GENEVA, September 15, 2025 (WAFA) – UN experts on Monday warned of the severe economic emergency and catastrophic harm to human rights stemming from Israel’s attacks on the Gaza strip and its wider financial stranglehold across the occupied Palestinian territory.
“Economic life in Gaza has been decimated by sheer physical destruction, blockade and siege, and repeated forced displacement,” the experts said.
They stressed that most commercial, agricultural and industrial assets have been damaged. Unemployment has surged to over 80 per cent. GDP has dramatically shrunk, and trade stalled. Poverty is endemic. Famine has been declared.
“There is now a liquidity crisis in Gaza,” the experts said. Most banks and ATMs have been destroyed. Israel has blocked the inflow of new currency, with severe cash scarcity driving drastic cost-of-living inflation and a decline in the value of wages. Cooking oil prices rose by 1,200% and flour by 5,000% by mid-2025. Humanitarian workers are reportedly losing nearly 40 per cent of their salaries just to access their wages. Digital payments are impeded by electricity and telecommunications outages.
“The disproportionate civilian harm caused by Israel’s blockade and siege violates international humanitarian law and the economic and social rights of Palestinians,” the experts said.
“Israeli laws restricting UNRWA, and the suspension of its funding by the United States, have put thousands of jobs at risk and impede the vital humanitarian assistance that is even more critical due to Gaza’s economic collapse,” they said.
The experts noted that the occupied West Bank is also under increasing financial strain. Israel has arbitrarily diverted and withheld tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority, preventing salary payments and undermining liquidity, in violation of the Oslo Accords. Work permits have been suspended for 100,000 Palestinian workers, slashing cash inflows that previously represented a quarter of all gross national income.
“These measures exacerbate heavy economic losses from the illegal taking of land and the illegal exploitation of natural resources by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank,” the experts said.
Commenting on Israel’s measures stifling the Palestinian economy, the UN experts said: “Cumulatively, these measures seriously violate Israel’s obligations to guarantee the human rights to an adequate standard of living, work, food, water, sanitation, health, life, and freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” the experts said. “They also violate Israel’s obligations as the occupying power to maintain economic life for the benefit of the population, and not to illegally expropriate property or exploit natural resources.”
“These measures also impede the collective rights of the Palestinian people to economic self-determination, control over their natural wealth and resources, and development,” they said. “Israel must refrain from intervening in the State of Palestine through economic coercion and respect its sovereignty.”
They called on Israel to “immediately lift the blockade and siege of civilians in Gaza, end violations of international humanitarian law, remove currency restrictions, restore cash flows, establish secure cash distribution systems, and facilitate digital payments.”
They stressed that “Israel must also commit to the permanent renewal of the banking waiver in the occupied West Bank and stop holding Palestinian tax revenues to ransom.”
They recalled that the International Court of Justice’s 2024 advisory opinion demanded that Israel bring its illegal occupation to an end as soon as possible. The General Assembly has given Israel a deadline of 17 September 2025.
“The international community must act urgently to compel Israel to stop violating fundamental rules of international law, respect the economic rights of the Palestinian people, alleviate the humanitarian crisis and prevent financial collapse,” the experts said.
K.F.
