GENEVA - A year of war in Gaza has caused unprecedented and wide-ranging devastation of the labour market and the wider economy, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said in a report on Thursday.

The unemployment rate in Gaza and the West Bank surged to an average of 51.1 percent over the past 12 months.

In the West Bank, the unemployment rate averaged 34.9 percent between early October 2023 and the end of September 2024, while in Gaza it averaged a staggering 79.7 percent.

The war’s wider economic toll has also been substantial, with real GDP in Gaza and the West Bank declining by an average of 32.2 percent over the past year. The West Bank saw a contraction of 21.7 percent compared to the preceding 12 months, while GDP in the Gaza Strip dropped by 84.7 percent.

This contraction in real GDP is unprecedented in the Occupied Palestinian Territory’s recent history. Even during the most severe economic downturn of the second Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in 2001, real GDP fell by 14.9 percent.

In the Gaza Strip, nearly 100 percent of the population now lives in poverty, reflecting the dire situation faced by families struggling to meet basic needs. Meanwhile, the significant economic contraction in the West Bank is estimated to have more than doubled the short-term poverty rate, rising from 12 percent in 2023 to 28 percent by mid-2024.