BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 3. The World Bank (WB) and the United Nations (UN) have estimated the damage to Gaza Strip infrastructure at $18.5 billion between October 2023 and January this year, the data are presented in a joint report of the two structures, Trend reports.
As the document notes, the damage caused in four months is equivalent to 97% of Palestine's GDP for 2022. The housing sector was hit the hardest. Thus, over four-fifths of the damage occurs in residential buildings (72% of the total) and trade, industry, and services (9% of the total), and the remaining 19% of the damage occurs in critical facilities related to the areas of education, water supply, and sanitation , healthcare, energy, information and communication technologies, municipal services and transport.
Almost 80% of the total damage occurred in the provinces of Gaza, North Gaza and Khan Yunis.
According to the World Bank and the UN, “the shock to Gaza’s economy as a result of the ongoing conflict is one of the largest in recent economic history.” 74% of the population of the Gaza Strip are unemployed.