The United Nations (UN) has reported that the level of housing destruction in Gaza due to Israel’s bombing and ground assaults has been unparalleled since World War II.
If the conflict ceased today, restoring the damaged homes would take until at least 2040.
The war, triggered by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, has caused social and economic damages to escalate exponentially.
The UN highlighted that the casualties in Gaza, amounting to 5% of its 2.3 million population, are exceptionally high over a short period, with over 33,000 Palestinians killed and more than 80,000 injured by mid-April, and about 7,000 missing, likely under rubble.
UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner noted that the ongoing conflict is incurring substantial and increasing costs to Gazans and all Palestinians.
A joint report by UNDP and the U.N. Economic Commission for Western Asia describes the severe conditions in Gaza, where the war has led to the loss of 201,000 jobs and an 81% economic contraction in the last quarter of 2023.
The regional director for Arab states at UNDP, Abdallah Al Dardari, stated during a U.N. press conference that the conflict has erased nearly $50 billion in investments and pushed 1.8 million Palestinians into poverty.
The blockade on Gaza by Israel and Egypt since Hamas’ takeover in 2007 has severely restricted inflows and outflows, exacerbating pre-war conditions of high unemployment.
The war has also significantly regressed Gaza’s standing on the U.N. Human Development Index by over 20 years.
