FALCON POWERS – Ahmed Steiner, Director of the United Nations Development Programme, stated that every additional day of the war in Gaza imposes increasing and substantial costs on the population and all Palestinians, in both the short and long term, and that the suffering in Gaza will not cease when the war ends.
Speaking during a meeting in Amman on Thursday, Steiner, accompanied by several heads of major United Nations agencies in Arab countries, stated that compared to the initial assessment, the new figures warn that the suffering in Gaza will not end when the war concludes.
He pointed out that the unprecedented levels of human losses, capital destruction, and sharp increases in poverty rates during this short period of time will result in a severe development crisis that jeopardizes the future of the coming generations. According to the new assessment by the United Nations Development Programme and ESCWA, if the war continues for another nine months, the poverty rate in Gaza is estimated to exceed 60.7 percent, pushing the additional number of people falling into poverty to more than 1.86 million since the start of the war. Additionally, the gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to decrease by 29 percent, with a total loss of 7.6 billion US dollars.
The updated assessment warns of a sharp decline in the Human Development Index, which is the United Nations Development Programme’s summary measure of well-being. Palestine has lost over two decades of human development, with the Human Development Index value dropping below the recorded value in 2004 when the index was first calculated for Palestine.
Rola Dashti, Executive Secretary of ESCWA, affirmed that unlike previous wars, the destruction currently witnessed in Gaza is unprecedented in terms of scope and scale. She stated, “It includes losses in housing assets, livelihoods, natural resources, and infrastructure, as well as the necessary institutional capacities to provide all basic services. It may have deep and systematic effects that will persist for decades to come.”
She added, “This new assessment indicates that Gaza will become completely dependent on external aid to an extent not seen since 1948, leaving it without the minimum of any viable economic activity, means of production, self-sufficiency, employment, or commercial capacities.”
