Gaza war inflicts catastrophic damage on infrastructure and economy

REUTERS: Israel’s land, sea and air assault on the Gaza Strip, triggered by Hamas’s cross-border attack on October 7, has brought upheaval and destruction to the Palestinian territory on a scale never before seen in the enclave.

Here are the latest estimates from international organisations on the socio-economic impact of the conflict.

HOUSING

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), quoting data from the Palestinian public works and Housing Department, said Israeli attacks had destroyed more than 41,000 housing units and damaged more than 222,000 housing units. In all, it said at least 45 per cent of Gaza’s housing units had reportedly been damaged or destroyed.

It was impossible to independently verify the numbers, but Reuters reporters in Gaza say the destruction is on a huge scale. An Israeli reporter who was taken to see the Gazan town of Beit Hanoun by the Israeli military reported on Sunday that “barely a single inhabitable building remains standing”. More than 52,000 people had lived there before the war.

HOSPITALS AND SCHOOLS

In a November 10 report, OCHA said 279 educational facilities had reportedly been damaged, more than 51 per cemt of the total, with none of Gaza’s 625,000 students able to access education.

It said more than half of Gaza’s hospitals and nearly two-thirds of primary health care centres were out of service and 53 ambulances were damaged. All 13 hospitals in Gaza City and northern Gaza have received evacuation orders from the Israeli military.

WATER AND SANITATION

OCHA said water consumption has fallen by 90 per cent since the war started. Two of the three water pipelines from Israel are functioning, however, there is 50 per cent leakage from the main pipeline between Rafah, on the Egyptian border, and the southern city of Khan Younis, where many refugees from the north have fled. Most of Gaza’s 65 sewage pumps were out of service, OCHA said.

FOOD SECURITY

OCHA said Gaza has wheat supplies that should be sufficient for 12 days, but the only operative mill in the enclave cannot transform the wheat into flour due to electricity outages. It said there were no stocks left of vegetable oil, pulses, sugar or rice.

People were on average queuing for 4-6 hours to receive half the normal bread ration.

HUMANITARIAN AID

On average 500 trucks of food and goods entered Gaza each day before the conflict. All imports were halted after October 7 and only resumed on October 21 Between then and November 10 a total of 861 trucks carrying humanitarian aid had crossed into Gaza.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

In a joint report, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said on Nov. 5 that around 390,000 jobs had been lost since the start of the war.

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The socio-economic situation of Gaza was already dire before the war, with the poverty rate estimated to have reached 61 per cent in 2020. In a preliminary estimate, the UN agencies said poverty was expected to rise by between 20 per cent and 45 per cent, depending on the duration of the war. They also forecast that the war would cost Gaza between 4 per cent and 12 per cent of gross domestic product in 2023.