PBB: The Poverty Rate In Palestine Increases 2 Times To 74 Percent In 2024

Starvation is felt by Gazans, Palestinians but access to aid from other countries is closed by the Israeli military. (doc WHO via UN)

JAKARTA - The UN Development Program (UNDP) report states that the poverty rate in all parts of Palestine will almost double to 74.3 percent in 2024.

The skyrocketing poverty rate in Palestine has resulted from Israeli aggression against Gaza over the past year.

"Direct consequences of war, not only in the form of physical infrastructure damage, but also in terms of poverty, livelihoods, and loss of livelihoods, are enormous," said UNDP Head Achim Steiner, quoted from AFP, Tuesday, October 22.

In 2023, poverty in Palestine is at 38.8 percent. However, in 2024 there were 2.61 million Palestinians who fell poor. Thus the total poor in Palestine became 4.1 million this year.

"It's pretty clear from this socio-economic assessment that the extent of the damage has hampered the Palestinian state for years, even decades, in terms of its path of development," Steiner said.

The UN report also estimates that the number of unemployed in the Palestinian territories this year will increase to 49.9 percent.

Followed by GDP it will be 35.1 percent lower than before Israel carried out a ground invasion of Gaza.

The UN study said airstrikes to Israeli military ground artillery bombings had created 42 million tonnes of debris in Gaza. This condition poses a great health risk to civilians.

Meanwhile, another danger posed by Israel's invasion of Gaza is the destruction of solar panels given the lead and other heavy metals it released due to the destruction.