Head of Trade Unions in Gaza says war led to 77% unemployment

Gaza: Head of the General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions in the Gaza Strip Sami Al Amssi affirmed that the genocidal war waged by the Israeli...

Gaza: Head of the General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions in the Gaza Strip Sami Al Amssi affirmed that the genocidal war waged by the Israeli occupation on the Gaza Strip has resulted in the suspension of around 400,000 workers from their jobs and raised the unemployment rate in the Strip to 77 percent during 2025.

In an exclusive interview with the Qatar News Agency (QNA), Al Amssi said that the war of extermination has pushed workers into catastrophic levels of extreme poverty and food insecurity, and that the labor market is facing the repercussions of the war, whose effects are expected to extend for many years.

He said that the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip represented the final nail in the coffin of vital sectors and economic projects that had provided sources of income for thousands of Palestinian workers, who found themselves added to unemployment rolls and prey to widespread joblessness, transforming them from productive laborers into people in need of aid and assistance.

With the Israeli aggression destroying all industrial, commercial, and agricultural sectors, eliminating the foundations for the revival of these vital fields, and with the continuation of the tight Israeli siege and closure of the Gaza Strip, along with the prevention of the entry of any materials capable of restarting the wheel of life, thousands of Palestinian workers are facing the prospect of continued life below the poverty line and descending into catastrophic levels of extreme poverty, lack of income sources, and consequently food insecurity.

Al Amssi added that with the start of the aggression on Oct. 7, 2023, all labor sectors came to a complete halt, including the construction sector, which employed around 40,000 workers; metal workshops, which employed nearly 10,000 workers, agriculture, which employed about 35,000 workers; and public transport, which employed around 20,000 drivers.