IndiaTheNews Exclusive: How does Gaza’s economy run? What is the future of this region now that it has been devastated by the attacks?

This week in IndiaTheNews News Network’s special program Shaurya Path, we wanted to know from Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) that Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas but this has created a big crisis in Gaza. In such a situation, what does the future of Gaza look like and how does Gaza’s economy run? In response, he said that Gaza is approximately the size of Philadelphia and needs trade with different businesses and countries to maintain and develop its economy. But Gaza is largely dependent on foreign aid. He said this is partly the result of Israel establishing a permanent air, land and sea blockade around Gaza in 2007, a year after Hamas came to political power. He said Egypt, which shares its southern border with Gaza, also maintains a checkpoint that specifically restricts the movement of people. Israel has allowed about 17,000 Gaza residents to enter and work in Israel, with the food, fuel and medical supplies used by people in Gaza passing through Israel first.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi Ji (Retd) said Israel controls two checkpoints along Gaza, which monitor both entry and exit of people and trucks. Israel limits the type and quantity of materials coming into Gaza. Additionally the blockade generally restricts movement into Israel of Gazans who do not have work permits or special clearance—for example, those entering for medical purposes. Israeli sanctions through the blockade intensified following Hamas’s surprise attack on 20 Israeli towns and several military targets on 7 October, after which Israel declared a comprehensive blockade of Gaza, blocking all food, fuel and medical supplies from the area. Barred from entering.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) said that the West Bank and the Palestinian territories of Gaza – both have small economies that run huge losses of US$ 6.6 billion every year because the value of the goods they import is less than the value of those goods. which they produce and sell elsewhere. In 2020, more than 53 percent of Gaza residents were considered below the poverty line and about 77 percent of Gaza households receive some form of assistance from the United Nations and other groups, mostly in the form of cash or food.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) said that there are many complex reasons for Gaza’s weak economy, but the biggest reason is the blockade and the economic and trade isolation it creates. For the average Gazan, the blockade has many practical effects, including people’s ability to obtain food. About 64 percent of people in Gaza are considered food insecure, meaning they do not have access to adequate amounts of food. It is difficult for Gaza to produce food within its borders. One reason for this is that Israeli airstrikes in 2008 and again in 2018 damaged Gaza’s only power generation plant and main sewage treatment plant. These attacks resulted in the spread of sewage waste on land and water, destroying fields and food crops and threatening the lives of fish in the ocean.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) said Gaza’s weak economy and isolation due to the blockade means it relies heavily on international aid organizations to provide basic services to residents. The largest of these aid groups in Gaza is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees—also known as UNRWA. Today, UNRWA is the second largest employer in Gaza after Hamas. It provides the bulk of education, food aid and health care services for people in Gaza, in addition to the 3 million others registered as Palestinian refugees living in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and elsewhere. UNRWA runs and funds a network of 284 schools in Gaza alone, staffing more than 9,000 locals and educating more than 294,000 children each year. UNRWA runs 22 hospitals in Gaza that employ approximately 1,000 health workers and see 3.3 million patient visits per year. In times of crisis like the current war, its schools are converted into humanitarian shelters. People can go there for clean water, food, mattresses and blankets, showers and other supplies. The number of people displaced from their homes in Gaza has increased rapidly in the last few days. More than two-thirds of these people are living in UNRWA schools.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) said that the US has historically been the largest funder of UNRWA. The United States provided more than USD 500 million to the Palestinians from April 2021 to March 2022, including more than USD 417 million to UNRWA. US support for UNRWA has fluctuated under different governments. Total US aid to the West Bank and Gaza reached US$1 billion in 2009 when Israel sealed off the area. Annual contributions reached one billion US dollars again in 2013 when former Secretary of State John Kerry helped restart peace talks between Israel and Hamas. In 2018, the Trump administration cut almost all US funding to UNRWA, amounting to about 30 percent of the organization’s total budget. After this, the Biden administration restored financial assistance to UNRWA and other organizations helping Palestinians in 2021.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) said that at present the future of Gaza looks bleak as Israel has ordered the local population to vacate the northern area. This is going to create a big displacement crisis. At the same time, international aid groups are warning that they are unable to provide food and other basic services to people in the Gaza Strip, which is causing a “serious” humanitarian crisis. He said international aid groups are now facing the same problems in Gaza that local residents have been facing for nearly 16 years. He said the blockade, which has been in place for 16 years, did not apply to the food and fuel that international aid groups brought into Gaza but now, it also applies to what has escalated the crisis.