Israel destroys 90% of the industrial and agricultural sectors in Gaza, completely eliminates the foundations of livestock production, and deepens the suffering of Palestinian workers.

Israeli occupation forces continue their genocidal war for the nineteenth consecutive month, targeting major economic sectors on a wide scale, banning the entry of fuel and raw materials necessary to sustain production, and deliberately attacking livelihoods through the bulldozing of agricultural lands and the destruction of companies, factories, and farms. Palestinians are being deprived of decent work and pushed, along with their families, into extreme poverty, deprivation, and severe hardship. Their suffering is further compounded by the ban on humanitarian aid, dragging them and their families into hunger.

May 1st marks International Workers’ Day, and this year the occasion comes as workers in the Gaza Strip face the worst conditions imaginable due to the ongoing and escalating genocide. Occupation forces have placed economic sectors and infrastructure under direct attack, carrying out a systematic campaign of destruction against production facilities and agricultural lands while seizing vast areas of them. The fishing sector has also been directly targeted, with fishermen deprived of the ability to work safely while their boats and fishing equipment are destroyed.

This has been accompanied by attacks on the banking sector and a ban on the entry of cash, causing an unprecedented liquidity crisis whose catastrophic effects have impacted every aspect of life amid the collapse of economic infrastructure. The resulting paralysis of the economic cycle has had devastating economic and social consequences for Palestinians in Gaza. These systematic measures have distorted the Palestinian economic structure and caused a sharp decline in productive capacity. Gaza has suffered unprecedented losses, with international institutions estimating reconstruction funding needs at approximately USD 53 billion.

These developments have severely affected the labor force, particularly workers in the industrial and agricultural sectors, who are suffering from the systematic targeting of all means of production. In this regard, the General Federation of Palestinian Industries reported that Israeli occupation forces destroyed 90% of Gaza’s industrial sector. As a result, around 33,000 workers, including women, lost their jobs and became unable to meet their daily needs. This coincided with the severe liquidity shortage, which further disrupted the economic cycle.

Similarly, estimates indicate that Israel has also destroyed more than 90% of agricultural land in Gaza and 100% of the foundations of livestock production, making it extremely difficult to restore these sectors and depriving tens of thousands of workers of their livelihoods.

The rise in unemployment and mass layoffs in Gaza has coincided with the tightening Israeli siege and the continued prevention of humanitarian and food aid from entering the Strip for the sixtieth consecutive day, despite the depletion of food supplies in international organizations’ warehouses and the closure of bakeries. This has led to widespread hunger and rising rates of malnutrition among the poor, unemployed workers, and their families.

Fisherman Mahmoud Murad Rajab Al-Hessi, 38 years old and father of a family of seven, stated that fishing was his family’s sole source of income and had enabled him to provide for their daily needs with dignity. He and his four brothers owned a large 20-meter fishing boat since 1998, employing 20 additional workers. At the beginning of the genocidal war, Israeli occupation forces shelled the boat while it was docked in Gaza Port, completely destroying it. He explained:

“I received no assistance or support from any official body, and after losing my source of income, I became dependent on aid provided by international organizations for survival.”

The head of Gaza’s Fishermen’s Syndicate, Mr. Nizar Ayyash, stated that Israeli occupation forces targeted the fishing sector, destroying most fishing boats and facilities while continuing to ban fishermen from accessing the sea. As a result, approximately 5,000 fishermen — the total number of fishermen in Gaza — have become unemployed.

Occupation forces have destroyed the infrastructure of the Palestinian economy in Gaza and continue escalating attacks against both public and private civilian property, causing a dangerous deterioration in humanitarian conditions. These actions have spread unemployment and hunger among Palestinian workers in Gaza and sharply increased unemployment rates. Some workers have been removed from the labor force entirely due to the policy of mass killing that has claimed the lives of 52,400 Palestinians and injured 114,014 others, while thousands of the wounded have suffered permanent disabilities.

These developments have deeply affected the labor force. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics’ survey results for the fourth quarter of 2024, unemployment among the labor force rose to approximately 68%, compared with around 45% in the third quarter of 2023. Young people aged 15–29 have been particularly affected, with approximately three-quarters of youth (74%) becoming disconnected from education, training, and the labor market. In the absence of updated statistics, it is believed that these figures have worsened over the past year.

Attorney Wahba Badarna, advisor to the Arab Workers Union, stated that only 700 Palestinian workers out of 18,000 workers from Gaza who had been employed in Israel until October 2023 received their financial entitlements from Israeli employers. The failure to obtain their wages has further deteriorated their living conditions. At the same time, Israeli occupation forces launched a broad security campaign against Gaza workers inside Israel during the war, arresting hundreds of them, subjecting them to interrogation and torture, and then forcibly returning them to Gaza, where they continue to suffer siege and physical and psychological harm alongside their families.

Under these conditions, workers face catastrophic circumstances, especially with the destruction of the healthcare system, infrastructure, and key sectors such as housing, education, industry, and agriculture, along with reduced aid, shortages of drinking water, the spread of epidemics and diseases, the destruction of thousands of housing units, and ongoing forced displacement orders. All of this occurs amid unprecedented poverty, soaring prices, increasing food insecurity, and widespread hunger among workers who have lost all sources of income.

Accordingly, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights calls on the international community to urgently intervene to stop the crime of genocide, end the siege, ensure the continuous and unrestricted delivery of food and medical supplies, activate accountability mechanisms, end impunity, and prosecute all those suspected of committing war crimes, including those responsible for decisions to block food, medicine, fuel, water, and electricity from Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

On International Workers’ Day, while Al Mezan congratulates workers around the world on their occasion, it also calls on them to intensify solidarity efforts with Palestinian workers in Gaza and to pressure their unions and governments to fulfill their legal and moral responsibilities to stop the crime of genocide and strengthen initiatives aimed at supporting Gaza’s workers and their families who are suffering from hunger.

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