The report by the UN Development Programme released Tuesday has disclosed that the poverty rate across the Palestinian territories will almost double this year to 74.3 per cent after months of fighting in Gaza.
It was disclosed that the poverty rate in the country was at 38.8 per cent when the figures were taken at the end of 2023, but the new report has indicated the figures have shown that another 2.61 million Palestinians fell into poverty this year, bringing the total to 4.1 million.
Steiner noted that the socio-economic assessment, have shown that the level of destruction in the country have taken the country backward by years and decades. It was noted that the destruction have made the developmental stride of the country to go backwards on a steady.
He noted that if efforts are made for humanitarian aid to be delivered to the country, the recovery to the state it was before the crisis is in doubt for the next decade. He further noted that if the country wants to recover, there needs to be support from different areas to rebuild the capital areas that have been destroyed by the war going on in the country; he also suggested that there should be lifting of stiff economic conditions placed in the country.
The current war in Gaza started when Hamas unprecedently attacked Israel on October 7 last year, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
It was also disclosed that the Defence forces operation, which includes Israel’s bombing and ground offensives in Gaza, had killed 42,603 people, a majority of civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN considers reliable.
