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An Israeli bombing of a building adjacent to Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis today resulted in the killing of more than twenty people. This came after the announcement that the number of Palestinian casualties had risen to more than 21,000 people in Gaza, according to what Belgian media in Brussels reported today from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, including more than 200 people during the past twenty-four hours, while the number of infected people rose to approximately 60,000 people. The same sources, including the daily newspaper Newsblad, also reported statements made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the “Last Word” program on the Egyptian “On TV” channel. The Palestinian President confirmed that what There is more than one catastrophe and more than one war of extermination taking place on Palestinian land.
Abbas said, "The Palestinian people did not witness such a war, even during the Nakba of 1948," pointing out that a major crime has been committed against the Palestinian people for 79 days, not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
He pointed out that what is happening in Gaza is happening before the eyes of countries around the world, led by the United States, pointing out that whenever the world, the Security Council, and the General Assembly try to stop this war, the United States responds with a “veto” and refuses to stop the fighting.
The Palestinian President explained that the daily attacks on West Bank cities and villages are carried out by the Israeli army and settlers.
For his part, the Permanent Representative of Palestine to the United Nations, Ambassador Riyad Mansour, said today, Wednesday, that Israel, the occupying power, continues to wage a genocidal war against the Palestinian people, ignoring the Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, and the entire international community, given its complete confidence in its continuation. With impunity and continuing to enjoy political and diplomatic protection and evading accountability and penalties for its crimes.
While the Central Bureau of Statistics in Palestine said today, Wednesday, that about 1.5 billion US dollars is the value of the losses in Palestine since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, on the seventh of last October, as a result of an almost complete halt in the wheel of production in the Gaza Strip, and its repercussions on the West Bank. Western lands during the past two months, equivalent to about 25 million US dollars per day, excluding direct losses in property and assets.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics stated, in an official report, that the estimated number of private sector establishments in Palestine in 2023 is about 176 thousand establishments, distributed as 56 thousand establishments in the Gaza Strip and 120 thousand establishments in the West Bank.
The internal trade sector constitutes the largest percentage in the Gaza Strip, as it constitutes about 56% of the total establishments, followed by the services sector with 30%, while the percentage of the industrial sector was about 10%, while the rest of the economic activities (construction, transportation and storage, information and communications, finance and insurance) It constitutes 4% of the total number of establishments.
Estimates indicate that about 29% of the establishments in the West Bank were affected by a decline in production, or their production stopped at a rate of 35 thousand establishments, while most of the establishments in the Gaza Strip stopped practicing their economic activity, as a result of the partial or total destruction of the establishments, in addition to the continuation of the aggression, for more than Two months in the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of establishments that stopped production, or whose production declined, to more than 80,000 establishments in Palestine.
The estimated number of workers in Palestine in 2023 is about 522 thousand workers (349 thousand workers in the West Bank, 173 thousand workers in the Gaza Strip). As for the relative distribution of economic activities, internal trade activity in the Gaza Strip contributes the largest to employment at a rate of up to 45.5% of the total number of employees, followed by services activity with 38.1%, while industrial activity contributes 11.1%, followed by construction activities with 1.7%, information and communications activities with 1.5%, transportation and storage activities with 1.2%, and financial and insurance activities with 0.9%. As a result of the ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip, approximately 89% of the total workers in the Gaza Strip stopped working.
It is certain that during the previous years the Palestinian economy witnessed a recession, especially in the Gaza Strip, due to the repeated Israeli occupation attacks that the Strip witnessed over the previous years, in addition to the stifling siege imposed by the Israeli occupation on the Strip.
But there is no doubt that this aggression is not like the previous ones, because it includes the systematic destruction of all means of life in all its sectors, which led to the paralysis of the economic movement in the entire sector, especially after the destruction of many economic establishments, which cannot be counted until the moment, due to the continuous violent bombing. On the Gaza Strip.
It is certain that there is complete destruction of the economic life of all sectors in the Gaza Strip, as it operates at a production capacity estimated at about 14% during the two months of the aggression, knowing that this percentage was formed from the vital sectors that did not stop completely during the aggression, and is represented in the health sector, bakeries, and part of the sector. Internal trade to meet people's needs for food and medicine.
This impact was not limited to the Gaza Strip, but was also reflected in the West Bank, although to a lesser extent. It had the impact of the aggression on Gaza, and its subsequent repercussions in the West Bank, which were represented by tightening the noose on the governorates of the West Bank, cutting communication between the governorates, and obstructing the arrival of goods from Abroad, and preventing the access of Palestinians from the 1948 areas to the cities of the West Bank, and for workers to work within the 1948 territories.
Preliminary estimates indicate that the production of the economic sectors in the West Bank during the two months of the Israeli aggression lost 40% of its production compared to the normal rate of production during the two months, with a loss estimated at approximately 1.1 billion US dollars, compared to the Gaza Strip losing 86% of its natural production during The monthly aggression on Gaza is equivalent to 407 million US dollars, which will reflect negatively on public revenues in Palestine.