Unemployment in Gaza is dire: ILO
Last Updated on June 8, 2024 10:33 am
Unemployment in the Palestinian Gaza Strip has soared to nearly 80 percent since the start of war between occupying Israel and the pro-independence armed group Hamas. Which means, about eight out of every 10 Palestinians living in Gaza are unemployed. In addition, the average unemployment rate in the occupied Palestinian territories is over 50 percent.
This information has emerged in a report of the United Nations Labor Organization ILO published on Friday (June 7), according to the news agency Reuters.
According to the ILO report, the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip is now 79.1 percent. The unemployment rate in the West Bank is about 32 percent. The average unemployment rate in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is over 50.8 percent.
Ruba Jaradat, ILO’s regional director for the Arab region, said the situation had worsened. Just think, so many people are unemployed, they cannot provide food for themselves and their families. This will also have a negative impact on their health. Even if people have money, there are no hospitals that can handle the catastrophic situation there.
On October 7, Hamas entered southern Israel and carried out an unprecedented attack, killing 1,200 Israelis and capturing about 250 Israelis and foreign citizens in Gaza. Israel has been indiscriminately bombing Gaza since the same day it declared war on Hamas. Already, more than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks in this small valley. Most of them are women and children.