"Half of Gaza Homes Damaged by Israeli Airstrikes... Economic Regression to 16 Years Ago"

UNDP Briefing and Report Release
Gaza Employment Rate Down 61%, Poverty Population Up 20%

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) announced on the 9th (local time) that nearly half of the homes in the Palestinian Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed due to Israeli military airstrikes that have continued for a month. It also stated that Gaza's economy could regress to levels seen up to 16 years ago.

According to major foreign media including the US CNN, Abdullrah Aldarda, head of the UNDP Arab States Regional Bureau, expressed concern during a press briefing that "the difficulty Gaza faces is that 50% of the housing has been lost," adding, "In Syria, which is in a civil war, it took four years for housing damage to reach this level, but in Gaza, it took only one month." He also predicted that the humanitarian crisis would continue for a long time after the war, making reconstruction difficult.

In a separate report released the same day, UNDP analyzed that the economies of the Palestinian Gaza Strip and the West Bank would regress to levels seen at least 11 to 16 years ago due to this war.

Gaza health authorities claim that over 10,700 Palestinians have lost their lives due to Israeli military attacks. The number of displaced persons is estimated at around 1.5 million, which corresponds to two-thirds of Gaza's total population (estimated at 2.3 million). As a result, Gaza's employment rate has dropped by 61%. The employment rate in the West Bank, governed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and not directly affected, also fell by 24%. The number of people living in poverty in Gaza and the West Bank increased by 300,000, recording an increase rate close to 20%.

The UNDP report estimated that considering these circumstances, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Gaza and the West Bank this year would decrease by about 4.2% ($857 million, approximately 1.1 trillion KRW) compared to the previous year. It warned that if the war continues for another month, the GDP decline rate would steepen to 8.4% ($1.7 billion, approximately 2.2 trillion KRW).

The Palestinian armed faction Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on the Jewish Sabbath on the 7th of last month, killing over 1,400 civilians, soldiers, and foreigners, and abducting more than 230 people to Gaza as hostages. Israel began a full blockade of Gaza and airstrikes on the 9th of the same month, and from the 27th, deployed ground forces, surrounding the central city of Gaza City to pressure Hamas.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

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