Palestinian territories has shrunk by 25.8 percent so far. If the war continues, it will have shrunk by 29 percent by July, or $7.6 billion. dollars (7.09 billion euros), the report said.
