The Secretary-General of the Palestinian Federation of Trade Unions, Shaher Saad, announced that the losses of Palestinian workers since the beginning of the aggression against our people on October 7, 2023, until the end of 2024 amounted to about 1 billion and 350 thousand shekels.
Saad explained, during a press conference held today, Monday, at the Union House in Nablus, at the invitation of the Union, that there is no income for the workers, due to their stopping work in the Israeli labor market, which paralyzed the economy in the West Bank, and caused the unemployment rate to rise to (507,000) unemployed in Palestine.
He pointed out that the number of livelihood martyrs in 2024 reached 56, including 25 livelihood martyrs in the Palestinian labor market in the West Bank, 14 who were martyred inside the territories of 1948, 2 from Gaza in shelters in the West Bank, and a worker during his detention.
He added that the total number of arrests of workers from the West Bank and Gaza Strip who work in the labor market inside, whether they were arrested from their workplaces or from shelters in the West Bank, and whether they were released or not, is 7,000 workers, noting that the number of Palestinian workers inside the occupied territories has reached (215,000 workers).
He stressed that the number of Gaza workers working in the Israeli labor market is approximately (19,200) workers, whose permits have been cancelled.
Since the beginning of the aggression on October 7, 2023, approximately 10,000 workers from Gaza were monitored while they were at their workplaces. We received approximately (5,838) workers from them in all branches of the General Federation of Palestinian Workers’ Unions in the West Bank. All their needs related to (housing, food, and clothing) were secured. 80 of them were arrested during the return of 1,488 workers from the West Bank to Gaza, while the occupation forces arrested approximately 4,000 workers while they were at their workplace in the Israeli labor market. (3,200) of them were released and returned to the Gaza Strip.
The General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions received $2.5 million from the International Labor Organization to provide support for Gaza workers in the West Bank, who were provided with 7 payments of 700 shekels in aid, along with accommodation and food.
He stressed that due to the tragic conditions for workers as a result of the absence of a social protection system (social security), the union played several roles, the most important of which was: pressuring the relevant authorities to provide protection for these workers, as a letter was sent to the Ministry of Health, in order to exempt workers from health insurance fees, and the decision was taken after the new ministerial change, by the Prime Minister, and the Ministers of Health and Finance.
A letter was also sent to the Monetary Authority to provide interest-free financial advances to workers and with savings as a guarantee, which the Monetary Authority responded to and sent the approval decision that was published on the General Federation of Palestinian Workers’ Unions page, but the Palestinian banks did not abide by the decision.
The unionist Saad demanded an end to the persecution of workers in all their places of residence within the territories of 1948 and the West Bank, and to allow workers to return safely to their homes, and to release all detained workers from the West Bank and Gaza immediately and urgently, and to pressure the Israeli government to compensate Palestinian workers who work in the Israeli labor market, due to their cessation of work, as a result of the war continuing for more than a year.
At the end of the press conference, 12 union members graduated after completing training within the union’s plans regarding occupational safety, to become supervisors according to the law by decision of 2019, which will be implemented at the beginning of 2025 for supervisors at work sites.
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Saad: Workers' losses exceed 1 billion and 350 thousand shekels since the beginning of the aggression