UN group says years of blockade left 80% of Gazans dependent on international aid

By Mohammad Maryam

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on Wednesday said the years-long Israeli blockade of Gaza has left 80% of the Palestinians in Gaza dependent on international aid.

“Prior to the current crisis, decades-long blockade hollowed Gaza’s economy, leaving 80% of the population dependent on international aid,” UNCTAD said in a statement.

It said the Gaza unemployment rate in 2022 stood at 45%, compared to 13% in the West Bank.

The statement noted that the year 2022 showed intensified challenges the Palestinians faced, including "loss of land and natural resources to Israeli settlements, endemic poverty, a shrinking fiscal space, declining foreign aid, and the build-up of public and private debt."

"Living in Gaza in 2022 meant confinement in one of the most densely populated spaces in the world, without electricity half the time, and without adequate access to clean water or a proper sewage system," the intergovernmental organization within the UN Secretariat added.

The Gaza Strip is currently experiencing an unprecedented Israeli onslaught which caused internal displacement of more than half of the population.

More than 6,546 people have been killed by the Israeli ongoing onslaught against Gaza.

Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been running out of food, water, medicine, and fuel, and aid convoys allowed into Gaza have carried only a fraction of what is needed.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara