Assistance to the Pal. The remaining seven will rehabilitate and extend water supply and wastewater disposal facilities in the Gaza Strip. Bidding for about half of the sub-projects could begin in late April, with implementation starting in May 1996. Although more than 50,000 Palestinian workers were legally employed in Israel before the latest closures, unemployment and underemployment were at a record high of 51 percent in the Gaza Strip and 33 percent in the West Bank.
Unemployment is believed to have soared to perhaps two-thirds of the workforce in recent weeks.