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Al-Ittihad (Abu Dhabi) · 2026-10-18
In a statement to Al-Ittihad, Omar Shaban, director of PalThink for Strategic Studies in Gaza, said poverty in the Strip has reached 90% and unemployment 75%, and that the humanitarian crisis is not merely a shortage of food aid but a prolonged livelihood crisis with economic, social and health dimensions. He said only 250 to 300 trucks a day actually enter, about a third of the roughly 600 provided for by the peace agreement signed last October, against pre-war needs estimated at about 1,000 trucks a day, and pointed to a severe shortage of cooking gas, with a cylinder costing up to about $300 in some cases, and to widespread damage to farmland and livestock.
In a statement to Al-Ittihad, Omar Shaban, director of PalThink for Strategic Studies in Gaza, said poverty in the Strip has reached 90% and unemployment 75%, and that the humanitarian crisis is not merely a shortage of food aid but a prolonged livelihood crisis with economic, social and health dim…
Ahmed Murad (Gaza, Cairo)
Palestinian researcher Omar Shaban, director of the PalThink for Strategic Studies Foundation in Gaza, stressed the seriousness of the worsening repercussions of the humanitarian crisis in the Strip, particularly amid the broad collapse across various activities and vital sectors, explaining that poverty rates have reached 90%, while the unemployment rate has risen to 75%.
Shaban explained, in a statement to Al-Ittihad, that the humanitarian crisis in the Strip cannot be reduced merely to the issue of a shortage of food aid, as it has taken on an intertwined economic, social, and health character. He pointed out that the limited flow of goods and fuel, rising prices, declining purchasing power, the destruction of productive assets, and the collapse of agriculture, industry, and trade are all factors contributing to the transformation of the humanitarian crisis into a prolonged livelihood crisis.
He pointed out that the volume of aid and goods entering the Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the war remains extremely limited and does not correspond to the scale of the population’s humanitarian needs, noting that according to the peace agreement signed last October, around 600 trucks per day were supposed to be allowed in, while pre-war needs were estimated at the equivalent of about 1,000 trucks entering daily.
But the number of trucks actually entering ranges between 250 and 300 trucks, or about one-third of the quantity stipulated in the agreement, a quantity that is, in any case, below the level of the population’s normal needs before the war.
Shaban also pointed to a severe shortage of cooking gas, with the price of a cylinder in some cases reaching about $300, while some vehicle supplies and operating materials are also experiencing exceptional price increases amid the limited entry of fuel and energy materials.
The Palestinian researcher stated that agricultural land has been subjected to widespread damage, reducing the Strip’s ability to produce food locally, noting that the war has also led to the destruction of a large portion of the livestock, which was already limited in the Strip, amid restrictions related to the limited agricultural land and scarce resources.
Text © Al-Ittihad (Abu Dhabi) — archived here with attribution to the source. — Machine translation for archival reference. — Original source