ZURICH: Unemployment in Gaza has soared to nearly 80 percent since the Israel-Hamas war erupted, with the devastated enclave’s economy in almost total collapse, the International Labour Organization said on Thursday.
Economic output has shrunk by 85 percent since the conflict with Israel began a year ago, plunging almost the entire 2.3 million population into poverty, the United Nations agency said.
The conflict has caused “unprecedented and wide-ranging devastation on the labor market and the wider economy across the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the ILO said, referring to Gaza and the West Bank.
In the West Bank, the unemployment rate averaged 34.9 percent between October 2023 and the end of September 2024, while its economy has contracted by 21.7 percent compared with the previous 12 months, the ILO said.
Before the crisis, the unemployment rate in Gaza was 45.3 percent and 14 percent in the West Bank, according to the Geneva-based organization.
Gazans either lost their jobs entirely or picked up informal and irregular work “primarily centered on the provision of essential goods and services,” the ILO said.
Israel launched its offensive after Hamas-led gunmen attacked on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s campaign in response has killed more than 42,000 people, according to Gaza’s health authorities. Two-thirds of Gaza’s pre-war structures — over 163,000 buildings — have been damaged or flattened, according to UN satellite data.
Israel says its operations are aimed at rooting out Hamas militants hiding in tunnels and among Gaza’s civilian population. The crisis has spilled into the West Bank, where Israeli barriers to movement of persons and goods, coupled with broader trade restrictions and supply-chain disruptions, have severely impacted the economy, the ILO said.
Israel says its actions in the West Bank have been necessary to counter Iranian-backed militant groups and to prevent harm to Israeli civilians.
“The impact of the war in the Gaza Strip has taken a toll far beyond loss of life, desperate humanitarian conditions and physical destruction,” said ILO regional director for Arab states Ruba Jaradat.
“It has fundamentally altered the socio-economic landscape of Gaza, while also severely impacting the West Bank’s economy and labor market. The impact will be felt for generations to come.”
Gaza unemployment surges to 80% as economy collapses, UN agency says
https://arab.news/gfsqb
Gaza unemployment surges to 80% as economy collapses, UN agency says
- Economic output in Gaza shrank by 85 percent, plunging 2.3 million into poverty
- West Bank unemployment averaged 34.9 percent, economy contracted by 21.7 percent
Kurdish rebels say ready to resist Iran
- Tehran has repeatedly accused the ‘terrorists’ of serving Israeli interests
PENJWEN: From their hideouts in the Iraqi mountains near Iran, leftist Kurdish rebels say they are ready to fight Iran, but hope for an uprising before they intervene, with or without US support.
After saying that he would be “all for” a Kurdish offensive on Iran, US President Donald Trump appeared to backtrack Saturday, saying he did not want such an attack.
Senior commander Roken Nerada of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, or PJAK, said: “If there is an attack on the Kurdish people ... then with every means ... we are ready to resist as we always have.”
“I think we can achieve our rights without the help of the US or any other country,” said Nerada, 39, who joined the rebels 17 years ago.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Iran has designated Kurdish rebels as terrorists, and many have previously fought its security forces in areas along the border.
• Just before the war, PJAK joined a coalition of Kurdish rebel parties seeking to overthrow the Iranian government and secure self-determination.
Like other Iranian Kurdish rebel groups, PJAK has bases in the mountains of Iraq’s northern autonomous Kurdistan region, but it also maintains hideouts in majority-Kurdish areas inside Iran.
Iran has designated Kurdish rebels as terrorist organizations, and many have previously fought its security forces in Kurdish-majority areas along the border.
But in recent years, under political pressure mostly from their Iraqi hosts, they have largely refrained from armed activity — raising questions about their current capacity to lead an armed offensive against Iran.
Since the Middle East war began late last month with a wave of US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Tehran has repeatedly struck Kurdish militants’ positions in Iraq, accusing them of serving Western or Israeli interests.
Just before the war, and after anti-government protests in Iran, PJAK joined a coalition of Kurdish rebel parties seeking to overthrow the Iranian government and secure self-determination.
“We are ready to fight, especially after what they did 50 days ago,” PJAK fighter Shwan said, referring to the crackdown on the protests in Iran that left thousands dead.
Amid reports that rebels might collaborate with the US, Tehran threatened to target “all facilities” in Iraq’s Kurdistan if Kurdish militants cross the border.
But on Saturday, Trump said “we’re not looking to the Kurds going in.”
“We don’t want to make the war any more complex than it already is,” he added.
Amir Karimi, another commander in PJAK, said last week that the “Americans are already in the area, and we have had a dialogue.”
It was “a political exchange ... to get to know each other,” Karimi said, adding that “a ground attack is not on the table at this stage.”
“From a strategic and tactical point of view, we believe it wouldn’t be a good idea,” he added, warning that Iranian forces have reinforced the borders.
“The Kurds will need guarantees to secure a democratic Iran,” he said.
