A UN report considered the past year "a year of setbacks for the Palestinians, their institutions and their economy, due to the emerging Coronavirus pandemic and the unprecedented financial crisis."
The report, issued by the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Winsland, confirmed that "more than half of the Palestinians now need humanitarian aid, at a time when Palestinian economic and social development is witnessing its worst years since 1994."
The report warned that "the humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory will worsen and will have negative effects on Palestinian development paths for many years to come."
He explained, "Nearly 150,000 Palestinians lost their jobs last year as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, and this is expected to cause similar negative effects due to the currently imposed closures."
He continued, "The Palestinian economy also contracted by between 10 and 12%, which is one of the largest annual downturns since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994."
However, the report clarified that since early February, anti-Corona vaccines have begun to reach the occupied Palestinian territories. It also indicated that the United Nations provides the necessary support to the Ramallah government through the "Kovacs" mechanism, which is a mechanism of the World Health Organization concerned with the fair availability of Covid-19 vaccines throughout the world.
The report called on the international community to support a wide range of humanitarian and development projects, as well as technical support, to help the government in Ramallah implement its economic reform pledges.
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