el Aviv reveals that 46,000 workers have been laid off since the start of the war

The Israeli Ministry of Labor said, Thursday, November 2, 2023, that about 46,000 Israeli workers have been laid off since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, noting that there are 760,000 Israeli workers who are not working at the present time.

This came, in a statement issued by the ministry, a month after the announcement of unemployment data in the Israeli market amounting to 3.1% of the total workforce.

The Ministry stated that there are 760,000 Israeli workers, or about 18% of the workforce, who are not working at the present time, for three reasons.

The three reasons - according to the ministry - are that Israeli workers and employees serve as reserve forces in the army, live in the vicinity of Gaza, or stay at home with their children.

Last month, Israel summoned approximately 350,000 reserve soldiers, who are employees working in the Israeli economy, which today faces the specter of entering into a recession.

The data does not include numbers for Palestinian workers in Israel, which number approximately 140,000 employees, according to data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

The economy is going through a difficult time

On Monday, October 30, 300 senior Israeli experts warned that the Israeli economy is going through a difficult time, requiring immediate measures to prevent further damage, according to what Anatolia Agency reported from local media.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that economists sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in which they wrote: “You do not understand the magnitude of the economic crisis that the economy is facing. You must act differently.”

She also pointed out that economists look at "a difficult time for the Israeli economy today... and measures must be taken to prevent major damage immediately." It was reported that among the signatories were the former supervisor of banks, the general accountant, and the former governor of the Bank of Israel.

For 27 days, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the destruction of entire residential neighborhoods and the killing of thousands of Palestinians, most of them civilians, and caused a catastrophic humanitarian situation, according to warnings issued by international institutions.

Since the outbreak of the war, Israel has cut off supplies of water, food, medicine, electricity and fuel to the residents of Gaza, who are about 2.3 million Palestinians who already suffer from extremely deteriorating conditions. As a result of an ongoing Israeli siege since Hamas won the legislative elections in 2006.