Humanitarian Situation Update #263 | Gaza Strip

The Humanitarian Situation Update is issued by OCHA Occupied Palestinian Territory twice a week. The Gaza Strip is covered on Tuesdays and the West Bank on Thursdays. The Gaza Humanitarian Response Update is issued every other Tuesday. The next Humanitarian Situation Update for the West Bank will be issued on 13 February.

Key Highlights

• Humanitarian actors continue to scale up operations across the Gaza Strip.
• In the first 10 days of February, 360 patients, including 156 children, were medically evacuated from Gaza, while between 12,000 and 14,000 people, including about 5,000 children, remain in urgent need of medical evacuation.
• The Palestine Red Crescent Society completed the transfer of its field hospital from Khan Younis to Gaza city, where it will resume operations soon.
• Since 1 January, over 2,300 children have been admitted for outpatient treatment of acute malnutrition.

Humanitarian Developments

• Between 3 and 7 February, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (USG-ERC), Tom Fletcher, visited Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the Gaza Strip. Mr. Fletcher held meetings with Israeli and Palestinian authorities, local and international NGOs, UN agencies and affected people. In northern Gaza, the USG-ERC toured two hospitals — Al Shifa in Gaza city and Al Awda in Jabalya — where he met with patients, staff and management. He also spoke with survivors and returnees who are trying to rebuild their lives amid the rubble in Jabalya. Throughout his visit, the USG-ERC stressed the need to seize the opportunities presented by the ceasefire to sustain and expand relief efforts.
• On 8 February, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) facilitated the fifth release operations since the ceasefire came into effect on 19 January. Three hostages were transferred out of Gaza to Israel, and 183 Palestinian detainees were released from Israeli detention centres. Palestinian detainees included 111 people who were detained from the Gaza Strip after 7 October 2023 and seven detainees who were released to Egypt. In total, since 19 January, 16 Israeli and five Thai hostages and 766 Palestinian detainees have been released.
• As of 11 February, it is estimated that 76 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including hostages who have been declared dead and whose bodies are being withheld in Gaza.
• As of February 2025, according to data provided by the Israel Prison Service (IPS) to Hamoked, an Israeli human rights NGO, there are 9,846 Palestinians in Israeli custody, including 1,734 sentenced prisoners, 2,941 remand detainees, 3,369 administrative detainees held without trial, and 1,802 people held as “unlawful combatants.” These figures do not include Palestinians from Gaza who have been detained by the Israeli military since 7 October 2023.
• Between the afternoons of 5 February and 11 February, the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza reported the killing of 107 Palestinians and the injury of 47 others; this includes 87 newly retrieved bodies. Since the ceasefire came into effect on 19 January, and as of 11 February, a total of 613 bodies were retrieved from areas that were previously inaccessible, MoH reported. As of 11 February 2025, MoH in Gaza reported the killing of at least 48,219 Palestinians and the injury of 111,665 others, since 7 October 2023. According to the Ministry, the cumulative figure includes 572 fatalities who were retroactively added as of 8 February 2025 after their identification details were consolidated and approved by a ministerial committee.
• Between 5 and 9 February, several casualties were reported across the Gaza Strip, including: a Palestinian boy who was reportedly killed in Rafah on 5 February; a Palestinian man who was reportedly killed near the Netzarim corridor in Al Mughraqa area, in Deir al Balah on 6 February; an elderly Palestinian woman who was reportedly killed in Al Qarara in eastern Khan Younis on 9 February; and three Palestinians who were reportedly killed and five others injured when some people, allegedly attempting to return to their homes in eastern Gaza city, were shot at near Al Kuwaiti Roundabout in southern Gaza city on 9 February.
• Between the afternoons of 5 February and 11 February, two Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza, according to Israeli forces. According to official sources cited in the Israeli media, two Israeli soldiers were killed and eight were wounded when a crane used by the military collapsed on them overnight in the Gaza Strip on 6 February 2025. Between 7 October 2023 and 11 February 2025, according to Israeli forces and official Israeli sources cited in the media, more than 1,607 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed, the majority on 7 October 2023 and its immediate aftermath. This includes 407 soldiers killed, in addition to 2,579 soldiers injured, in Gaza or along the border in Israel since the beginning of the ground operation in October 2023.
• On 9 February, as part of the first 42-day phase of the ceasefire agreement, Israeli forces completed their withdrawal from the Netzarim corridor. On 10 February, the Israeli military announced that the movement of people on foot via Salah Al Deen Road will be permitted and the movement of vehicles northward on the same road will continue to be subjected to inspection. The Israeli military further emphasized that the movement of militants and the transfer of combat equipment toward northern Gaza is strictly prohibited, reiterating a warning to residents not to approach all areas where Israeli forces are deployed, the Rafah Crossing area, the Philadelphi Corridor, the ”buffer zone,” or the maritime area.
• The “buffer zone” along the eastern parts of the Gaza Strip was home to over 238,000 Palestinians prior to October 2023 and has witnessed extensive destruction, particularly in the first four and a half months of the escalation of hostilities. Satellite imagery analysis by UNOSAT showed that the number of damaged and destroyed buildings within the one-kilometre-wide border area sharply increased from 15 per cent to 90 per cent of about 4,000 structures between mid-October 2023 and end of February 2024. The area, nonetheless, encompasses facilities that are critical for humanitarian operations, including water wells, sewage pumping stations, wastewater treatment plants, and the main Sufa landfill which is located 800 metres from the eastern border of Gaza in Khan Younis governorate. Since the ceasefire took effect, coordination with Israeli authorities for humanitarian aid missions is no longer required except for entering the buffer zones. However, access impediments are hindering the ability of aid actors to conduct repairs and restore the functionality of key facilities in the buffer zones. For example, according to the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster, the continued denial of access by the Israeli authorities to the Sufa landfill has prevented the safe transfer of solid waste from about 30 temporary dumpsites, half of which are already full, and numerous ad-hoc sites, aggravating public health risks.
• Between 5 and 10 February, 256 sick and injured patients, including 56 children, and 327 companions were evacuated to Egypt via Rafah Crossing to receive specialized care in Egypt. In total, since medical evacuations started through Rafah Crossing on 1 February, the World Health Organization (WHO) supported the medical evacuation of 360 patients, including 156 children. Between 12,000 and 14,000 people, including about 5,000 children, remain in urgent need of medical evacuation. Urging scaled-up approvals of medical evacuations, the WHO Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) emphasized that this includes the restoration of medical referrals to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. According to WHO, about 1,900 hospital beds are now available at partially functional hospitals and field hospitals across the Gaza Strip to cover the needs of over two million people, compared with 3,500 beds that were available prior to the escalation of hostilities, and about 30,000 people are suffering from serious life-changing injuries that require continuous rehabilitation unavailable in the Strip.
• According to the Site Management Cluster, more than 586,000 people were observed crossing from southern to northern Gaza through six flow monitoring points established in Deir al Balah, Gaza city and North Gaza between 27 January and 6 February, while over 56,000 were observed crossing southwards between 30 January and 6 February. Most movements took place on the first two days, when over 376,000 people were observed crossing northward on 27 January and between 6:00 and 12:00 on 28 January.
• With 92 per cent of homes in Gaza damaged or destroyed, people across Gaza are exposed to heightened risks, according to the Shelter and Protection clusters. Among others, the critical shortage of adequate shelter and shelter materials has forced multiple families to cohabit in single tents, creating unsafe and undignified living conditions, especially for women and girls. Additionally, it forced some children to live on their own, even when relatives are willing to provide care. Without separate and secure spaces, they face heightened risks of gender-based violence (GBV), worsening levels of personal hygiene, including menstrual hygiene, and growing vulnerability to mental and physical health risks. Furthermore, the scarcity of shelter materials exacerbates existing power imbalances, leaving the most vulnerable groups, such as female-headed households, unaccompanied minors, and persons with disabilities, at greater risk of exploitation as they struggle to access the shelter they need. Many Palestinians are also forced to seek refuge in damaged buildings and are therefore exposed to the dangers of explosive remnants of war (ERW). With winter well underway, nearly a million displaced Palestinians remain in immediate need of assistance to protect themselves from harsh weather conditions, with families resorting to sewing old rice sacks for basic cover. At the same time, without proper shelter materials to establish safe spaces, Child Protection and GBV response efforts remain severely constrained.
• On 6 February, heavy rain and strong winds were observed in Gaza, leaving thousands of people exposed to cold and wet conditions. “People living in makeshift tents in Gaza are at the mercy of severe winter storms,” stated UNRWA, adding that, “hundreds of families in Deir al Balah and North Gaza have been affected, with hundreds of tents destroyed and several households displaced.” To gauge the impact of the storm, between 6 and 9 February, Site Management Cluster partners conducted assessments at 23 out of 1,328 displacement sites across the Strip and found that at least 800 families at these sites reported damage to their makeshift shelters, tents, water tanks and latrines, and needed immediate support. In addition, Child Protection partners reported that five child-friendly safe spaces have been destroyed by the adverse weather conditions, affecting community-based mental health and psychosocial support activities. In Jabalya, the largest adapted women and girl’s safe space, serving nearly 500 women and girls per month and where 100 received case management support, was also destroyed.

Humanitarian Response Scale-Up

• Overall, the surge in the daily entry of supplies into Gaza since the ceasefire came into force on 19 January – through Erez and Zikim crossings in the north and Kerem Shalom Crossing in the south – and improved access conditions have enabled humanitarian partners to meaningfully expand their operational presence and the delivery of lifesaving assistance in accordance with population movements, including in areas that were previously hard or impossible to access, such as Rafah, Gaza and North Gaza governorates.
• With flour and fuel available, the World Food Programme (WFP) is now supporting the operation of 22 bakeries across Gaza, including one in North Gaza, seven in Gaza, six in Deir al Balah, and eight in Khan Younis. As of 1 February, approximately 780,000 cooked meals prepared in about 160 kitchens were distributed daily to families across the Strip, an increase of 20 per cent compared with pre-ceasefire levels. WFP has also provided cash assistance to 15,791 households as of 31 January, aiming to reach up to 30,000 households (150,000 people) with multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA) within one month.
• Health Cluster partners have intensified their efforts to address critical health needs across Gaza, including relocating medical facilities in response to population movements, establishing mobile clinics and new medical points, and supporting the expansion or re-activation of services at existing facilities. For example, on 9 February, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) completed the transfer of the fully equipped Kuwait field hospital from Khan Younis to Gaza city, where it will resume operations soon. The first in northern Gaza, the field hospital includes several medical departments, including surgery, neonatal care, intensive care, radiology and emergency services, and will be operated by a medical team from Al-Quds Hospital, in Gaza city, which was rendered out of service at the beginning of war, PRCS stated. There are 10 other field hospitals currently available in the Gaza Strip, including four in Deir al Balah, four in Khan Younis and two in Rafah. In Rafah governorate, where all three hospitals remain non-functional, PRCS has resumed operations at its primary health-care clinic and UNRWA opened a new physiotherapy unit at Muawiya Health Centre and recruited six new physiotherapists to enhance services. MoH has also announced that the Central Blood Bank in Gaza city has resumed functionality, calling for blood donations to restock blood supplies in the Central Blood Bank as well as at Al Sahaba and Al Ahli Arab hospitals in Gaza city. As of 11 February, only 40 per cent of primary health centres (57 out of 142) and 51 per cent of hospitals (18 out of 35) in the Strip are operational, the vast majority partially so.
• The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in collaboration with partners, have scaled up maternity medicines for deliveries, treatments for obstetric and gynaecological complications, outpatient visits for antenatal and postnatal care, family planning and sexually transmitted infection services, as well as the distribution of infant warmers, postpartum kits and dignity kits. Moreover, emergency obstetric and newborn care services are now available at 12 health facilities, including one in North Gaza where such services were resumed on 31 January at Al Awda Hospital in Jabalya. The other 11 facilities include three in Gaza city, three in Deir al Balah, four in Khan Younis, and one in Rafah. Despite intensive efforts, UNFPA warns that health-care facilities remain severely understaffed and overstretched in meeting growing needs, particularly in northern Gaza and Rafah, where the restoration and expansion of maternal and reproductive health capacities remain a priority.
• Partners addressing GBV have scaled up efforts to prevent and respond to the growing risks faced by women and girls. During the first week of February, a new women’s shelter was established in Gaza city, equipped with a solar power system to ensure uninterrupted services, providing a crucial refuge for survivors seeking safety and support. In addition, four new safe spaces for women and girls have been opened in northern Gaza following the ceasefire, and one was relocated from Khan Yunis to Rafah to better serve displaced families. Partners have also increased the distribution of dignity and hygiene kits, along with cash and voucher assistance to help survivors rebuild their lives. These efforts aim to strengthen protection mechanisms, restore a sense of safety, and rebuild social support networks that have been shattered by displacement and hostilities. However, the needs remain vast, with thousands of women and girls facing extreme insecurity, and there are urgent gaps in shelter, privacy, clean water, sanitation, and health care.
• UNRWA continues to provide lifesaving MHPSS services, including psychological first aid, individual and group counselling, fatigue management sessions, recreational activities, explosive ordnance risk education and protection cash assistance, reaching children, youth and adults. Since the escalation of hostilities in October 2023, approximately 730,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), including more than 520,000 children, have benefited from a total of 284,860 MHPSS sessions and activities. Between 3 and 9 February, 10,907 IDPs accessed these vital services. Moreover, UNRWA continues to provide health services at three out of 22 of its health centres and four additional temporary centres as well as through 124 mobile medical teams working in 54 medical points inside and outside shelters across Gaza. Since the start of the ceasefire, UNRWA health teams have provided over 226,000 health consultations, care for more than 12,000 post-natal and pregnant women at high risk, dental and oral health services for over 8,850 patients at fixed and mobile clinics, and physiotherapy rehabilitation services for nearly 4,300 patients.
• Nutrition Cluster partners have scaled up the screening of children under five years of age and pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBW), noting that their vulnerability to malnutrition remains high. Between December 2024 and February 2025, 42 new sites offering malnutrition screening services have opened, bringing the total number of nutrition sites to 204, up from 162 in December 2024. This is mainly due to the expansion of services by one cluster partner in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis governorates. Furthermore, three stabilization centres are operational, down from four in January following the closure of one centre due to funding shortfalls. At present, data provided by partners from all 204 nutrition sites operational across Gaza — including three in North Gaza, 12 in Gaza, 89 in Deir al Balah, 93 in Khan Younis and seven in Rafah — show that malnutrition rates have remained relatively stable in December 2024 and January 2025. Notwithstanding limited screening data from northern Gaza to date, since 1 January, 2,369 children have been admitted for outpatient treatment of acute malnutrition. This includes 1,966 children diagnosed with moderate acute malnutrition and 403 children diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition. As for maternal malnutrition, 13,285 women were screened in January, with data showing an average malnutrition rate of 10-15 per cent of screened women. Malnutrition data is based on mid-upper arm circumference measurements (MUAC) used as a proxy for the global acute malnutrition rate (GAM). While MUAC tends to underestimate the GAM, compared with weight for height measurements, these have not been feasible in Gaza until now, the cluster reports, adding that planning is underway to undertake a nutrition SMART (Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions) survey in Gaza.
• While acute malnutrition was almost nonexistent in Gaza before the escalation of hostilities, lack of access to nutritious food and essential services over 15 months, including health care, water, sanitation and hygiene, has led to the spread of acute malnutrition, particularly among children under two years and PWB where 90 per cent are estimated to have experienced severe food poverty, consuming two or fewer food groups per day and mainly foods of low nutritional value such as bread and pulses. Overall, the Nutrition Cluster estimates that all 290,000 children under five and 150,000 PBW require feeding and micronutrient supplements as each episode of acute malnutrition has long term impacts, including on the development of a child, and poor diet can lead to chronic malnutrition (stunting), making prevention essential. Since the ceasefire took effect, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reached over 10,000 children under two across Gaza with ready-to-use complementary foods to improve their dietary diversity. As of February 2025, 127 outpatient therapeutic feeding (OTP) sites are operational across Gaza, in addition to 240 sites that offer blanket supplementary feeding and 21 mother-baby safe spaces to support counselling and breastfeeding. The nutrition cluster reports that, in January 2025, 132,229 children and 58,254 PBW received food supplements, 12,704 children and 9,107 PBW received high energy biscuits, and nearly 220,000 caregivers benefited from counselling on infant and young child feeding practices.
• According to the Shelter Cluster, since the ceasefire came into effect, 644,000 people across Gaza have received shelter assistance including tents, sealing-off materials and tarpaulins, 878,800 received non-food items, and 116,000 received shelter items such as blankets, with special attention afforded by partners to apply the vulnerability criteria during distribution. As of 6 February, UNRWA reports that it is running 120 designated emergency shelters (DES) in the Gaza Strip, hosting about 120,000 people, noting that population movements remain fluid. This includes 37 DES that were established in the aftermath of the ceasefire, hosting approximately 30,000 IDPs as of 6 February, of which seven are in Gaza governorate and 30 are in North Gaza.
• Over the past week, Education Cluster partners have established 13 new temporary learning spaces (TLS) in Gaza, Deir al Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah governorates, providing learning opportunities for more than 1,700 school-aged children who have returned or relocated to these areas. These figures remain limited given the widespread damage to education infrastructure and the use of the remaining schools as shelters, limiting space available for educational purposes. As of 10 February, there are 403 TLS across the Gaza Strip, serving 152,000 children of whom about 48 per cent are girls and 52 per cent boys. This is down from 460 TLS prior to the ceasefire, due to the closure of TLS in central and southern Gaza following vast population movements to northern Gaza, notes the Education Cluster, but plans are underway to re-establish TLS in areas of return. TLS offer a range of support services for children, including psycho-social support (PSS), recreational activities, and lifesaving messages on protection and hygiene promotion, which learners can in turn share with their families, further extending outreach. Since UNRWA is the largest provider of emergency learning and MHPSS services across the Gaza Strip, most children study in learning spaces established within UNRWA schools that have been converted into shelters. Furthermore, between the 1 and 10 February, nearly 24,000 learners, primarily in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, received backpacks, individual PSS kits, and other education-related supplies. However, access impediments continue to restrict the availability of education-related materials that aim to enhance the quality of learning for children. Since the beginning of the new academic year in September, all 658,000 school-aged children have been unable to access formal education. Additionally, 39,000 students who missed Grade 12 exams (Tawjihi) are yet to take these exams, putting their transition to tertiary education at risk unless educational support is provided.

Funding

• As of 11 February 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$146.4 million out of the $4.07 billion (3.6 per cent) requested to meet the most critical humanitarian needs of three million out of 3.3 million people identified as requiring assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025, under the 2025 Flash Appeal for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Nearly 90 per cent of the requested funds are for humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 10 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during January 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF) managed 101 ongoing projects, totalling $72.4 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (86 per cent) and the West Bank (14 per cent). Of these projects, 55 are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 33 by national NGOs and 13 by UN agencies. Notably, 41 out of the 68 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service webpage and the oPt HF webpage.

* Asterisks indicate that a figure, sentence, or section has been rectified, added, or retracted after the initial publication of this update.