(Reuters) – Israel’s land, sea and air assault on the Gaza Strip, triggered by Hamas’s cross-border attack on Oct. 7, has brought upheaval and destruction to the Palestinian territory on a scale never before seen in the enclave.
Here are 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% 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 Nov. 10 report, OCHA said 279 educational facilities had reportedly been damaged, more than 51% 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 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% since the war started. Two of the three water pipelines from Israel are functioning, however there is 50% 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 Oct. 7 and only resumed on Oct. 21. Between then and Nov. 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.
The socio-economic situation of Gaza was already dire before the war, with the poverty rate estimated to have reached 61% in 2020. In a preliminary estimate, the U.N. agencies said poverty was expected to rise by between 20% and 45%, depending on the duration of the war. They also forecast that the war would cost Gaza between 4% and 12% of gross domestic product in 2023.
