According to data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (source), the Gaza Strip’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell 86% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024 amid the Israeli war on the Palestinian territory. National Authority in Palestine).
(Read: US says Hamas ‘intransigence’ has slowed Gaza ceasefire plan).
In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian territory partially administered by the Palestinian Authority, GDP fell by 25% in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period a year earlier.
The most affected sector was construction, which declined by 99% in the Gaza Strip and 42% in the West Bank, where most of the buildable area is known as Area C –61% of the entire West Bank and under Israeli military control – and Palestinians rarely receive Israeli permission.
(See: Colombia announces welcome for Palestinian children injured in Gaza conflict).
The manufacturing sector was also hit hard, shrinking by 95% in Gaza and 29% in the West Bank.
In total, the dollar value of Gaza’s GDP in the first three months of the year was 92 million (about 86 million euros) and that of the occupied West Bank was 2,474 million (2,313 million euros).
Gaza EFE
GDP per capita in the Strip fell by 86%, while in the West Bank it shrank by 26% year-on-year. Earlier in the month, a joint report by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics warned that the war in Gaza had increased unemployment to 80% in the devastated Palestinian territory.
According to ILO projections, even if the war ends within two months, the unemployment rate in the Palestinian territories will reach 47.1% by 2024.
(Also: Colombia announces welcome to Palestinian children injured in conflict in Gaza).
This year’s fall in GDP will be 16.1% and per capita income will fall 18%, the worst economic figures for the West Bank and Gaza in two decades.
Amid a desperate humanitarian situation, and with key crossings within the region closed, the prices of the most basic food items in northern Gaza have reached prohibitive levels for the majority of the population.
According to local sources, a kilo of onions currently costs 70 dollars (about 65 euros) and a kilo of tomatoes costs about 50 dollars (over 46 euros).
(Also: Israel already controls the entire Gaza Strip with Egypt.)
A kilo of meat costs more than 100 dollars (93 euros), although it is currently impossible to find this ingredient. Food prices have been at unprecedented levels for at least three weeks and have not stopped growing with each passing day.
Meanwhile, more than 37,700 Gazans have died and thousands of bodies are buried under rubble in the besieged Palestinian enclave, where Israeli forces continue a ground incursion into the south while intensively shelling the north and the heartland of the region.
EFE
