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UN: More Palestinians Fleeing Combat Zone in Northern Gaza

Palestinian walk away after Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)
Palestinian walk away after Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)
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UN: More Palestinians Fleeing Combat Zone in Northern Gaza

Palestinian walk away after Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)
Palestinian walk away after Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)

The pace of Palestinian civilians fleeing the combat zone in northern Gaza has picked up as Israel’s air and ground campaign there intensifies.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Wednesday that about 15,00 people fled on Tuesday, compared to 5,000 on Monday and 2,000 on Sunday.
The densely populated northern area of Gaza, specifically Gaza City and adjacent crowded urban refugee camps, are the focus of Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas, the militant group that has ruled Gaza for 16 years, The Associated Press said.
The war, now in its second month, was triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
The number of Palestinians killed in the war passed 10,300, including more than 4,200 children, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said Tuesday.
In the occupied West Bank, more than 160 Palestinians have been killed in the violence and Israeli raids. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.

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UN Agency: Gaza Unemployment Surges to 80% as Economy Collapses

A house hit by an Israeli strike lies in ruins, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City October 16, 2024. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A house hit by an Israeli strike lies in ruins, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City October 16, 2024. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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UN Agency: Gaza Unemployment Surges to 80% as Economy Collapses

A house hit by an Israeli strike lies in ruins, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City October 16, 2024. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A house hit by an Israeli strike lies in ruins, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City October 16, 2024. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Unemployment in Gaza has soared to nearly 80% since the Israel-Hamas war erupted, with the devastated enclave's economy in almost total collapse, the International Labor Organization said on Thursday.
Economic output has shrunk by 85% since the conflict with Israel began a year ago, plunging almost the entire 2.3 million population into poverty, the United Nations agency said.
The conflict has caused "unprecedented and wide-ranging devastation on the labor market and the wider economy across the Occupied Palestinian Territory", the ILO said, referring to Gaza and the West Bank.
In the West Bank, the unemployment rate averaged 34.9% between October 2023 and the end of September 2024, while its economy has contracted by 21.7% compared with the previous 12 months, the ILO said.
Before the crisis, the unemployment rate in Gaza was 45.3% and 14% in the West Bank, according to the Geneva-based organization.
Gazans either lost their jobs entirely or picked up informal and irregular work "primarily centered on the provision of essential goods and services," the ILO said.
Israel launched its offensive after Hamas-led gunmen attacked on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's campaign in response has killed more than 42,000 people, according to Gaza's health authorities. Two-thirds of Gaza's pre-war structures - over 163,000 buildings - have been damaged or flattened, according to UN satellite data.
Israel says its operations are aimed at rooting out Hamas militants hiding in tunnels and among Gaza's civilian population. The crisis has spilled into the West Bank, where Israeli barriers to movement of persons and goods, coupled with broader trade restrictions and supply-chain disruptions, have severely impacted the economy, the ILO said.
Israel says its actions in the West Bank have been necessary to counter Iranian-backed militant groups and to prevent harm to Israeli civilians, reported Reuters.
"The impact of the war in the Gaza Strip has taken a toll far beyond loss of life, desperate humanitarian conditions and physical destruction," said ILO regional director for Arab states Ruba Jaradat.
"It has fundamentally altered the socio-economic landscape of Gaza, while also severely impacting the West Bank’s economy and labor market. The impact will be felt for generations to come."