UNCTAD Reports Gaza Economy Near Total Collapse After War

Gaza is enduring its most severe economic crisis on record, with reconstruction needs reaching at least $71.5 billion according to UNCTAD. The agency reports that devastation since October 2023 has erased decades of development gains and pushed the local economy toward near-total collapse.

The report indicates that ninety-two percent of economic establishments have been damaged or destroyed since the war began. Productive activity remains at a fraction of pre-war levels, with agriculture and industry output down ninety-four percent from 2022 figures. Construction sector output has fallen by ninety-nine percent during the same period.

Unemployment reached seventy-eight percent in 2025, leaving more than ninety percent of the working-age population without jobs. GDP per capita fell to just $161 in 2024 before rising slightly to $212 in 2025. This amount equals roughly fifty-eight cents per person daily and represents only seventeen percent of the 2022 level.

UNCTAD warned that genuine recovery requires large-scale international financial and technical assistance for rebuilding productive capacity. The agency emphasized that economic recovery cannot be separated from the broader political reality confronting Palestinians. Settlement expansion in the West Bank has also reduced access to land and natural resources for communities there.