Israel-Hamas conflict: At least 66% of jobs lost in Gaza, more losses possible, says ILO 

The International Labour (ILO) said on Wednesday that at least 66% of jobs have been lost in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas conflict erupted in October. It also warned that employment losses could continue to increase in the enclave. The total job losses in the small Palestinian territory amount to 192,000, according to the ILO’s second assessment of the impact of Israeli ground and air strikes on Gaza. These strikes commenced after a deadly cross-border incursion by Hamas gunmen on October 7. In its initial assessment released in early November, the ILO estimated that 182,000 jobs had been lost in Gaza, representing more than 60% of total employment. The organization raises concerns that employment losses could further escalate in the enclave. “Today hardly anybody in Gaza can earn income from work,” said Peter Rademaker, ILO deputy regional director for the Arab states. “It’s a still growing curve,” he said of employment loss. “It might even get worse.“Jobs are also being lost on a large scale in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where the United Nations has recorded an uptick in violence against Palestinians since the outbreak of the conflict.ILO estimated that around 32% of employment has been lost since Oct. 7, equivalent to 276,000 jobs. Even before the war and the tightening of Israel’s economic blockade of the Gaza Strip, around half of the narrow coastal enclave’s 2.3 million people lived below the poverty line.