Israel-Hamas: Gaza’s quality of life has been knocked back to 1950s, UNDP says

The conflict between Israel and Hamas has devastated the Palestinian economy and left nearly all of Gaza’s population in poverty, knocking quality of life indicators back to the 1950’s, an expert from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said on Tuesday. “When we think of recovery in Gaza, it is not just about rebuilding some buildings — despite the huge scale of the mission. The issue is a complete re-development to regain some of what we have lost in this vicious war,” UNDP Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States Abdallah al Dardari said in Cairo. According to his study, the Palestinian economy lost 35.1 per cent of its total GDP in the last year. Referencing the declining health-care situation and increasing poverty, UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) governance leader Tarik Alami said Israel has destroyed more than 70 per cent of civilian infrastructure, “including homes, roads, hospitals, schools, water and sewage facilities.” Even under optimal conditions — with international aid remaining at current levels and flowing into Gaza and the West Bank unhindered — it would still take at least a decade for economic output to recover to pre-war levels, the study said. The cost of repairing damaged infrastructure was expected to run to $18.5 billion, which was almost the entire annual economic output of the Palestinian territories in 2022. The report also indicated some 3.3 million Palestinians — 2.3 million of them in Gaza and 1.5 million of them children — required urgent humanitarian assistance. For more info, please go to Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: Like Global News on Facebook HERE: Follow Global News on X HERE: Follow Global News on Instagram HERE: #GlobalNews #Gaza #Israel