Gaza’s recovery needs reach $71.5bn amid ‘most severe economic crisis’: UN

Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction needs have reached an estimated $71.5bn and are likely to increase, according to the latest United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report. Gaza’s economy has experienced the world’s “most severe crisis on record”, said the report presented at UNCTAD’s 73rd session on Thursday. It said that 59 years of Israeli occupation have “imposed structural constraints that have systemically stunted the Palestinian economy”, undermining productivity, deepening poverty and forcing dependence on aid. But since Israel launched its genocidal war in October 2023, the consequences of the occupation have “skyrocketed”.