UNRWA Report on the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza & West Bank

Hate campaign 2025-07-19, 12:14am

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Highlights

• Since the collapse of the ceasefire in Gaza on the night between 17 and 18 March 2025, intense Israeli Forces activities escalated, resulting in tens of thousands of civilians reportedly killed and injured, further damage and destruction to civilian infrastructure, and new waves of forced displacement.

• According to OCHA, people are confined to ever-shrinking spaces, with over 86 per cent of the Gaza Strip now within the Israeli-militarized zone, under displacement orders, or where these overlap. The UN estimates that over 737,000 people have been displaced yet again since the breakdown of the ceasefire.

• The food security situation in Gaza keeps deteriorating. Malnutrition screenings conducted by UNRWA show that acute malnutrition among children under five years of age has more than doubled from March to June, due to the effect of the 11-week-long (from 2 March to 18 May) total Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip. Around one in ten children screened in UNRWA health facilities across the Gaza Strip is malnourished.

• While limited quantities of fuel have entered the Gaza Strip, its levels remain dangerously low, with critical services – including health care, WASH, and telecommunications – at risk of shutting down.

• The health response in the Gaza Strip continues to face operational challenges, including extensive damage to health facilities, obstacles to safe movements and restrictions on the entry of medical supplies and fuel. UNRWA medical services are under-resourced. The agency has run out of nearly 60 per cent of essential medicines. As an example: UNRWA no longer have medicines for hypertension and no antibiotics for adults.

• UNRWA has not been allowed to bring in any humanitarian aid, including medicines and medical supplies, for4.5 months (since 2 March 2025).

• On 15 July, the Israeli Minister of Energy and Infrastructure announced the publication of a proposed amendment to the anti-UNRWA Knesset laws, aiming to suspend all electricity and water provision to UNRWA installations, potentially impacting UNRWA’s operations, especially in East Jerusalem.

• Demolitions in the northern West Bank continued in Tulkarm and Nur Shams Camp, including implementing the demolition order from the Israeli Forces for Tulkarm Camp on 30 June.

Key points

The Gaza Strip

• Israeli Forces continue to carry out heavy bombardments from air, land and sea across the Gaza Strip and expanded ground operations, resulting in tens of thousands of reported casualties, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and large-scale displacement. People are living in inhumane conditions, seeking shelter anywhere they can, including damaged or destroyed buildings, overcrowded displacement sites, and open areas. Strikes on people sheltering in schools and tents and on people trying to access food or other forms of humanitarian assistance keep being reported, resulting in mass casualties, including among children.

• On 11 July, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stated that “the Israeli military continues to kill and gravely injure hundreds of Palestinians as they desperately seek the little shelter and food available, raising further concerns that Israel is inflicting on Palestinians conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence in Gaza.” OHCHR referred to “intense attacks” on makeshift tents resulting in mass casualties and warned that “It is difficult to see how such actions comply with the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law: distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack.”

• Since 19 May, after almost 80 days of siege on the entry of aid and other supplies into the Gaza Strip – including food, medicine and fuel, the Israeli authorities have allowed only a select number of UN agencies and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to bring very little aid into Gaza. However, the entry of aid has remained challenging. UNRWA has not been able to bring in any humanitarian supplies for over four months (since 2 March).

• According to OCHA, mass casualties continue to be reported among people attempting to access food in the Gaza Strip, including as they approach or gather at distribution points militarized by Israel in Rafah and Deir al-Balah, or wait for trucks carrying aid supplies. According to OCHA, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported that 851 people were killed and at least 5,634 injured trying to access food supplies since 27 May 2025.

• According to the Food Security Sector and the Nutrition Cluster, as reported by OCHA, families generally survive on a single nutritiously poor meal per day, and in some cases, people go for days without eating.

• OCHA reported that, since 9 July, the Israeli authorities have allowed the entry of two trucks of fuel per day, five days a week, through Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem crossing. This concession on the entry of an extremely limited amount of fuel – which constitutes only a fraction of what is needed for the humanitarian operations to continue at an adequate scale – followed a 130-days-long full blockade on the entry of fuel in the Gaza Strip, which caused a severe shortage. In a joint statement released on 12 July, UN agencies including UNRWA pointed out that “Without adequate fuel, UN agencies responding to this crisis will likely be forced to stop their operations entirely, directly impacting all essential services in Gaza. This means no health services, no clean water, and no capacity to deliver aid.”

• The health response in Gaza continues to face severe operational challenges, including extensive damage to health facilities, killing of medical workers, obstacles to safe movements within the Gaza Strip, and restrictions on the entry of medical supplies and critical fuel. This is forcing the few remaining hospitals to ration resources and/or suspend critical services.

• Diseases are spreading, with the Health Cluster reporting an increase in acute watery diarrhea cases. Severe dehydration, acute jaundice syndrome and bloody diarrhea are also on the rise. Between 1 and 9 July, 178 suspected cases of meningitis were reported, the majority of which were among children under one year of age.

• UNRWA medical services are critically under-resourced. Over half (or 57 per cent) of essential medical supplies are already out of stock and nearly one fifth (18 per cent) are projected to run out in under two months. The affected supplies include medicine for non-communicable diseases, antimicrobials and antiparasitic products, dermatological and eye preparations, analgesic and anti-inflammatory medications, gastrointestinal products, respiratory medications, and family planning methods.

• According to a Protection Analysis , persons with disabilities, older persons, their families and caregivers are experiencing severe denial of their basic rights, confronted with additional and growing barriers and steadily eroding coping capacities to meet their needs. Forced displacement, which has affected the population of the Gaza Strip throughout the war, has severe impact on persons with disabilities and older people, who face higher risks and greater challenges before, during, and after fleeing to access critical information, devices, services, and essential goods for their safety, dignity, and survival.

• OCHA reported that, according to the Child Protection Area of Responsibility (AoR), unaccompanied and separated children (UASC), and those without parental care are among the most vulnerable groups in Gaza, facing heightened risks of neglect, exploitation, abuse, emotional distress, and social isolation. Due to the consequences of the war, the birth registration system in Gaza has been disrupted, with an estimate of about 10,000 newborns who may not have been registered since 7 October 2023.

• All UNRWA international staff are banned from entering the Gaza Strip since the few remaining left at the end of March 2025. This follows the passage of two laws by Israel’s parliament, (the Knesset), on 28 October 2024[2] , that prohibit UNRWA’s operations in “Israeli territory” and bar any contact between Israeli officials with UNRWA.

• Meanwhile, around 12,000 Palestinian UNRWA personnel in Gaza continue to provide services and assistance to an entire population in need, while leading the collective humanitarian response. In the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem, UNRWA continues to play a central role with over 4,000 UNRWA Palestinian local staff providing education, health and other services to Palestine Refugees. No visas have been issued from the Government of Israel to UNRWA international staff since the end of January 2025.

• With at least 55 displacement orders issued by the Israeli military since 18 March, 297.6 square kilometres of the Gaza Strip are under displacement orders (the total area of the Gaza Strip is approximately 365 square kilometres). According to OCHA, over four-fifths (or 86.3 per cent) of the Gaza Strip are within the Israeli-militarized zone, under displacement orders, or where these overlap. The UN estimates that over 737,000 people have been displaced yet again since the breakdown of the ceasefire in mid-March.

• Between 9 and 15 July, three displacement orders were issued by Israeli Forces affecting a total of 25 UNRWA installations.

o On 15 July, an order impacting areas of north Gaza and Gaza City. Eighteen UNRWA installations are located in the affected area.

o On 12 July, an order impacting central Gaza City. Seven UNRWA installations are located in the affected area.

o On 11 July, an order impacting central Gaza City. Seven UNRWA installations are located in the affected area.

• At least 190 UNRWA installations – or over half of all UNRWA installations in the Gaza Strip – are located within the Israeli-militarized zone, under displacement orders, or where these overlap.

• According to the UN, at least 1.9 million people – or about 90 per cent of the population – across the Gaza Strip have been displaced during the war. Many have been displaced repeatedly, some 10 times or more. The many displacement orders issued by the Israeli Forces since the collapse of the ceasefire forced more people to flee in search of safety.

• Between 7 October 2023 and 16 July 2025, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, as stated by OCHA, at least 58,573 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Gaza and 139,607 have been injured. Gaza MoH reported that, of the 58,380 identified fatalities as of 15 July, 26,655 were men, 9,497 women, 17,921 children, and 4,307 elderly.

• Since the war began, over 330 UNRWA team members have been confirmed killed.

• OCHA reported that, of the 66 planned aid movements coordinated with Israeli authorities across Gaza from 9 to 15 July 2025, nearly 17 per cent were denied, 33 per cent were initially accepted but faced impediments, 5 per cent withdrawn, and 45 per cent were facilitated. Overall, of the 150 planned aid movements coordinated with Israeli authorities across the Gaza Strip between 1 and 15 July, 34 were denied, 38 impeded, 17 withdrawn, and 61 facilitated.

The occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem

• According to OCHA, between 7 October 2023 and 16 July 2025, 968 Palestinians – among them at least 204 children – were killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Of those, 162 Palestinians, including at least 31 children, were killed since the beginning of this year alone.

o Settler violence and the establishment of new settlement outposts, including in Bardala, Al Maniya, and Mount Gerizim, persisted across the West Bank between 9 and 15 July. On 9 July, Israeli settlers injured some 19 Palestinians in the Tell al Khashaba herding community southeast of Nablus. On the evening of 11 July, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli settler attack near Sinjil, northeast of Ramallah, with at least ten other Palestinians injured in the incident.

o On 10 July, an Israeli was killed in the vicinity of the Gush Etzion junction in the southern West Bank. The two alleged assailants, both Palestinian Security Forces personnel, were killed and their bodies withheld by the Israeli Forces.

o On 15 July, the Israeli Minister of Energy and Infrastructure announced the publication of a proposed amendment to the anti-UNRWA Knesset laws, aiming to suspend all electricity and water provision to UNRWA installations, potentially impacting UNRWA’s operations, especially in East Jerusalem. The proposed amendment would also enable the seizure of land on which the West Bank Field Office and Kalandia Training Centre are located. UNRWA has already been forced to suspend in-person teaching at six schools in East Jerusalem since May 2025, when the schools were forcibly closed by Israeli authorities.

o During this period, demolitions in the northern West Bank continued in Tulkarm and Nur Shams Camps, including the implementation of a demolition order issued by Israeli Forces for Tulkarm Camp on 30 June. Since the beginning of July, UNRWA has distributed cash for rent to nearly 5,000 forcibly displaced households from Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams camps.

Overall situation

The Gaza Strip

Between 7 October 2023 and 16 July 2025, according to the MoH in Gaza as stated by OCHA, at least 58,573 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in the Gaza Strip while 139,607 have been reported injured.

Humanitarian access, protection of civilians

• UNRWA is working to verify the details of incidents that reportedly impacted UNRWA premises and/or personnel. Additional information will be provided once it becomes available*.

• During the reporting period, several armed-conflict-related incidents have reportedly impacted UNRWA installations and/or personnel:

o On 15 July 2025, an UNRWA truck was found in severely damaged condition near Al-Nasr Street in Gaza City, reportedly due to the Israeli Forces military operation in the area.

o On 10 July, an UNRWA vehicle was found destroyed in the UNRWA Gaza Field Office. The date of the incident and the cause are not yet confirmed.

o On 9 July 2025, an UNRWA school in Bani Suhaila, east Khan Younis City, was reportedly directly struck by an Israeli Forces airstrike. Major damage to the facility was reported with no casualties among UNRWA personnel.

As of 15 July 2025, 878* incidents impacting UNRWA premises and the people inside them have been reported since the beginning of the war. 311* UNRWA installations have been impacted by armed conflict-related incidents since the beginning of the war, with some installations impacted multiple times. UNRWA estimates that, in total, at least 836* persons sheltering in UNRWA installations have been killed and at least 2,527* injured since the start of the war. UNRWA continues to verify and update the number of casualties caused by these incidents.

*Since the start of the war in October 2023, the latest casualty figures are continuously under review as UNRWA gains access to locations that were previously inaccessible and as further verifications occur. The summary figures will be published/updated as information becomes available, noting that these numbers are subject to change once verifications are concluded.

UNRWA response

The Gaza Strip

Health

• According to the Health Cluster, UNRWA remains one of the largest health actors operating in the Gaza According to the Health Cluster, UNRWA remains one of the largest health actors operating in the Gaza Strip, contributing to around half of the people reached with health services since 7 October 2023.

• Since 18 March (when the ceasefire collapsed) and until 13 July, UNRWA health teams provided over 1.3 million health consultations (or over 14,000 per working day), including over 96,000 maternal consultations including antenatal, post-natal and family planning care, over 51,000 dental and oral health consultations in fixed and mobile clinics, and around 33,500 physiotherapy rehabilitation services sessions. Between 7 October 2023 and 6 July 2025, UNRWA provided over 9.2 million medical consultations across the Gaza Strip.

• In addition to medical consultations, UNRWA (in partnership with and supported by other UN agencies, including UNICEF and WHO) continued to vaccinate children. Over 296,000 routine vaccines have been given to children since January 2024.

• As of 13 July, only four out of 22 UNRWA health centres and two additional UNRWA-rented facilities used as temporary health centres were operational in Gaza. In addition, health services are provided through 116 mobile medical teams working in 21 medical points inside and outside shelters in the middle area, Khan Younis, Al Mawasi, Gaza City and north Gaza. UNRWA health facilities provide primary health care, including outpatient services, non-communicable disease care, medications, vaccination for children, antenatal and postnatal health care, laboratory and dental services, physiotherapy and dressings for the injured. The number of operational health facilities changes constantly based on demand, access and security.

• Between 7 and 13 July, an average of around 1,100 UNRWA health personnel per day worked in UNRWA health centres, temporary clinics and medical points across the Gaza Strip, providing 72,220 health consultations (or around 12,000 per working day).

• UNRWA continued to provide mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services in Gaza City, the middle and Khan Younis areas, with teams of psychiatrists, psychosocial counsellors and supervisors to assist special cases referred from UNRWA health centres and shelters. Between 7 and 13 July, UNRWA teams responded to 2,865 cases in health centres and at medical points through individual consultations, awareness sessions and to address cases of gender-based violence (GBV).

• Between 7 and 13 July, UNRWA medical teams provided 5,400 consultations for post-natal and pregnant women at high risk, 3,126 dental and oral health consultations in fixed and mobile clinics, and 2,087 physiotherapy rehabilitation services sessions in health centres and medical points.

• Nutritional assessments are being conducted in UNRWA health centres and medical points reaching children from six to 59 months of age. Between 16 and 30 June, 10,638 children were screened for malnutrition, with over 8.5 per cent presenting with some form of malnutrition. Overall, since January 2024, more than 240,000 children under the age of five have been screened for malnutrition in UNRWA health facilities and medical points. One in 10 children were malnourished.

• Medical services are critically under-resourced, with over half of essential supplies (57 per cent) already out of stock, and around one fifth (18 per cent) projected to run out in under two months. The affected supplies include medicine for non-communicable diseases, antimicrobials and antiparasitic products, dermatological and eye preparations, analgesic and anti-inflammatory medications, gastrointestinal products, respiratory medications, and family planning methods. UNRWA has thousands of trucks including medicines and medical supplies ready to enter Gaza. The Israeli Authorities have not allowed UNRWA to bring in any aid into Gaza for 4.5 months now (since 2 March 2025).

Psychosocial Support and Learning

• Since the onset of the war, UNRWA has been providing psychosocial support (PSS) services (PSS) and learning services in Gaza in Temporary Learning Spaces (TLSs) and through its distance learning initiative.

• To date, more than 56,000 children — over 55 per cent of them girls— have benefitted from learning and recreational activities delivered in up to 450 TLSs established across 62 UNRWA schools-turned-shelters. Between 30 June and 6 July 2025, a total of 15,545 children (6,699 boys, 8,846 girls, including 168 children with disabilities) benefited from TLS-based learning activities in 191 active TLSs. UNRWA has also leveraged digital tools to provide basic literacy and numeracy education to 294,621 Palestine Refugee children (152,945 boys, 141,676 girls) in Gaza, facilitated by thousands of teachers. Ongoing and reoccurring telecommunications cuts make digital learning a challenge.

• UNRWA remains one of the largest providers of emergency learning and PSS across the Gaza Strip. With the support of 236 school counsellors and over 300 assistant counsellors, since the start of the war UNRWA has conducted 314,457 critical PSS sessions for approximately 730,000 displaced persons, including more than 520,000 children. Between 7 and 13 July 2025, a total of 9,461 people accessed these essential services.

• Between 7 October 2023 and 13 July 2025, UNRWA’s social work team provided services to 226,633 displaced people, including psychological first aid, PSS services, family and individual activities, as well as case management. During the same reporting period, protection services were provided to 2,655 survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) and 4,300 children, including 1,980 unaccompanied children. The team also supported 26,164 persons with disabilities with PSS; 8,500 of these individuals received assistive devices and rehabilitation services. Awareness sessions on GBV, child protection, disability and special needs, as well as managing social and psychological stressors, were conducted for 144,703 displaced people.

Food Security

• Since 7 October 2023 and until the start of the ceasefire (19 January 2025), UNRWA reached over 388,000 families (nearly 1.9 million people) with two rounds of flour; at least 374,000 of those families have received three rounds.

• Up until the start of the ceasefire, UNRWA reached at least 1.7 million people with food parcels. Of those, at least 215,000 people received two rounds of food parcels since the war started. These include[3]rice, lentils, beans, oil, salt, sugar, milk powder, hummus, halawa, yeast, and canned fish, and are designed to meet the needs of a family of five for two weeks.

• In addition to the distribution of UNRWA food parcels, the Agency has distributed food parcels on behalf of other UN organisations, having reached over 1.4 million people before the start of the ceasefire.

• During the ceasefire, UNRWA reached over 2 million people with critical food assistance. UNRWA ran out of flour and food parcels at the end of April and was forced to halt food distributions.

• Between 1 March and 19 April 2025, UNRWA distributed nearly 270,000 bags of flour, reaching an estimated 88,000 families – or over 700,000 people. Since the ceasefire collapsed and until 8 April, only around 15,500 families (or an estimated 77,500 people) have received UNRWA food parcels. UNRWA ran out of food at the end of April. The Agency has not been allowed to bring in any humanitarian assistance including food for more than 4.5 months now (since 2 March 2025).

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

• Since October 2023, UNRWA has carried out emergency WASH activities across the Gaza Strip. The main activities include operating and maintaining water wells and desalination systems and supplying water with water trucks and bottled water. In addition, UNRWA continues to maintain hygiene in its shelters and sites through cleaning supplies, community-based solid waste management, and pest control.

• In 2025 so far, UNRWA water provision and solid waste collection have reached around 1.3 million people.

• Between 1 and 15 July, UNRWA teams provided around 44,000 cubic metres of domestic and potable water reaching around 600,000 people. The teams continue to clean and disinfect water tanks, with over 35 campaigns conducted in different areas of the Gaza Strip reaching over 90,000 people.

• Since 17 May, UNRWA has not been able to provide services in North Gaza for around 25,000 displaced people in shelters due to displacement orders issued by Israeli Forces. As of July, UNRWA’s water distribution system, which relied on smaller wells in emergency shelters in Khan Younis, has been forced to stop operating due to displacement orders.

• UNRWA continues to provide solid waste collection and transfer services wherever possible. Between 1 and 15 July, UNRWA teams collected around 2,000 tons of solid waste from different areas and transferred to temporary dumping sites assisting over 250,000 people. UNRWA teams cleaned over 150 manholes, serving over 90,000 displaced people in different locations across the Gaza Strip, despite the shortage of personal protection equipment and maintenance tools.

• During the same reporting period, the team conducted 110 hygiene awareness sessions reaching around 150,000 people, and 115 cleaning campaigns in different emergency shelters reaching over 90,000 people. - UNRWA