The United Nations warns of the seriousness of the deterioration of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories in general, and not just in Gaza, while stressing the need to take action to put an end to the comprehensive collapse witnessed by Palestinian society due to the Israeli war on Gaza and the occupation’s violations in the West Bank.

A new assessment released on Tuesday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) expects the poverty rate in the State of Palestine to rise to 74.3% in 2024, affecting 4.1 million citizens, including 2.61 million new citizens joining the ranks of the poor.

GDP is also projected to contract by 35.1% in 2024 compared to estimates in the absence of war, with the unemployment rate rising to 49.9%.

The report pointed out the seriousness of the situation, one year after the war in Gaza.

UN experts have said the humanitarian crisis has reached catastrophic proportions, with unprecedented human losses, widespread destruction, and severe food insecurity.

The report added that the mass displacement and scarcity of safe places, in addition to Israeli restrictions on the delivery of aid, have exacerbated the crisis.

The war has sharply exacerbated multidimensional poverty, with the State of Palestine’s multidimensional poverty index projected to rise sharply from 10.2% measured by a household survey in 2017 to an estimated 30.1% in 2024.

The most affected dimensions, with all indicators deteriorating significantly, include: housing conditions, access to services, and safety.

Regarding the impact of the war in Gaza on the Palestinian people and the humanitarian situation, the report, which was supervised by the United Nations Development Program, and international and UN institutions and bodies, indicated that as of September 2024, approximately 3.3 million Palestinians (2.3 million in Gaza), including 1.5 million children, were in dire need of various forms of humanitarian assistance.

He added that by September 16, 2024, at least 41,534 Palestinians had been killed in Gaza, and 96,092 injured. The Palestinian Ministry of Health published a 649-page document revealing the full details of 34,344 of the 40,738 people killed or injured between October 7, 2023 and August 31, 2024. This includes 11,355 children and 6,297 women.

According to the UN report, many of the injuries suffered by Gaza residents will change their lives. According to the Commissioner of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), “every day in Gaza, 10 children lose one or both legs amid the ongoing Israeli bombardment.”

In parallel, the West Bank also witnessed an escalation in violence, with Israeli violations resulting in significant civilian casualties, the highest recorded toll since at least 2009. By 30 September 2024, 700 Palestinians had been killed, including 160 children, and more than 5,750 injured, including 660 children.

The number of victims has risen sharply since August 28, 2024, when the occupation launched an aggression in the West Bank.

This escalation in violence has been accompanied by widespread arrests, with the occupation forces arresting more than 16,000 Palestinians by 30 September 2024. These arrests have had a severe social and economic impact on families, resulting in loss of income and increased dependence on humanitarian assistance. The psychological toll of these events is profound, especially for children exposed to violence and instability.

forcing the population to move

The UN report noted that 86% of Gaza’s population is under “evacuation orders,” and that 2.1 million Palestinians in Gaza are expected to seek shelter in just 13% of the Strip’s land area. Up to 1.9 million people (90% of the population) have been internally displaced, many of them repeatedly (some up to 10 times). Displacement has also affected Palestinians in the West Bank.

By 25 September 2024, over 4,450 Palestinians, including some 1,875 children, had been displaced as a result of the destruction of their homes and livelihoods, and 1,628 had been displaced in the context of settler-related incidents. This is three times higher than the number of people displaced during the same period prior to 7 October 2023.

The comprehensive report of the United Nations confirmed that a year has passed since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, and the situation continues to deteriorate, and losses, injuries and human suffering continue to escalate, as destruction has reached unprecedented levels, and famine threatens an increasing percentage of the population. Mass displacement and limited safe spaces, in addition to Israeli restrictions imposed on the delivery of aid, have exacerbated the crisis.

The severity of human suffering, especially among children, has reached historic levels, Gaza remains in a state of deep crisis, and no viable solutions are in sight.

The UN report highlighted what is happening in the West Bank, from the intensification of violence against Palestinians, their property, and their infrastructure.

The report said that this violence reached a new level, after Israel launched a wide-scale aggression in urban centers in the West Bank, focusing on refugee camps, resulting in large numbers of casualties and damage to infrastructure, the highest levels since the United Nations began recording information on casualties and destruction systematically in 2005.

specter of famine

The United Nations stresses the state of food insecurity in Gaza, describing it as catastrophic, as 96% of the population, or 2.15 million people, face severe food insecurity, with half a million people (22% of the population) suffering from catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

According to the World Health Organization, 165 patients have been hospitalized due to severe acute malnutrition. 34 people have died from malnutrition, most of them children.

According to the comprehensive UN report monitoring the situation in Gaza, 93% of children and 96% of pregnant and lactating women consume fewer food groups daily, leading families to skip meals.

As a result, the need for nutritional support has become more urgent, and food shortages will have significant impacts on maternal and child health.