ILO Warns Of Unprecedented Humanitarian Catastrophe In Occupied Palestine

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) GENEVA, June 4 (KUNA) -- Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Gilbert F. Houngbo detailed, in his latest report, the deteriorating situation of workers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory particularly in Gaza and the West Bank.
The report, addressed by the 113th session of the Organization's International Labour Conference on Wednesday, warned of "an unprecedented humanitarian social and economic catastrophe" amid ongoing war blockade and the occupying power's expansion of settlements accompanied by severe violations of basic human rights.
The report presented at the conference revealed that over 50.000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza including thousands of workers and business owners.
The military offensive and blockade have displaced nearly 90 percent of the population and led to near-total destruction of infrastructure including hospitals schools ports and farms with the labour market collapsing entirely.
The report also indicated that more than 280 UN-affiliated institutions have ceased operations or were destroyed while most private enterprises have lost their productive capacity.
Unemployment in Gaza stands at 69 percent rising to over 80 percent among youth amid a severe cash shortage and unprecedented food price increases due to Israeli occupation restrictions on aid and goods.
In the West Bank the report highlighted a sharp escalation in settlement activity since the war began with over 365 new settlements and outposts established.
This has been accompanied by organized settler violence and restrictions on Palestinian workers' movement resulting in the loss of approximately 140.000 jobs in the occupied territory and settlements with an estimated annual wage loss of USD three billion.
The report also warned of a worsening financial crisis for the Palestinian Authority triggered by the occupying power's withholding of over three billion shekels in tax revenues and declining international aid.
This has led to reduced public salaries shrinking public expenditure and deteriorating social protection.
It further noted the compounded impact of the war on women and youth with female unemployment reaching 73 percent and over 70 percent of youth now not engaged in employment education or training a trend that could deepen poverty and erode human capital in the long term.
The ILO Director-General stressed that lasting peace cannot be achieved without social justice an immediate end to the occupatio, lifting of the Gaza blockade and the resumption of peace efforts. Decent job creation he said must be central to recovery and reconstruction.
He also underscored the international community's responsibility to protect Palestinian workers' rights and provide urgent support for economic recovery and job creation within a framework that ensures human dignity and sustainable development.
The report concluded with several key recommendations including the urgent pursuit of a political solution based on the two-state framework immediate international protection for civilian workers and humanitarian institutions and the launch of a large-scale international reconstruction and job creation program focused on dignity sustainability and ending the blockade on Gaza.
In the general debate of the Conference, the Chair of the Workers' Group and ILO Governing Body Vice-President for Workers' Affairs Catelene Passchier declared that the world is recording "the collapse of humanity" and the situation in Gaza is not only a humanitarian catastrophe but a labour and social justice catastrophe as well.
Warning of total failure of the global system, she called on the occupying power to end its policy of starvation and the weaponization of food and humanitarian aid in Gaza and to halt illegal settlement expansion in other occupied Palestinian territories and the occupied Syrian Golan.
She emphasized the need to ensure that thousands of Palestinians return to their jobs and are fully compensated for their lost rights. (end)
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