The Palestinian economy has been devastated beyond recognition. Israel’s intense military operations in Gaza have led to unprecedented destruction, wiping out much of the enclave’s essential infrastructure, private property and agricultural resources.
Meanwhile, the occupied West Bank is also under severe strain. Similar patterns of destruction, alongside rising settler violence, land confiscations and expanding settlements, have left its economy buckling under the pressure of mounting public debt, unemployment and poverty.
Gaza’s economy was being suffocated even before the war. A blockade imposed by Israel in 2007 has severely restricted the import and export of goods, while fishermen were limited to a six-mile zone, crippling their ability to earn a livelihood.
