69 Years of progress wiped out — Gaza and the West Bank face historic collapse
Jabalia Refugee Camp in northern Gaza, October 2024
The Palestine Chronicle reports on 26 November 2025:
A new report by UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has found that Israel’s prolonged military operation and long-standing restrictions have driven the economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPT) into its “most severe contraction on record,” wiping out 69 years of development gains.
The 17-page report “Developments in the economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” published on Tuesday [25 November], concluded that two years of military operations and restrictions “have triggered an unprecedented collapse across the Palestinian economy,” UNCTAD said in a statement.
It emphasized that the situation has unfolded against a backdrop of long-standing economic and institutional fragility, with severe social and environmental consequences.
UNCTAD said extensive damage to infrastructure, productive assets and public services has reversed decades of socioeconomic progress in occupied Palestine. The resulting economic crisis is “among the ten worst globally since 1960;” while the situation in Gaza “stands apart; being the most severe economic crisis on record.”
Massive Funds Needed to Rebuild
The UN agency noted that plummeting revenues and the withholding of fiscal transfers by the Israeli Government have severely constrained the Palestinian Government’s ability to maintain essential public services and invest in recovery.