By Emma Farge
GENEVA (Reuters) -The two-year Gaza war and economic restrictions in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have triggered the worst collapse in the Palestinian economy on record, wiping out decades of growth, a United Nations report said on Tuesday.
The Palestinian economy across the West Bank and Gaza contracted by 30% in 2024 compared with 2022 - the benchmark being used to measure the impact of the two-year Israel-Hamas war, the report by the U.N. Trade and Development agency (UNCTAD) said.
That is the steepest fall since data collection began in 1972, exceeding previous economic downturns during the many conflicts since then including the Second Intifada after the failure of peace talks in 2000, it said.
"What we see today is extremely worrying. The prolonged military operation, combined with long-standing restrictions, has pushed the economy of the occupied Palestinian territory into its deepest decline on record," UNCTAD Deputy Secretary General Pedro Manuel Moreno told reporters in Geneva.
RECOVERY IN GAZA EXPECTED TO TAKE DECADES
GDP per capita has returned to that of 2003, erasing 22 years of development progress, the report said, describing the crisis as among the 10 worst globally since 1960.
The scale of the damage in Gaza after the two-year war between Israel and Hamas means the enclave will be reliant on extensive international support for years to come, the report said.
"It will take decades for Gaza to produce more than it used to produce prior to the conflict and in order to recover fully. And that's, of course, if all conditions go in the right direction," said UNCTAD Economist Rami Al Azzeh at the same briefing.
A ceasefire deal took effect on October 10 in Gaza but Israeli airstrikes have continued, aid has been slow to arrive, conditions in Gaza remain dire, and an effective partition of the territory is seen as a risk under Trump's plan.
Per capita GDP in Gaza amounts to $161 a year or around 44 cents per person a day, Al Azzeh said, describing it as the lowest level anywhere in the world.
The West Bank is also suffering its most severe downturn on record, driven by movement and access restrictions and the loss of economic opportunities, the U.N. report said.
Worsening settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank was blocking farmers from accessing their crops and animals, said UNCTAD's Mutasim Elagraa.
"It is one of many factors that are definitely harming the Palestinian economy and aggravating economic problems," he said.
(Reporting by Emma FargeEditing by Ludwig Burger, Aidan Lewis)
