Gaza’s recovery needs reach $71.5bn amid ‘most severe economic crisis’: UN

UN trade body report says consequences of Israeli occupation have ‘skyrocketed’ with 90% unemployed in Gaza.

Around 1.9 million people in Gaza - nearly 90 percent of the population - have been displaced since Israel's war began in October 2023, according to the UN [File: Mohammed Saber / EPA]

Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction needs have reached an estimated $71.5bn and are likely to increase, according to the latest United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report.

Gaza’s economy has experienced the world’s “most severe crisis on record”, said the report presented at UNCTAD’s 73rd session on Thursday.

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It said that 59 years of Israeli occupation have “imposed structural constraints that have systemically stunted the Palestinian economy”, undermining productivity, deepening poverty and forcing dependence on aid.

But since Israel launched its genocidal war in October 2023, the consequences of the occupation have “skyrocketed”.

Israel’s “intense” military operations have damaged or destroyed 92 percent of economic establishments across Gaza since the war began. Unemployment has surged, with over 90 percent of Gaza’s working-age population unemployed, the report said.

At the same time, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost across the Occupied Palestinian Territories, erasing $2.8bn in cumulative labour income, it added.

Gaza’s GDP per capita last year was $212 ($0.58 a day) – an 83 percent decrease since 2022, it said.

A separate assessment by the World Bank, EU and UN put Gaza’s physical infrastructure damage at $35.2bn and economic and social losses at $22.7bn as of early 2026, with the $71.5bn reconstruction estimate “likely to increase”, according to UNCTAD.

Housing accounts for the largest share of Gaza’s damage and reconstruction needs, while more than half of hospitals and clinics remain non-functional and less than 1.5 percent of cropland remains accessible and undamaged.

The report said the damage requires “large-scale international financial and technical assistance” to rebuild agriculture, industry, construction, energy and technology, and called for transferring withheld Palestinian revenues, safeguarding the banking system and aligning reconstruction support with the documented scale of damage as immediate priorities.

Israel withholds funds as West Bank in crisis

Israel withheld clearance revenue transfers – collected on the Palestinian Government’s behalf under the Paris Protocol, an arrangement the report notes is “over 27 years past its expiry date” – from May 2025 through mid-2026.

Cumulative deductions and withheld revenues between 2019 and March 2026 exceeded $3.67bn, equivalent to 83 percent of total Palestinian net revenue in 2025.

With the Palestinian Authority’s 2025 budget deficit reaching 13 percent of GDP, the fiscal pressure is straining essential services: health-related arrears hit $1.1bn by late 2025, threatening hospitals and pharmaceutical suppliers, while resource shortages forced West Bank schools to limit in-person instruction to three days a week.

Public debt has reached $4.8bn, with banking-sector exposure to the public sector at $5.3bn, or 42 percent of all bank lending.

“Systemic collapse is no longer a theoretical possibility,” the report warned.

“Banks may soon be unable to sustain essential trade flows, including fuel, water and medicine, and stabilising the financial system and developing a sustainable cross-border payments framework is an urgent priority.”

Separately, the report documents reduced Palestinian access to land amid settlement expansion, with 38 communities emptied since 2023 and first-quarter 2026 displacement already exceeding all of last year.

联合国贸易机构报告称，以色列占领的后果“急剧恶化”，加沙失业率高达90%。

据联合国统计，自以色列于 2023 年 10 月发动战争以来，加沙地带约有 190 万人（占该地人口的近 90%）流离失所。[图片：Mohammed Saber / EPA]

根据联合国贸易和发展会议（贸发会议）的最新报告，加沙的恢复和重建需求估计已达 715 亿美元，而且这一数字可能还会增加。

周四在联合国贸发会议第73届会议上提交的报告称，加沙经济经历了“有史以来最严重的危机”。

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报告称，以色列长达 59 年的占领“造成了结构性限制，从根本上阻碍了巴勒斯坦经济的发展”，削弱了生产力，加深了贫困，并迫使巴勒斯坦依赖援助。

但自以色列于 2023 年 10 月发动种族灭绝战争以来，占领的后果已经“急剧恶化”。

报告称，自战争开始以来，以色列“猛烈”的军事行动已破坏或摧毁了加沙地带92%的经济机构。失业率飙升，加沙超过90%的劳动年龄人口处于失业状态。

报告还指出，与此同时，被占领的巴勒斯坦领土上数十万个工作岗位消失，累计劳动收入损失达 28 亿美元。

报告称，加沙去年的人均GDP为212美元（每天0.58美元），比2022年下降了83%。

世界银行、欧盟和联合国的另一项评估显示，截至 2026 年初，加沙的基础设施损失达 352 亿美元，经济和社会损失达 227 亿美元，而据联合国贸发会议称，重建费用估计为 715 亿美元，“可能会增加”。

住房在加沙的破坏和重建需求中占最大比例，超过一半的医院和诊所仍然无法正常运作，只有不到 1.5% 的农田仍然可以耕种且未受损。

报告称，重建农业、工业、建筑、能源和技术需要“大规模的国际金融和技术援助”，并呼吁将扣留的巴勒斯坦收入转移、保障银行系统以及使重建支持与记录在案的损失规模相匹配作为当务之急。

以色列扣留资金，西岸陷入危机

以色列扣留了根据《巴黎议定书》代表巴勒斯坦政府收取的清关收入转移款项——该安排“已超过其到期日 27 年”——从 2025 年 5 月到 2026 年年中。

2019 年至 2026 年 3 月期间的累计扣缴和扣留收入超过 36.7 亿美元，相当于 2025 年巴勒斯坦净收入总额的 83%。

巴勒斯坦权力机构 2025 年的预算赤字将达到国内生产总值的 13%，财政压力正在给基本服务带来压力：到 2025 年底，与医疗保健相关的欠款将达到 11 亿美元，威胁到医院和药品供应商，而资源短缺迫使西岸学校将面授课程限制在每周三天。

公共债务已达 48 亿美元，银行业对公共部门的风险敞口为 53 亿美元，占银行贷款总额的 42%。

报告警告说：“系统性崩溃不再是理论上的可能性。”

“银行可能很快就无法维持包括燃料、水和药品在内的基本贸易流动，因此稳定金融体系并建立可持续的跨境支付框架是当务之急。”

此外，该报告还记录了随着定居点扩张，巴勒斯坦人获得土地的机会减少，自 2023 年以来已有 38 个社区被清空，2026 年第一季度的流离失所人数已经超过了去年全年的流离失所人数。