In the seven months since Israel started bombarding Gaza and imposed a siege in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, the enclave’s economy has been crushed. People have been forced to flee their homes and jobs. Markets, factories and infrastructure have been bombed and flattened. Farmland has been scorched by airstrikes or occupied by Israeli forces.
In its place, a war economy has arisen. It is a marketplace of survival focused on the basics: food, shelter and money.
Humanitarian aid labeled “Not for resale” and looted items end up in makeshift markets. People can earn a few dollars a day evacuating displaced people on the backs of trucks and donkey carts, while others dig toilets or make tents from plastic sheeting and salvaged wood.
. . .
“It’s not like any war we’ve seen before, where a certain area is targeted and other zones are less touched and they can quickly re-engage in economic conditions,” he said. “From Month 1, the economy was put out of commission.”
This is a preventable apocalypse. 😖
This is the best summary I could come up with:
On tables and desks from schools turned shelters, wartime vendors lined a street, selling used clothes, baby formula, canned food and the rare batch of homemade cookies.
In some cases, entire aid parcels — still emblazoned with the flags of their donating countries and meant to be distributed for free — were stacked on sidewalks and sold for prices few could afford.
Given the growing humanitarian crisis and deep desperation, standing in line is now full-time work, whether at aid distribution sites, at the few open bakeries, or at the handful of A.T.M.s or money exchange shops.
In the years before the war, the economy in Gaza — even under a suffocating air, land and sea blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt — was beginning to improve, according to economists and Gazan businesspeople.
The majority of Palestinians in Gaza now face poverty on multiple levels, going beyond a lack of income and including limited access to health care, education and housing, according to a recent report from the World Bank, European Union and United Nations.
Even before the situation in Rafah deteriorated, aid deliveries were inconsistent and chaotic because of Israeli military restrictions, resulting in desperation and an opportunity for armed gangs or individuals to loot, according to residents.
The original article contains 1,619 words, the summary contains 209 words. Saved 87%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
