Gaza, Dec 29 (IANS): A Palestinian official has announced that the unemployment rate in the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip has exceeded 50 per cent in 2021 with more than 2,50,000 Palestinians unemployed.

Maher al-Taba'a, Director of the Chamber of Commerce in Gaza, said in a statement that an earlier World Bank report showed that the Gaza strip, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, has the world's highest unemployment rate, Xinhua news agency reported.

The unemployment rate has soared to even 78 per cent among graduates aged between 20 to 29 years who have a certificate with an intermediate diploma or a bachelor's degree, al-Taba'a added.

Meanwhile, the poverty rate in the Gaza strip has grown to 64 per cent amid the Israeli blockade and an internal division between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party, he said.

The rate of food instability among the Gaza strip households has reached 69 per cent, according to the Palestinian official.

The Gaza strip, home to more than 2 million Palestinians, has been under an Israeli blockade since Hamas seized control of the coastal enclave in 2007.