UNRWA Report on Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza and West Bank

Destroyed classroom of an UNRWA school in Gaza, where students have lost access to safe learning spaces

Published 8 September 2025

Highlights

|   The Gaza Strip

• During the reporting period, Israeli military ground operations continued to be especially intensive in Gaza City, Jabalya and the surrounding neighbourhoods in North Gaza, driving further waves of people’s displacement.

• OHCHR has recorded over 2,146 deaths in the vicinity of sites run by the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF)”, which began operations in late May, a nd along convoy routes.

• The Site Management Cluster (SMC) reported that  83 per cent of people’s displacement movements between 27 and 31 August were from parts of Gaza City, primarily to western Gaza City and also southwards to Deir al Balah and Khan Younis.

• OCHA reported that the official beginning of the school year in the occupied Palestinian territory this week marks the start of the third, consecutive school year in which some 658,000 children in Gaza, including over 300,000 UNRWA students, will be deprived of their right to education.

• As of 3 September, 86.5 per cent of the Gaza Strip remains within the Israeli-militarized zone, under displacement orders, or where these overlap.

|   The occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem

• The 2025/2026 school year began on 1 September, with nearly 46,000 Palestine refugee children starting at UNRWA schools across the West Bank. The Director of UNRWA Affairs in the West Bank said in in a statement, that "Amid heightened violence and displacement, our schools provide safe havens for children to learn, delivering both quality education and support for their wellbeing.", also recognising the children unable to return to their classrooms this year.

• On 27 August, Israeli settlers set up a new outpost adjacent to the Bedouin Palestine refugee community of Umm al Kheir in the South Hebron Hills, one month after a Palestinian was shot and killed in the community during an incident of settler violence.

Key points

The Gaza Strip

|     Fatalities and Injuries

• Between 7 October 2023 and 3 September 2025, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, as stated by OCHA, at least 63,746 Palestinians have been reportedly killed in Gaza and 161,245 have been injured. OCHA reported that the Gaza MoH recorded that, of the 60,199 reported killed as of 31 July, 27,605 were men, 9,735 women, 18,430 children, and 4,429 elderly.

• OHCHR has recorded over 2,146 deaths in the vicinity of sites run by the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF)”, which began operations in late May, and along convoy routes.

• Since the war began, over 360 UNRWA team members have been confirmed killed in Gaza.

|     Hunger, malnutrition and famine

• Famine (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Phase 5) has been confirmed in Gaza governorate. According to IPC, 100 per cent of the analyzed 1.98 million people in Gaza, Deir Balah and Khan Younis governorates are currently facing and projected to face crisis or worse levels of food insecurity between 16 August and 30 September 2025.

• The lack of dietary diversity in Gaza compromises nutritional intake, increasing the risk of acute malnutrition and related health complications, particularly among children. According to the Nutrition Cluster, as reported by OCHA, all children under five years in Gaza, or about 320,000 children (of whom 290,000 are between six months and five years of age) are at risk of becoming acutely malnourished. With most food items essential for dietary diversity either non-existent or prohibitively expensive, malnutrition cases among children continue to be identified.

• UNRWA’s latest Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC)-based findings show that malnutrition has reached 28.5 per cent in Gaza City, as of mid-August meaning nearly one in three young children is now malnourished. According to UNRWA’s records, the overall prevalence of malnutrition across the Gaza Strip around 13.3 per cent.

• OCHA reported that Gaza MoH recorded that as of 3 September, 367 malnutrition-related deaths, including 131 children, were documented since October 2023. Updated data breakdowns published by MoH on 27 August indicate that of the total, four malnutrition-related deaths were documented in 2023, 49 deaths in 2024, and 260 in between January and 27 August 2025.

• At the 164th Session of the League of Arab States Council at the Ministerial Level, UNRWA Commissioner General stated that “A man-made famine is confirmed in Gaza Governorate and is expected to spread rapidly. This is the direct and predictable result of a siege; and of deliberately constraining principled humanitarian organisations – including UNRWA – in favour of a mechanism that militarizes and weaponizes food assistance. Gaza’s population must now choose between dying of starvation or being killed in a desperate attempt to find food.”

• The Food Security Sector (FSS) through OCHA, despite sustained advocacy, cooking gas has not entered Gaza for more than five months and is no longer available in markets; firewood has also become increasingly unaffordable. Many people are reduced to using waste and scrap wood as alternative cooking sources, exacerbating health and environmental risks.

|     Health crisis

• 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.

• Shortages of medicines, fuel and basic infection control materials are having devastating consequences for patient care. Non-communicable disease patients, including those with diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, are increasingly unable to access their prescribed treatment due to depleted stocks, which will have serious repercussions on their health.

• OCHA reported that acute watery diarrhoea remains one of the most reported health conditions, accounting for 37 per cent of total reported morbidity. Shortages and restrictions in the entry of chlorination supplies, including chlorine tablets, continue to undermine household-level water treatment and system-level disinfection (wells, trucking, desalination), directly compromising drinking water safety and contributing to the continuing surge in diarrheal infections. In addition, UNRWA recorded that the numbers of suspected Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) cases have also increased to 101 with 10 associated deaths reported. Fifty-eight per cent of the cases were reported from Kahn Younis area.

|     Education crisis

• As reported by OCHA, the official beginning of the school year in the occupied Palestinian territory this week marks the start of the third, consecutive school  year in which some 658,000 children in Gaza, including more than 300,000 UNRWA students, will be deprived of their right to education.

• According to the Education Cluster, as reported by OCHA, only about 38 per cent of school-aged children (250,000 out of 658,000) have been able to access some form of learning in the past two years, through Temporary Learning Spaces (TLSs), including those managed by UNRWA, as well as UNRWA Remote Learning programme.

• UNRWA Commissioner General stated: “Today, instead of going back to school, like most children around the world, around 660,000 girls and boys in Gaza will be sifting through the rubble, desperate, hungry, traumatized and mostly bereaved. The longer they stay out of school with their trauma, the higher the risk they become a lost generation, sowing the seeds for more hatred and violence.”

|     Displacement, Site management

• OCHA reported that over 86.5 per cent of the Gaza Strip remains within the Israeli-militarized zone, under displacement orders, or where these overlap, as of 3 September 2025.

• The Site Management Cluster (SMC) recorded 23,319 displacement movements between 27 and 31 August, while 92,162 were recorded since the beginning of August. The largest people displacement occurred on 26 August, where over 15,535 individuals were displaced towards West Gaza city, Deir al Balah and Khan Younis. Between 27 and 31 August, 83 per cent of people’s displacement was reported to be from Gaza City, primarily to other parts of the City (the west) and southwards to Deir al Balah and Khan Younis.

• In a statement on 3 September, the SMC expressed grave concern at the intensifying humanitarian catastrophe unfolding across the Gaza Strip. The cluster noted deplorable conditions at people’s displacement sites, including severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and lack of water, and highlighted concerns that land in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis is already sheltering thousands of displaced families and cannot adequately accommodate displaced people from Gaza City. UNRWA protection monitors have also reported that most shelters are operating at full capacity, resulting in some displaced families sleeping outdoors or in unsafe areas. Lack of cleaning supplies and sanitation exacerbates risk of disease outbreaks. Urgent maintenance is required for bathroom facilities in shelters. There is also an acute shortage of diapers, which vulnerable families cannot afford due to inflated market prices. Children face multiple risks, including lack of safe spaces, neglect in abuse reporting, barriers to education and healthcare, and limited awareness of their rights.

• Overall, since 18 March when the ceasefire collapsed, up to 856,000 people  have been reported displaced  across the Gaza Strip, SMC reported. Some people have been displaced twice or more during the reporting period.

• 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.

• No displacement order impacting UNRWA installations occurred during the reporting period.

• Through its site managers and frontline staff, UNRWA continues monitoring movement of displaced persons, as well as sites of displacement. At the time of writing, over 94,000 forcibly displaced persons are estimated to be living in UNRWA shelters and the surrounding areas, with UNRWA running some 60 shelters.

• At least 189 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.  

|     Operational implications and humanitarian response

• On 29 August, the Israeli military announced that the 10-hour tactical pauses in military activity, declared to facilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid, would no longer apply to Gaza City, describing the area as a “dangerous combat zone.”

• 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 staff providing education, health and other services to Palestine Refugees.

• All UNRWA international staff are banned from entering the occupied Palestinian territory (The Gaza Strip and the West Bank including East Jerusalem). 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. The Israeli authorities have not granted the Agency’s international staff visas or permits to enter Gaza for more nearly seven months now (end of January 2025).

The occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem

• According to OCHA, between 7 October 2023 and 25 August 2025, 987 Palestinians – among them at least 210 children – were killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Of those, 181 Palestinians, including at least 37 children, were killed since the beginning of this year alone.

o The 2025/2026 school year started on 1 September, with nearly 46,000 Palestine refugee children starting at UNRWA schools across the West Bank. The Director of UNRWA Affairs in the West Bank said in a statement that "Amid heightened violence and displacement, our schools provide safe havens for children to learn, delivering both quality education and support for their wellbeing." UNRWA staff continue to deliver critical education services in the West Bank despite enormous hardships.

 UNRWA schools in East Jerusalem were not allowed to open following the forced closure of six schools by Israeli authorities in May 2025, affecting nearly 800 children. Only some of these students have been able to enrol in other schools.

 In the northern West Bank,10 UNRWA schools in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams camps remain closed as a result of the Israeli Forces operation ‘Iron Wall’. More than 4,000 children, instead of returning to their classrooms, are participating in adapted education programmes including remote learning, temporary learning spaces, and self-learning materials.

o Early on 27 August, Israeli settlers established a new outpost adjacent to the Bedouin Palestine refugee community of Umm al Kheir in the South Hebron Hills, placing caravans just metres from Palestinian homes and with groundwork prepared for additional caravans. Israeli settlements and settlement outposts are illegal under international law.

o Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps, have had all of their residents forcibly displaced during the course of the Israeli Forces operation ‘Iron Wall’.

o On 28 August, Israeli Forces forcibly entered the UNRWA Basic Boys’ School in Hebron H2, with jeeps stationed around the school and several dozen armed personnel entering without authorisation. This occurred days before the start of the new school year.

Gaza Humanitarian overview and response

Between 7 October 2023 and 3 September 2025, according to the MoH in Gaza, as stated by OCHA, at least 63,746 Palestinians have been reportedly killed in Gaza and 161,245 have been injured.

1.1. Humanitarian access, armed conflict-related incidents

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

• From 27 August to 2 September, several armed-conflict-related incidents have reportedly impacted UNRWA installations and/or team members.

o On 28 August 2025, an UNRWA team member was reportedly injured due to an Israeli Forces quadcopter shooting in Gaza City.

o On 29 August 2025, an UNRWA store was reportedly indirectly impacted due to Israeli Forces airstrikes in the proximity, south of Gaza City. Significant damage to the facility and no casualties among UNRWA personnel were reported.

o On 30 August 2025, an UNRWA team member was reportedly injured due to an Israeli Forces strike in Gaza City.  

o On 31 August 2025, an UNRWA team member was reportedly killed due to an Israeli Forces shooting near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution point, north of Rafah.

o On 31 August 2025, an UNRWA team member was reportedly killed due to an Israeli Forces airstrike in Sabra area, east of Gaza City.

o On 1 September 2025, the western perimeter of an UNRWA school was reportedly indirectly impacted due to an Israeli Forces airstrike in the nearby area west of Gaza City. Minor damage to the facility and no casualties among UNRWA team members were reported.

As of 2 September 2025, 907* incidents impacting UNRWA premises and the people inside them have been reported since the beginning of the war. 312* (or nearly all) 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 845* persons sheltering in UNRWA buildings have been reported killed and at least 2,554* injured since the start of current hostilities. 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.

OCHA reported that of the 86 planned aidmovements coordinated with the Israeli authorities across Gaza between 27 Augustand 2 September 2025, five per cent were denied, 10 per cent withdrawn.Fifty-eight per cent of the movements were facilitated, 26 per cent wereinitially approved but then impeded on the ground. Facilitated movementsincluded missions to transfer fuel, collection of medical, nutrition and WASHsupplies, staff movements and rotations. Denied movements included missionsaiming to retrieve nutrition supplies, to inspect a dumpsite to expand solidwaste operations, as well as missions to repair roads to ensure safe passage oftrucks along routes.

1.2.   UNRWA response

Health and Nutrition

• Between 7 October 2023 and 31 August 2025, UNRWA provided over 9.7 million medical consultations across the Gaza Strip, remaining one of the largest primary healthcare service providers.

• In addition to medical consultations, UNRWA (in partnership with and supported by other UN agencies, including UNICEF and WHO) continued to vaccinate children. Over 300,000 routine vaccines have been given to children since January 2024.

• To date, only four out of 22 UNRWA health centres and two additional UNRWA-rented facilities used as temporary health centres were operational in the Gaza Strip. In addition, as of 31 August, UNRWA provides health services through 108 mobile medical teams working in 21 medical points inside and outside shelters in the Middle Area, Khan Younis, Al Mawasi, Gaza City. The number of operational health facilities changes constantly based on demand, access and security.

• Nutritional assessment was conducted in health centers and medical points targeting children from six to 59 months of age. The total number of screened children from 16 to 31 August was 5,369. Among them, 715 were identified as having severe or moderate acute malnutrition (13.3 per cent of the total number screened).

• Between 25 and 31 August, UNRWA medical teams provided 5,250 consultations for post-natal and pregnant women at high risk, 2,966 dental and oral health consultations in fixed and mobile clinics, and 2,087 physiotherapy rehabilitation services sessions in health centres and medical points. A total of 4,008 lab tests were conducted in UNRWA health centres and medical points.

• Between 25 and 31 August, an average of over 1,112 UNRWA health personnel per day worked in UNRWA health centres, temporary clinics and medical points across the Gaza Strip, providing 70,251 medical consultations in total.

• School health services were operational in the middle area and south area in the week of 25 to 31 August. A total of 727 students were medically examined, and vaccination services were provided to 1,245 students.

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS)

• UNRWA remains one of the largest providers of emergency learning and PSS services across the Gaza Strip.

• With the support of 236 school counsellors and over 300 assistant counsellors, the Agency has conducted 320,035 critical PSS sessions for approximately 730,000 displaced persons, including more than half a million children. Between 11 to 17 August 2025, a total of 9,812 displaced persons accessed these services.

• Between 7 October 2023 and 31 August 2025, UNRWA’s social work team provided services to 334,148 displaced persons, including psychological first aid, PSS services, family and individual activities, as well as case management. During the same reporting period, services were provided to over 2,800 survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) and 5,169 children, including 2,199 unaccompanied children. The team supported 27,442 persons with disabilities with PSS; 8,276 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 145,533 displaced persons.

• UNRWA continued to provide mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services in Gaza City, the middle and Khan Younis areas, through the support of health teams including 49 among psychiatrists, psychosocial counsellors and supervisors, assisting special cases referred from UNRWA health centres and shelters. From 25 to 31 August, UNRWA teams responded to 2,409 cases in health centres and at medical points through individual consultations, psychological first aid, awareness sessions and to address cases of gender-based violence (GBV).

Learning

• UNRWA has been providing learning services in Gaza in Temporary Learning Spaces (TLSs) and through its distance learning initiative.

• To date, more than 59,000 children, over half of them girls, have benefited from learning and recreational activities delivered in 455 TLSs, established across 67 UNRWA schools-turned-shelters.

• Between 11 and 17 August 2025, a total of 5,059 children (2,100 boys, 2,959 girls, including 38 children with disabilities) benefited from TLS-based learning activities in 139 active TLSs. UNRWA has completed the second cycle of its Distance Learning Programme in Gaza from 19 April to 26 July 2025. Access to online learning remains very challenging to provide children with regular learning opportunities given cuts in telecommunications and electricity.  

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 (16 January 2025), 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  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 over six 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, at UNRWA shelters and informal displacement areas. 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, UNRWA water provision and solid waste collection have reached around 1.4 million people (to date).

• Despite the displacement orders in Khan Younis, UNRWA water well continued to operate producing over 500 cubic metres of water daily reaching displaced persons in north Rafah and Khan Younis camps.

• Between 16 and 31 August, UNRWA distributed around 37,000 cubic metres of domestic and potable water in different areas, reaching around 230,000 displaced persons with potable water provision, and 1.2 million displaced persons with domestic water.

• During the reporting period, UNRWA teams conducted 118 pest control campaigns across the Gaza Strip, and 116 cleaning campaigns inside its shelters, benefiting over 94,000 displaced persons. UNRWA teams also conducted disinfection campagnas for 110 cubic meters of water tanks benefiting over 61,000 IDPs. - UNRWA