Gaza City – For many Palestinians in Gaza, earning a living has become a daily struggle amid Israel’s continuing blockade, repeated ceasefire violations, and the near-total collapse of the local economy.
With infrastructure destroyed and productive sectors paralysed as a result of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, traditional employment opportunities have all but disappeared, forcing residents to seek alternative, often precarious, ways to survive.
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Hala Mohammed al-Maghrabi, 24, is one of many young professionals whose education no longer provides a path to stability. After graduating as a nurse in 2023, she spent two years volunteering in the healthcare sector, hoping the experience would eventually lead to paid employment. That opportunity never came.
“Volunteering doesn’t pay the bills,” al-Maghrabi said. “With prices constantly rising and no stable income, it became impossible to rely on this work to meet even my basic needs.”
With limited prospects in Gaza’s overstretched healthcare system, she made a difficult decision to leave her field entirely.
Al-Maghrabi instead shifted into social media marketing and e-commerce, working online to generate a modest income.
As al-Maghrabi recounted, she graduated as a nurse and began training in the hospital. During that training, she also took several design courses and tried to find work in that field, but she was unable to reach clients and earn an income. She then decided to take marketing courses instead of waiting for someone else to promote her work, allowing her to market herself effectively. After gaining experience in marketing, she began working in e-commerce and digital marketing.
“This isn’t what I studied or planned for,” she said. “But even though the income is limited, it helps me cover my daily expenses and survive under these conditions.”
Economic crisis
Al-Maghrabi’s experience reflects a broader phenomenon in Gaza, where years of compounded crises have pushed unemployment to unprecedented levels. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics’ 2024 figures, the overall unemployment rate in Gaza is 69 percent, rising to approximately 80 percent among 15- to 29-year-olds.
The population under 30 accounts for approximately 70 percent of Gaza’s residents, meaning the majority of the community faces severe economic challenges, with a significant portion of young people holding university degrees but unable to find suitable employment.
Gaza’s GDP has also contracted by more than 82 percent due to Israel’s ongoing war and destruction of economic infrastructure, and around 80 percent of the population relies on international aid due to food insecurity and loss of income sources.
The economic collapse has not only affected employees, but business owners as well. Mohammed al-Hajj, who previously worked in general trade and food supplies, saw his entire business model unravel after the war.
“My warehouses and goods were destroyed, and I could no longer afford import costs or the required licences,” al-Hajj said. “Everything I had built over the years was suddenly gone.”
Faced with few options, al-Hajj searched for an alternative way to earn an income. Because his neighbourhood had not been heavily damaged, and he still had intermittent internet access, he converted part of his property into a small workspace equipped with an internet connection.
“I created this place after running out of options,” he said. “Students and engineers needed somewhere stable to take exams or work online, and this became a solution for them – and for me.”
Innovating to survive
As traditional employment structures collapse, innovation has become less a choice than a necessity. For some Palestinians in Gaza, finding unconventional solutions to personal crises has opened new paths not only for survival, but for rebuilding economic activity.
Ahmed Fares Abu Zayed, CEO of Abu Zayed General Trading, described how his company’s operations came to a halt when the war began.
“We started the company before the war as a very small electricity generation business with limited resources, aimed only at supplying specific energy needs,” said Abu Zayed. “But when the war broke out, our operations stopped immediately due to fuel shortages for the generators. The situation was extremely difficult.”
Rather than shutting down entirely, Abu Zayed began searching for alternatives. The result was an innovative approach to energy production that relied on available materials rather than scarce fuel.
“We thought about how to turn surrounding waste into energy,” he said. “That’s how we started producing electricity systems using plastic scraps as fuel. It was a difficult experience, but it was driven by creativity and necessity.”
His story illustrates how innovation in Gaza often emerges directly from crisis, as individuals attempt to solve immediate problems with limited resources.
Project manager and business management specialist Maram al-Qarra explained that such efforts play a critical role in Gaza’s labour market.
“The problem in Gaza isn’t a lack of talent, but the absence of an economic environment capable of absorbing it,” al-Qarra said. “Even small projects can stimulate the market by creating direct jobs and indirect service and production chains.”
She emphasised that innovation is now essential. “When traditional jobs are absent, innovation becomes a means to create opportunities instead of waiting for them,” she said.
On the broader labour market, al-Qarra concluded, “The blockade and the war destroyed traditional work structures, pushing many young people to seek alternatives outside conventional employment.”
Exploitation and opportunity
Across Gaza, many educated young people – doctors, engineers, nurses, and graduates – now sell bottled water, vegetables, or second-hand clothes on the streets. These efforts are not entrepreneurial ambitions, but survival strategies in a place where choice has all but disappeared.
As one young resident put it, “We don’t have the luxury of choice; all we can do is try to survive.”
While innovation has opened new paths for some, desperation has also created space for exploitation. Mahmoud, a young man from Gaza, described how the lack of jobs and social protection has pushed people towards shady or dangerous businesses.
“With no government support and no safety nets, securing a steady income has become almost impossible,” Mahmoud said. “Some people are turning to illegal or exploitative methods just to survive.”
He explained that money lending, currency trading, and exploitative financial transfers have become increasingly common.
“People are sometimes forced to receive their remittances in cash at a discount of more than 50 percent,” he said. “This is clear exploitation of people’s urgent needs, and it shows how desperation is being abused.”
Yet even amid these negative outcomes, examples of innovation that benefit the wider community persist. Abu Zayed noted that his electricity project did more than solve his own problem.
“The most important part is that it didn’t just provide energy,” he said. “It created jobs for dozens of young people in manufacturing, installation, and maintenance, and gave them skills they couldn’t gain in the traditional job market.”
