Decades of progress erased: How Hamas engineered the Palestinian crisis

A new United Nations report has laid bare the scale of the economic devastation unfolding in the Palestinian territories after two years of war in Gaza and unprecedented restrictions across the West Bank. 

According to UNCTAD, decades of socioeconomic progress have now been reversed, with GDP per capita in the Palestinian territories falling back to 2003 levels—a collapse that ranks among the ten worst global economic crises since 1960.

The UN points to the destruction of infrastructure, public services, and productive assets as central factors behind this dramatic decline. Gaza, in particular, faces a reconstruction timeline measured not in years, but in decades, even under conditions of sustained international support.

Yet beyond the UN’s technical findings lies a political reality too often ignored: this collapse has a direct, identifiable cause.

The root of the crisis: Hamas’s October 7 attacks

The catastrophic trajectory of the past two years began with the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, which triggered the deadliest war Gaza has ever seen. 

By launching a large-scale terrorist operation inside Israel, killing civilians, taking hostages, and intentionally provoking a massive military confrontation, Hamas knowingly set the stage for the destruction that would follow.

Reducing the UN’s findings to mere “economic consequences of conflict” obscures the fact that the conflict did not erupt spontaneously. It was initiated by a militant group that has repeatedly prioritised ideological confrontation with Israel over the well-being, security, and economic future of the Palestinian population.

A society held hostage by extremist agendas

While the UN report describes a devastated economy, the underlying tragedy is that millions of Palestinians are paying the price for decisions taken unilaterally by Hamas, without democratic mandate or accountability. 

Instead of governance, Hamas has delivered entrenched militarisation of civilian areas, diversion of resources to weapon production, systematic repression of dissent, repeated cycles of escalation.

This is not an economic model. It is a political trap.

The economic collapse documented by the UN is not simply the result of external pressure or geopolitical constraints. It is the inevitable outcome of an armed group that has treated the population it claims to defend as a human shield in a conflict it deliberately ignited.

Today, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank find themselves facing unprecedented unemployment, collapsing services, and a future mortgaged by decisions they never chose.

Responsibility for this disaster is clear: Hamas engineered the crisis and continues to obstruct any path toward stability, reconstruction, or legitimate governance.

If the region is ever to move beyond this era of destruction, Palestinian civilians will need political leaders committed to development, diplomacy, and state-building—not to perpetual confrontation.