UNDP says Gaza development knocked backed to 1955 by war

The war in Gaza has set Gaza’s quality of life back 70 years, the UN’s development agency said on October 22nd according to the Arab News via Reuters.

The UNDP’s Chitose Noguchi says a study on the war shows that the Palestinian territories’ economy is 35% smaller than it was before the war began, while by some measures the poverty rate in Gaza is approaching 100%, with unemployment already at 80%.

“The state of Palestine is experiencing unprecedented levels of setbacks,” she told a UN press conference in Geneva, calling from Deir Al-Balah. “For Gaza, reversing development by an estimated 70 years to 1955.”

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She added even under optimal conditions it would take at least a decade for economic output to get back to pre-war levels.

The reported said some 3.3 million Palestinians, 2.3 million of them in Gaza and 1.5 million of them children, need urgent humanitarian assistance. The cost of repairing the damage is expected to run to $18.5 billion, which almost matches the Palestinian territories’ entire economic output in 2022.

The war has also taken a toll on human capital, with the report stating that 625,000 students in Gaza had no access to education at the end of September and that 93% of school buildings had been severely damaged.

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There have also been huge detrimental affairs to health care, with 986 health workers killed by the end of September, and less than half of primary health care centres even partially functional.

The war, which began last October, has killed almost 43,000 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Reuters