Fighting unemployment, UN creates thousands of jobs for Gazans

CAIRO – 18 July 2018: The UN aims to provide 4479 men and women in Gaza with jobs, within the framework of the (DEEP), according to a statement issued by the office of Nickolay Mladenov, the UN coordinator on the peace process.

The Deprived Families Economic Empowerment Program (DEEP) launched by the UN seeks to improve living conditions of socially marginalized Palestinian families.

Amid high unemployment rate in Gaza which exceeds 60 percent, as reported by some statistics, Mladenov’s office stated that the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will create more than 2,500 short-term jobs in Gaza in 12 months for 2979 people with women being granted 40 percent of the jobs.

The UN program has recently created a plan to provide 1,500 men and women, including people with special needs, with short to medium term jobs. The program will train people to help develop public services, employ sea rescuers and enable 420 fishermen to restore their jobs.

The program will be funded with a total of $3.5 million by the Islamic Development Bank, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the UNDP.

In a statement, Mladenov affirmed that the UNDP efforts to create jobs are much needed during the current stage.

Earlier in July, Mladenov affirmed that the Egyptian government has always been, and still is, a vital and key player in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

He added that the Rafah Border Crossing, which Egypt opens regularly to ease the people’s suffering in Gaza, is considered to be a “lifeline” for Palestinians.

He said that the United Nations is doing its best to back Egypt’s efforts to reach complete reconciliation among Palestinian factions, stressing that Egypt has exerted a lot of efforts already to reach stability and decrease violence.


Israel and Gaza militant groups agreed on ceasefire on Saturday, a Palestinian official said, after Israel launched dozens of air strikes against the Palestinian enclave ruled by Hamas and gunmen fired more than 100 rockets across the border.

But several hours after the announcement, the Israeli military said Palestinians fired two mortar bombs towards Israel and that it responded by striking the weapon used in the attack in the southern Gaza Strip. There were no immediate reports of any casualties.

Palestinian health officials said earlier that two teenagers had been killed by an Israeli air strike. A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not respond to a request for comment.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told Reuters: "Efforts by many parties have continued since the beginning of the escalation and the Israeli bombardment on Gaza. They were crowned by the success of the Egyptian effort to restore calmness and end the escalation."

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group said in a separate statement that a truce had been reached.

A senior Israeli defense official said: "Only the facts on the ground will dictate our response."

Parts of the reporting were taken from Reuters