Human development goes back more than 40 years in Gaza and 30 years in the State of Palestine

As the war in Gaza approaches its seventh month, The poverty rate in the State of Palestine continues to increase and now reaches 58.4% of the populationwarns this Thursday a joint report from the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

The study details that the war that began on October 7 of last year has pushed 1.74 million more people into poverty, while the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell 26.9%, or $7.1 billion compared to the 2023 level before the war began.

The regional director of the UNDP Office for Arab States, Abdallah Al Dardari, specified in a press conference from Jordan that the Human Development Index, the measure of well-being monitored by that UN agency, It has gone back 30 years in Palestine and more than 40 years in Gaza.

The reconstruction of Gaza would cost between 40,000 and 50,000 million dollars

“We are almost back in the 1980s in Gaza. This means that all investments in human development in the Palestinian territories in the last 20 years and in Gaza in the last 40 have been devastated. (…) We are talking about that all the advances in years of schooling, educational achievements, health and life expectancy, as well as the level of GDP per capita have returned to the decade of the 1980s”, he stressed, estimating these losses at 50,000 million dollars.

And the most dangerous thing, Al Dardari emphasized, will be the long-lasting impact of the conflagration unless we quickly establish temporary schools, temporary health facilities, psychosocial support to the population and restore the provision of basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity.

“An early three-year support program for Palestinians to have temporary shelters in their original communities would cost $2 billion to $3 billion. The Complete reconstruction of Gaza would cost at least $40 billion to $50 billion.“Al Dardari added.

A ceasefire is urgently needed

Introducing the publication, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner noted that the unprecedented levels of human loss, destruction of capital and sharp rise in poverty in such a short period “will precipitate a serious development crisis that will endanger the future of coming generations” in Palestine.

In this sense, the report once again highlights the urgent need for a ceasefire and the urgency of working hard and sustainably to resolve the humanitarian crisis and rebuild the Palestinian economy and infrastructure.

Steiner stated that every day that this war drags on generates enormous and aggravating costs for Gazans and all Palestinians, now and in the medium and long term.

The suffering in Gaza will not end with the war

“These figures warn that the suffering in Gaza will not end when the war ends,” stressed the UNDP official.

The study projections indicate that If the war continued for up to nine months, poverty in Palestine would reach 60.7%, more than double the pre-war rate, while GDP would contract by 29%.

For its part, the unemployment rate in the occupied Palestinian territories is 46.1%, compared to 25.7% before the war. If the war extends to nine months, unemployment would rise to 47.8%.

Unprecedented destruction

ESCWA Executive Secretary Rola Dashti highlighted that unlike previous wars, the current destruction in Gaza is unprecedented in scope and scale and that, added to the loss of homes, livelihoods, natural resources, infrastructure and institutional capacities, “can have profound and systemic impacts in the coming decades.”

Furthermore, he warned that, according to the new evaluation, “Gaza will become totally dependent on foreign assistance at a level not seen since 1948.”since it will be left without a functional economy, nor any means of production, self-sufficiency, employment or capacity for trade.

The report states that As of April 12, at least 5% of Gaza’s population had been killed or injuredoften seriously, the reported missing numbered 7,000, while 500 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank.

Today’s report complements the results of the Joint Interim Damage Assessment recently published by the world Bank and the UN, according to which the direct damage inflicted on the infrastructure built in Gaza in January 2024 amounts to 18.5 billion dollars, equivalent to 97% of the total GDP of the State of Palestine in 2022.