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Israeli Strike Wounds 2 Civilians in Syria

People fleeing Israeli bombardment in Lebanon walk across a crater caused by an Israeli strike, in the area of Masnaa on the Lebanese side of the border crossing with Syria, on October 15, 2024. Syrian state media said Israeli jets also targeted Latakia province early Thursday. (AFP)
People fleeing Israeli bombardment in Lebanon walk across a crater caused by an Israeli strike, in the area of Masnaa on the Lebanese side of the border crossing with Syria, on October 15, 2024. Syrian state media said Israeli jets also targeted Latakia province early Thursday. (AFP)
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Israeli Strike Wounds 2 Civilians in Syria

People fleeing Israeli bombardment in Lebanon walk across a crater caused by an Israeli strike, in the area of Masnaa on the Lebanese side of the border crossing with Syria, on October 15, 2024. Syrian state media said Israeli jets also targeted Latakia province early Thursday. (AFP)
People fleeing Israeli bombardment in Lebanon walk across a crater caused by an Israeli strike, in the area of Masnaa on the Lebanese side of the border crossing with Syria, on October 15, 2024. Syrian state media said Israeli jets also targeted Latakia province early Thursday. (AFP)

Syria’s military said Israel wounded two civilians and damaged a military post in a strike early Thursday in the coastal city of Latakia, about 100 kilometers north of the Lebanese border.

Israel regularly targets military sites in Syria linked to Iran and to Lebanon’s Hezbollah and has escalated its campaign against Hezbollah in recent weeks, after a year of near-daily exchanges of cross-border fire.

Thursday's attack resulted in fires breaking out there, Syrian state news agency SANA reported.

Firefighters were working on extinguishing the fires, SANA added.

Two people were injured and private properties were damaged, state media reported citing a military statement.

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Arab World

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."