UNRWA Situation Report no. 137 on situation in Gaza, West Bank

UNRWA teams distribute food aid to forcibly displaced families in an UNRWA school-turned-shelter in Deir al-Balah,

The Gaza Strip

• Ongoing strikes by Israeli Security Forces (ISF) continue, with aerial, land and maritime bombardments across the Gaza Strip, resulting in civilian casualties, displacement and the destruction of residential structures and public infrastructure.

• Humanitarian pauses across specific areas of the Gaza Strip have enabled the first round of the emergency polio vaccination campaign. The Polio vaccination campaign was rolled out in phases, focusing on one zone at a time - starting in the Middle Areas, shifting to the south, and finally to the northern governorates.  Between 1-13 September, nearly 560,000 children were reached in the middle, southern and northern areas of the Gaza Strip according to WHO.

• As winter approaches, WFP as the logistics cluster lead agency warns that worsening conditions and damaged roads in Gaza will complicate the delivery of food, water, medicine, and hygiene supplies to areas where they are critical for the survival of communities.

• According to the Health and WASH Clusters, there remains a critical shortage of essential hygiene items such as soap, shampoo, and detergents. Families are struggling to maintain basic hygiene in overcrowded shelters, which increases the risk of health conditions like infectious diarrhea.  Handwashing with soap can reduce diarrheal diseases by 40 per cent and respiratory infections by 20 per cent, yet soap and detergents are now either unavailable or priced beyond what families can afford. For example, a 75 gram piece of soap costs up to US$ 10, forcing families to make the hard choice between essential food or hygiene.

• On 14 September, the Israeli military issued yet another evacuation order affecting three neighbourhoods in central Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza. According to the Site Management Working Group, this order affects two internally displaced collective centres and one makeshift site, hosting a total of 850 people.  The ongoing issuance of mass evacuation orders without ensuring that those displaced have safe and adequate places to stay, is worsening the humanitarian crisis for hundreds of thousands of people, especially those who are repeatedly and forcibly displaced. As of 16 September, according to OCHA, more than 55 evacuation orders remain in effect, covering about 86 per cent of Gaza.

• According to the UN, at least 1.9 million people (or nine in ten people) across the Gaza Strip are internally displaced, including people who have been repeatedly displaced (some, up to 10 times or more).

• As of 17 September, the total number of UNRWA team members killed since 7 October is 220.

• Several challenges stand in the way of collecting much needed humanitarian supplies from the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing point in southern Gaza. These include deteriorating law and order, war and insecurity, damaged infrastructure, fuel shortages and access restrictions.  According to OCHA, between 1 and 9 September 2024, an average of only 62 humanitarian trucks entered the Gaza Strip per day. This is well below the pre-crisis average of 500 trucks per working day.

• The latest information on supplies entering Gaza can be accessed through the below link:        

Gaza Supplies and Dispatch Tracking | UNRWA

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem update is now once a week.

• According to OCHA, between 7 October 2023 and 9 September 2024, 674 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Separately, UNICEF confirmed that over 150 children have been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during the period, 7 October 2023 to July 2024.

• On 10 September, ISF resumed operations in northern West Bank (following their last withdrawal on 6 September), targeting Tulkarm, Nur Shams, and El Far’a camps. On 12 September, the ISF withdrew from Tulkarm Camp, and on 13 September from El Far’a Camp. The operation left extensive destruction, including damage to roads, residential and commercial buildings, and led to the interruption of basic services including water supply, electricity and sewerage networks.

• As a result of the resumed operations, 12 Palestinians were killed, including one UNRWA staff member shot and killed by live ammunition fire while on the roof of his house in El Far’a Camp early on 12 September.  Two drone strikes were reported during the operations, both on 11 September: one targeting a vehicle in Iktaba, killing three Palestinians; and one in the vicinity of a mosque in Tubas, resulting in six Palestinians killed.

• Furthermore, on 15 September, a Palestinian assailant was shot dead after allegedly stabbing and injuring an ISF personnel in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Movement restrictions remained in place across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. On 15 September, at least 23 Palestinians were detained at a checkpoint near Ramallah while attempting to reach their workplaces inside Israel.

Overall situation

 The Gaza Strip

• According to the Ministry of Healthin Gaza, and as reported by OCHA, between 7 October 2023 and 16 September 2024, at least 41,226 Palestinians were reported killed and 95,413 injured.

Humanitarian Access and Protection of Civilians

The Gaza Strip

• UNRWA is working to verify the details of incidents that reportedly impact UNRWA premises. Further information will be provided once it becomes available.

• During the reporting period, no new incidents impacting UNRWA installations and internally displaced people (IDPs) sheltering there were reported. The verification of details and any casualty figures are ongoing.

• 464* incidents impacting UNRWA premises and the people inside them have been reported since the beginning of the war (some with multiple incidents impacting the same location), including at least 74* incidents of military use and/or interference at UNRWA premises. 190* Agency installations have been impacted by munitions or subjected to armed actor interference through these incidents. UNRWA estimates that, in total, at least 563* IDPs sheltering in UNRWA installations have been killed and at least 1,790* injured since the start of the war. UNRWA is verifying the number of casualties caused by these incidents.

*Since the start of the war, latest figures are continuously under review as UNRWA gets access to locations that were previously inaccessible and as further verification occur. The total summary figures will be published once further verification has been conducted noting that these numbers are subject to change once verifications have been conducted.

UNRWA Response

The Gaza Strip

Health

• Between 24 – 29 August, UNRWA, as part of the national polio campaign, has provided health training to 440 nurses and 440 registrars. In addition, disseminating health messages about the vaccines has started at health facilities and medical points.

• As of 14 September, 82 medical points and 10 (out of 27[1] ) UNRWA health centres were operational. The health facilities provide primary health care, including outpatient services, non-communicable disease care, medications, vaccinations, antenatal and postnatal health care and dressings for the injured. The number of operational health facilities fluctuates constantly based on demand, access and security.

• On 14 September, 1,051 UNRWA health staff continued to work in health centres and medical points across the Gaza Strip, providing 16,260 medical consultations on that day.  

• On 14 September, UNRWA provided mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services in the Middle and Khan Younis areas, with teams of psychiatrists and supervisors to assist special cases referred from UNRWA health centres and shelters. UNRWA teams responded to 310 cases in health centres and at medical points through individual consultations, awareness sessions and to address cases of gender-based violence (GBV).

• On 14 September, medical teams provided medical care for 426 post-natal and pregnant women at high risk.

• According to the Health Cluster, UNRWA remains one of the largest health actors operating in the Gaza Strip, contributing to over half of the people reached with health services since 7 October 2023. Between 7 October 2023 and 9 September 2024, UNRWA provided over 5.47 million medical consultations across the Gaza Strip. In addition, the Agency (in partnership with and support from other UN agencies, including UNICEF and WHO) continues to provide vaccines, with over 130,000 children vaccinated against different childhood diseases since the start of 2024 through mid-July.

Psychosocial support and Learning

• UNRWA remains the largest provider of emergency learning and psychosocial support across the Gaza Strip.  More than 659,000 children continue to be out of school since the beginning of the war.  On 1 August 2024, UNRWA began to roll out its first phase response of ‘Back to Learning’ with a focus on mental health activities. This is taking place in up to 45 UNRWA schools now turned shelters[2]by expanding ongoing psychosocial support activities, focusing on arts, music and sports and raising awareness on the risks of explosive ordnance, with the support of nearly 750[3]school counsellors and up to 500 teachers. UNRWA continues to provide lifesaving psychosocial support (PSS) services in Gaza, including psychosocial first aid, individual and group counselling, fatigue management sessions, recreational activities, Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) and protection cash assistance, reaching children, youth and adults.

• Since the onset of the conflict in 2023, as of 15 September 2024 around 700,000 IDPs, including over 470,000 children, have benefited from a total of 253,648 PSS sessions/activities. Between 5-11 September, a total of 11,320 IDPs have accessed these services.  

• Following the roll out of UNRWA “Back to Learning” programme in UNRWA shelters, more than 8,500 children, including 60 per cent of whom are girls, have benefited from this response. Between 5 - 11 September, 8,320 children (3,317 boys, 5,003 girls, including 168 children with disabilities) participated in a variety of “Back to Learning” activities, including basic literacy and numeracy sessions, PSS sessions, and recreational activities such as arts, music, and sports.

• Since the onset of the war, UNRWA’s social work team has provided services to 172,369[4]IDPs, including psychological first aid, PSS, family and individual activities, as well as case management. These efforts aim to address family issues and strengthen relationships. Protection services were provided to 1,388 GBV survivors and 2,125 children, including 1,150 unaccompanied children, covering reunification, safe sheltering, medication, dignity kits and non-food items through referrals. The team also supported 18,833 persons with disabilities with PSS; 7,637 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 113,367 IDPs.

Food Security

• To date, a total of 380,236 families (nearly 1.9 million people) have been reached with two rounds of flour; 358,762 of those families have received three rounds.

• UNRWA continues to distribute food parcels in the southern governorates. These include[5]flour, rice, chickpeas, lentils, cheese, hummus and canned fish, and are designed to cover approximately 90 per cent of daily calorific needs per quarter. To date, nearly 1.15 million people have been reached, of whom, nearly 215,000 people have received two rounds of food parcels since the war started.  

• In addition to the distribution of UNRWA food parcels, the Agency distributes food parcels on behalf of other UN organizations, reaching around 1.4 million people.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

• Since October 2023, UNRWA has carried out emergency WASH activities across the Gaza Strip. Main activities include the operation and continued maintenance of water wells, desalination systems and the direct provision of water through water trucking and the distribution of bottled water. In addition, UNRWA continues to distribute hygiene kits and maintain hygiene in UNRWA shelters and sites through the provision of cleaning supplies, community based solid waste management, and pest control.

• UNRWA continues to be one of the largest WASH actors in the Gaza Strip. Since the beginning of the war, the Agency has maintained and rehabilitated eight wells, reaching over 600,000 IDPs with access to water. Between June and August, UNRWA reached 50,000 IDPs with hygiene kits.

• Between 15 August-9 September, UNRWA distributed over 80 cubic metres of water across 105 emergency shelters, reaching an estimated of 480,000 people.  During the first week of September, UNRWA distributed chlorine tablets to over 16 emergency shelters to prevent water contamination and improve water quality. Cleaning campaigns and hygiene promotion awareness sessions were held inside to coincide with the Polio vaccination campaigns. It is estimated that over 200,000 IDPs benefited from cleaning campaigns. Outside the emergency shelters, UNRWA continues to provide services, including water well services to over 700,000 people scattered in informal settlements in Mawasi Khan Younis.  

• Throughout the Gaza Strip, hundreds of thousands of tons of solid waste are piling up on the streets, between tents of displaced civilians and next to the rubble in back alleys. The collapse of solid waste management since 7 October 2023, is worsening the public health crisis. Between 23 August and 5 of September 2024, UNRWA collected a total of 2,000 tons of solid waste and transferred that to temporary dumping sites, in the middle and southern areas.

• Background Information:

• UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The United Nations General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949 with a mandate to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestine refugees in the Agency’s area of operations pending a just and lasting solution to their plight.