Poverty, unemployment skyrocket in the Gaza Strip after Israel’s war

Gaza’s economy has plummeted by 87 percent in two years, deepening poverty and leaving thousands without resources.

Gaza City- Crammed in a tiny tent at a United Nations-run school in central Gaza City, Alaa Alzanin, along with his wife, five children, his 71-year-old mother and younger sister, are taking shelter after they lost their home in Beit Hanoon during Israel’s war. They have been displaced eight times, and this tent is where they now protect themselves from the rain and winter cold.

Alzanin, 41, cannot sustain his family because he is unemployed. He is a day labourer, but he is out of work like hundreds of thousands of people across the Gaza Strip.

“Now I have no work, I can’t provide for my family,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that he used to work in the infrastructure and farming sectors.

“I used to work with an axe to open water channels between the trees, plough the soil around them, spray pesticides, and plant tomatoes and cucumbers. I used to work from 7am to 4pm for 40–50 shekels [$13-$15] per day.”

Another man without income is Majed Hamouda. The 53-year-old from Jabalia, northern Gaza, has polio, and his wife is a thalassaemia carrier. He has five children, and is sheltering at a camp in the Remal neighbourhood school. He relies on financial aid from the Ministry of Development and on charity, as he can’t work due to his poor health. And since the war started, his aid payment has stopped.