The United Nations announced that the poverty rate in Palestine reached 58.4%, with the number of poor people increasing by 1.74 million people, in light of the continued Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, since the seventh of last October.

This came in a recent update, today, Thursday, to a report issued last November by the United Nations Development Program and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), entitled “The War of Ezza: The Expected Social and Economic Consequences on the State of Palestine.”

The report includes updated estimates of the effects of the occupation’s aggression after more than 6 months, and indicated an increase in poverty rates among the Palestinian people, a decline in domestic product, an increase in unemployment, and a very significant decline in educational and health services.

He explained that as of April 12, at least 5% of the population of Gaza had been martyred or injured, while about 500 Palestinians had been martyred in the West Bank.

The report added that poverty rates are expected to increase to 60.7% if the aggression continues for 9 months.

The report pointed out that the gross domestic product declined in 6 months, by 25.8%, amounting to an estimated $7.1 billion.

The report expected the GDP to continue to decline to 26.9% if the Israeli aggression continues for 7 months, to 27.9 in 8 months, and to 29% if it continues for 9 months.

According to the report, the Director of the United Nations Development Programme, Achim Steiner, stressed that every additional day that this war continues imposes heavy and worsening costs on the citizens of Gaza and all Palestinians.

He added that these new numbers warn that the suffering in Gaza will not end with the end of the aggression.

He said: "The unprecedented levels of human losses, the destruction of capital, and the sharp rise in poverty rates in such a short period of time will result in a serious development crisis that puts the future of future generations at risk."