Poverty rate in Palestine Territories doubles amid Israel invasion, pulling Gaza development back to 1950s levels

The poverty rate across the Occupied Palestinian Territories is set to reach almost 75 per cent this year amid Israel’s ongoing bombardment and invasion of the Gaza Strip.

According to a new report by the United Nations’ Development Programme (UNDP), the Palestinian economy is currently 35 per cent smaller than it was at the start of Israel’s invasion a year ago, erasing over seven decades of progress and causing development levels in Gaza to collapse to the level of the 1950s.

At the end of 2023, the poverty rate throughout the Palestinian Territories had been 38.8 per cent, but the further 2.61 million Palestinians who have since fallen into poverty this year have brought the new total to 4.1 million, making the amount almost double to 74.3 per cent.

Achim Steiner, the head of the UNDP, stated that the “immediate consequence of the war, not just in physical infrastructure destruction, but also in terms of poverty, livelihoods and loss of livelihoods, is enormous”. He added that the “level of destruction has set back the State of Palestine by years, if not decades, in terms of its development pathway”.

Steiner acknowledged that, even if the bombardment halted and humanitarian aid is provided each year from now on, it would be over a decade at least before the economy returns to its levels prior to the Israeli invasion.“Projections in this new assessment confirm that amid the immediate suffering and horrific loss of life, a serious development crisis is also unfolding – one that jeopardises the future of Palestinians for generations to come,” he stated.

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