Ahlulbayt News Agency: "Israel’s" decision to wage a devastating war on Gaza has triggered a severe social and economic unraveling inside the occupation, according to a new assessment by Latet, one of "Israel’s" largest anti-poverty organizations.
The group’s 2025 Alternative Poverty Report, released Monday, describes a population buckling under the consequences of a war that has drained state resources, disrupted the workforce, and driven living costs to unprecedented levels.
Occupation Backfire
Latet identifies a rapidly expanding class of "war poor", households that were managing before the assault on Gaza but have since been pushed into crisis as the government’s military campaign reshaped the economy and fueled inflation. Once limited to "Israel’s" most vulnerable groups, poverty has now penetrated deep into the lower middle class, affecting families of reservists, small business owners, and full-time wage earners.
A growing number of analysts note that international boycott campaigns launched in response to "Israel’s" actions in Gaza, including academic, cultural, and consumer boycotts, may also be contributing to an economic downturn. Several export sectors have recorded slowed activity, foreign investment has cooled, and the occupation is facing rising reputational risks in global markets. These pressures compound the economic strain created by the war itself.
War Inflation
According to the report, the minimum monthly cost of living in 2025 is NIS 5,589 per person and NIS 14,139 (US $4,380) for a family of four, far exceeding the National Insurance Institute’s official poverty line. Even two minimum-wage salaries, totaling around NIS 12,495 (US $3,840), cannot meet this threshold. With the average household supported by only 1.35 earners, the gap between wages and basic needs approaches 40 percent, a shortfall compounded by wartime economic disruption.
The organization notes sharp increases in the price of essential goods, including food, housing, clothing, healthcare, and education. Individuals face an additional NIS 3,500 (US $1,080) per year in expenses, while households bear nearly NIS 9,000 (US $2,780) extra compared to previous years. Health-related costs alone climbed nearly 15 percent as premiums and out-of-pocket payments rose during the war period.
Hunger Surge
The collapse of small enterprises during the prolonged reserve call-ups offers a snapshot of the broader damage. Ynet’s profile of Adi Degani, a former kitesurfing instructor forced to shut his business after months of reserve duty plunged it into debt, reflects the growing number of Israelis whose livelihoods have been wiped out by the war effort. Degani has since sought work in construction and taken bank loans to keep up with mounting financial losses.
Food insecurity has become one of the clearest markers of internal deterioration. Latet reports that 26.9% of families, or 867,000 households, now struggle to afford enough food, affecting 2.8 million individuals and over 1.18 million children. This represents a surge of nearly 30 percent in a single year. Many families survive by cutting portion sizes, skipping meals, or relying on donated food while diverting dwindling funds toward rent, electricity, or medicine. More than half of Latet’s aid recipients report reducing meals, compared with 18 percent of the general population.
Working Poverty
One of the report’s most striking findings is that 83% of households receiving assistance have at least one breadwinner, yet still cannot cover the escalating costs of living. Over half say their employment conditions worsened since the war, nearly double the rate among the broader public. These families often earn just above the official poverty line and therefore receive little to no state support, despite being unable to meet basic needs.
Children are increasingly entering the workforce to help their families survive, a phenomenon occurring at more than twice the rate seen in the general population. Parents cite deteriorating mental health, educational setbacks, and long-term anxiety tied to chronic economic instability.
The psychological fallout is severe. Around 62 percent of aid recipients say their mental state is "not good," almost triple the rate in the wider public. More than 40 percent, including nearly half of elderly respondents, report that their mental health has deteriorated since the war began.
Structural Crisis
Latet argues that "Israel’s" official poverty indicators fail to reflect true hardship. Its multidimensional alternative model, which assesses access to food, housing, healthcare, and education, suggests that the occupation’s internal social crisis is far deeper than government data acknowledges. Economists remain divided over the methodology, but the organization stresses that this year’s findings illustrate how the Gaza war accelerated long-standing inequality.
Latet CEO Eran Weintraub warned that the occupation risks becoming a "super-Sparta", a state funneling vast resources into military power while neglecting widening social fractures. He urged policymakers to index wages and benefits to the actual cost of living, strengthen social protections, and provide targeted support for reservist families and the working poor.
Crisis Contrast
The report concludes that while "Israel" continues its assault on Gaza, millions inside the occupation are living in what Latet calls "permanent emergency mode," unsure how they will secure their next meal, pay rent, or support their children.
Yet the internal crisis described by Latet remains marginal compared to the destruction the occupation has inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, whose displacement, loss of livelihoods, and annihilated infrastructure represent one of the most severe humanitarian collapses of the 21st century.
The war, launched to assert dominance over Palestinians, has instead destabilized "Israel’s" own social and economic foundations, while inflicting devastation on Gaza and the West Bank at a scale far beyond anything recorded inside the occupation.
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