The war between Israel and Gaza drove the Palestinian eco**my of Gaza and the West Bank into its first contraction since 2006, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday. While the West Bank managed a 4.5 percent expansion last year, Gaza's eco**mic activity declined by about 15 percent, the IMF said, linking it to Israel's harsh bombing and shelling of the Gaza enclave and slow progress on rebuilding. "Eco**mic activity contracted in 2014, following the war in Gaza in the summer and mounting political tensions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem," the IMF said.