GAZA, (PIC)
The effects of the Israeli war on the Strip were not limited only to shelling, widespread destruction, and human losses, but extended into the depths of economic and living conditions, to affect the sources of livelihood of the population, their savings, and their ability to secure their simplest daily needs, in one of the most severe economic crises known to the Strip in many years.
With the extension of the war, economic losses were no longer just a side result of military operations, but turned into a daily reality imposed on the population, after the operations of widespread destruction overlapped with the siege, the closure of crossings, and preventing the entry of goods, raw materials, and humanitarian aid for long periods, which reflected directly on local markets, and pushed the majority of the population to face a suffocating living crisis with the almost complete absence of sources of income.
In the north of the Gaza Strip, the merchant Anwar Awad believed that his trade, which he built over years, would grant him the ability to steadfastly withstand any emergency economic circumstance, after his capital before the war exceeded 3,500,000 shekels, but the first days of the war were enough to change everything.
Awad says that the Israeli aircraft targeted at the beginning of the war the shed that he was using as a main warehouse to store large quantities of food supplies in the north of the Strip, causing great losses since the first days, before the circle of destruction expanded later to reach the Jabalia refugee camp market, where he owned two shops for selling food supplies.
He explains that the destruction of the warehouse was not just a commercial loss, but formed the beginning of a complete collapse of a career path that lasted for years, as he lost goods and capital, then the buying and selling movement stopped almost completely, before he also lost his home after it was targeted in the Tal al-Zaatar area north of the Strip.
He says that the harshest thing he lived through during the war was not only losing trade or the destruction of property, but his later obligation to spend what remained of his money and savings on buying food at unprecedented prices, in light of the famine, scarcity of goods, and a sharp rise in prices, in addition to what the liquidity crisis imposed of a difficult situation.
He adds that citizens during the periods of famine did not have many choices, and that the priority of survival pushed people to buy anything available no matter its price, after basic materials turned into rare commodities, and markets became operating under the pressure of shortage, fear, and uncertainty.
Widespread depletion
The researcher in economic affairs, Ahmed Abu Qamar, believes that what took place in the Gaza Strip during the months of war was not just an economic decline imposed by military conditions, but rather a widespread economic depletion process that hit Palestinian society in the Strip directly, and pushed towards exhausting the population financially and in living conditions.
Abu Qamar says in a statement to the PIC reporter that the economy in Gaza entered during the war into a complex collapse stage, which started with the cessation of trade movement, the closure of crossings, and preventing the flow of commodities, then escalated with the destruction of markets, commercial facilities, and factories, leading to the disruption of entire productive sectors that formed a basic pillar of the local economy.
He explains that one of the most dangerous features of the crisis was represented in the unprecedented waves of high prices witnessed by the markets, after many commodities disappeared from circulation and the prices of basic materials rose significantly as a result of low supply and the absence of supplies.
Abu Qamar points out that some basic commodities recorded during the periods of famine unprecedented prices, which placed thousands of families before a harsh equation between hunger and buying at any cost, adding that the purchasing power of citizens declined sharply, while the few remaining savings with a large number of families were depleted within a short period.
Liquidity crisis
He points out that the cash liquidity crisis was one of the most complex files during the war, after citizens faced extreme difficulty in accessing their money inside banks or financial applications, in light of the scarcity of cash and the decline in the work of the banking system, which led to the imposition of high commissions that depleted a large part of the population’s savings.
Abu Qamar confirms that this crisis did not strike poor families only, but affected wide segments of merchants, employees, and workers who lost the ability to manage their money or access it easily, at a time when the need for liquidity was directly linked to securing food and daily needs.
High unemployment rates
In parallel with that, the widespread destruction operations of markets, commercial facilities, and factories led to the cessation of thousands of commercial and productive businesses, a matter that reflected on the labor market directly, and pushed large numbers of workers into unemployment.
Abu Qamar says that the war led to an unprecedented collapse in the labor market inside the Strip, after hundreds of thousands of citizens lost their sources of income, whether as a result of the destruction of their workplaces, or due to the cessation of economic movement almost completely, confirming that this situation caused the sharp expansion of poverty in the Strip.
He adds that the biggest challenge today does not relate only to stopping the economic bleeding, but rather to the ability of the Strip to restore part of its economic cycle in light of the continuation of restrictions on the crossings, the delay of reconstruction, the decline in the volume of liquidity, and the weak ability of markets to restore their activity.
With the continuation of this situation, the residents of the Gaza Strip face an open economic crisis whose effects do not seem linked only to the period of war, but extend to the stage after it, in light of an economy that lost a large part of its structure, families that depleted their savings, and a labor market living in a state of widespread paralysis, while the population continues attempts to adapt to harsh dailies that combine the direct effects of war, the pressure of living need, and the absence of any clear signs of a near economic breakthrough.