Gaza's economy has been in tatters for months, now having shrunk to less than a sixth of its 2022 level, while violence and trade restrictions are fueling a massive surge in poverty and unemployment in the West Bank, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warned in its report released Thursday.
The report highlighted the staggering scale of economic devastation and unprecedented decline in economic activity, far surpassing the impact of all previous military confrontations in 2008, 2012, 2014, and 2021. Inflationary pressures combined with soaring unemployment and collapsing incomes have severely impoverished Palestinian households.
Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD Pedro Manuel Moreno said at a press briefing in Geneva on Thursday that the economy in Gaza is in free fall. Up to 96 percent of the war-torn enclave's agricultural assets and 82 percent of all its businesses have been destroyed, according to UNCTAD's latest report.
Gaza's GDP has dropped by an alarming 82 percent in the last quarter of 2023 alone. This has led to a 22 percent contraction in GDP for the entire year, Moreno said.
Commerce has also taken a major downturn in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where settlement expansions, violence and the demolition of buildings have led to businesses halting operations and skyrocketing unemployment levels, according to the report.
A total of 306,000 jobs have been lost in the West Bank, pushing the territory's unemployment rates from 12.9 percent before the conflict to 32 percent.
The situation in Gaza is particularly dire, with two-thirds of pre-war jobs lost by January 2024, the report said.
UNCTAD stressed in the report that prolonged occupation is a primary economic obstacle to sustainable development due to ongoing restrictions on investment, labor mobility, and trade.
In addition to the damage caused by the conflict, the decline of international aid and Israel's continued withholding of tax revenue for the Palestinians have worsened the Palestinian economic situation.
"The report calls for the international community to halt this economic free fall, address the humanitarian crisis, and lay the ground work for lasting peace and development. This includes considering a comprehensive recovering plan for the occupied Palestinian territory, increased international aid and support, release of withheld revenues and lifting the blockade on Gaza," Moreno said.
Economic crisis worsens in occupied Palestinian territories: UN report
Economic crisis worsens in occupied Palestinian territories: UN report
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in downtown Toronto, Canada's largest city, on Saturday, joining a global wave of protests to oppose Western military aid to Israel as its destructive offensive in the Gaza Strip approaches the one-year mark.
The protesters rallied at Yonge-Dundas Square, a public square at the intersection of Yonge Street and Dundas Street in downtown Toronto, expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people and calling on the international community to stop Israel's aggression against Lebanon.
The crowd then marched along Yonge, the city's busiest street, following a designated route around the downtown area.
Yara Shoufani, one of the protest's main organizers and an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, a transnational movement of young Palestinians in Palestine and worldwide, stressed that the United States and other Western nations have enabled Israel's actions in Gaza, urging the international community to speak for the Palestinian people at the United Nations and speak out against the ongoing military support for Israel.
"This protest is joining over 30 protests across the world on this day at this time that are standing with the people of Gaza. We're here today to mark one year of genocide against the people of Gaza, which has murdered over 189,000 Palestinians," said Shoufani, citing an estimate for excess deaths in the Gaza Strip that was put forth in a study published in the Lancet, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
"We're also here to mark our people's ongoing resistance to occupation and colonialism. Over the last year, Israel has committed massacres in Palestine which are funded and backed by the United States, Canada and other Western nations. So we're here to demand the Canadian government stop selling arms to Israel and to show our people in Gaza and in Lebanon who are now also facing attacks that we stand with them, that we will continue from all walks of life across Canada to stand with the people of Palestine and Lebanon in their struggle for freedom," the protest organizer added.
Other demonstrators echoed these sentiments, opposing the military support of Israel.
"This country is sending weapons to Israel for free, free of charge. The U.S. government is supporting this tyrannic regime of Netanyahu. The U.S. government supports Israel and sends them weapons. This is ethnic cleansing. Genocide was going on," said Lilia, a protester.
Left-wing groups, including Socialist Action Canada, also took part in the demonstration. Barry Weisleder, federal secretary of the group, urged the Canadian government and all political parties to respond to calls from the public.
"We're here to demand an end to this vile, anti-human genocide against the Palestinians not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank, and now the conflict has expanded into Lebanon. We think the Trudeau government should be ashamed that it has blood on its hands. Even though a resolution has passed in Parliament a few months ago, they continue to honor negotiated military deals that were made a year ago or before that. So we want those to end," said Weisleder.
Similar protests broke out across cities worldwide, including Paris, Rome, Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona and Cape Town. Demonstrators demanded an end to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, showing solidarity with Palestinians and condemning Western arms support for Israel.
The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip had risen to at least 41,825, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Saturday.
The statement said 96,900 others had been injured by Israeli attacks since the current round of the conflict broke out on October 7, 2023.
Pro-Palestinian protesters march in Toronto against Western arm supplies to Israel
