Before the outbreak of the latest Israeli military operation in Gaza in October 2023, Gaza was already one of the most densely populated spaces in the world.
Nearly half the workforce was unemployed, and two-thirds of the population lived in poverty, and Israel would bomb it every couple of years.
Key economic indicators before and after the blockade demonstrate the systematic de-development of Gaza.
When the Palestinian National Authority was established in 1994, Gaza had about the same living standards as the West Bank. The ratio of Gaza’s GDP per capita to that of the West Bank fell from parity in 1994 to 44% in 2007, reaching 28% in 2022.
During the period 2006–2022, Gaza's GDP per capita shrank by 27%, from $1,994 in 2006 to $1,257 in 2022. According to the International Monetary Fund, the military operation of 2014 debilitated 85% of the capital stock that had survived the previous military operations.
For over a decade and a half, Gaza has been largely removed from the development agenda and has been rendered a humanitarian disaster area, with 80% of the population dependent on international aid.
It is estimated that, in 2023, the annual GDP of Gaza declined by $655mn, equivalent to 24% of GDP. By the end of the third quarter of 2023, unemployment in Gaza was 45.1%.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimated that 61% of employment had been lost compared to pre-conflict levels, equating to 182,000 jobs. By December 2023, unemployment reached 79.3%
