Two-Thirds Of Jobs In Gaza Have Been Destroyed By The War

At least 66 percent of jobs have been lost in Gaza since the Israeli-Hamas conflict erupted in October, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday. The ILO warned that job losses could continue to rise in the enclave.

The losses totaled 192,000 jobs in the tiny Palestinian territory, the ILO said in its second assessment of the impact of Israeli ground and air strikes on Gaza, which began after a deadly cross-border incursion by Hamas militants on October 7.

In the first assessment, published in early November, the ILO estimated that 182,000 jobs had been lost in Gaza. The number is over 60% of employment.

"Today, hardly anyone in Gaza can earn an income from work," said Peter Rademaker, the ILO's deputy regional director for the Arab states. "It's obviously still an upward curve," he said of job losses. "It could even get worse."

Jobs are also being lost on a large scale in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where the UN has recorded a surge in violence against Palestinians since the conflict broke out. The ILO estimated that around 32% of jobs have been lost since October 7, which equates to 276,000 jobs.

Even before the war and the tightening of Israel's economic blockade of the Gaza Strip, about half of the 2.3 million people in the narrow coastal enclave lived below the poverty line.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!