Humanitarian Situation Update #177 | Gaza Strip

The Humanitarian Situation Update is issued by OCHA Occupied Palestinian Territory three times per week. The Gaza Strip is covered on Mondays and Fridays, and the West Bank is covered on Wednesdays. The “Humanitarian Situation Update” is a rebranding of the “Flash Update”. The next Humanitarian Situation Update and the Humanitarian Response Update will be published on 12 June.

Key Highlights

• An Israeli military operation in An Nuseirat Refugee Camp rescues four Israeli hostages and results in nearly 1,000 Palestinian casualties.  
• Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah is operating at nearly five-fold its capacity while surviving on only one electricity generator. 
• Over 330,000 tons of solid waste have accumulated in or near populated areas in the Gaza Strip, warns the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Cluster. 

Humanitarian Developments

• Israeli bombardment from the air, land, and sea continues to be reported across much of the Gaza Strip, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction of houses and other civilian infrastructure. Ground incursions and heavy fighting also continue to be reported across Gaza, particularly in An Nuseirat Refugee Camp and Rafah. As of 10 June, intensified hostilities and military operations in Rafah have so far forced the displacement of approximately one million people, deepening the humanitarian crisis and significantly destabilizing humanitarian aid flows.  
• In response to the Israeli military operation and mass casualties in An Nuseirat Refugee Camp, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, described the camp as the “epicentre of the seismic trauma that civilians in Gaza continue to suffer.” The UN humanitarian relief chief added: “The images of death and devastation following Israel’s military operation there prove that each day this war continues, it only grows more horrific. Seeing shrouded bodies on the ground, we are reminded that nowhere is safe in Gaza. Seeing bloodied patients being treated on hospital floors, we are reminded that health care in Gaza is hanging by a thread. And even as four hostages are reunited with their families, we are reminded that scores are still being held captive. All of them must be released. All civilians must be protected. This collective agony can and must end now.” 
• Between the afternoons of 7 and 10 June, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, 393 Palestinians were killed and 1,182 were injured. Fatalities include 274 killed and 698 injured in An Nuseirat Refugee Camp on 8 June, MoH reported. Between 7 October 2023 and 10 June 2024, at least 37,124 Palestinians were killed and 84,712 were injured in Gaza, according to MoH in Gaza.
• *In addition to fatalities in An Nuseirat Refugee Camp (see details below), the following are among other deadly incidents reported between 6 and 9 June:
  • On 6 June, at about 16:50, nine Palestinians, including four internally displaced persons (IDPs), were reportedly killed and others injured when a house was hit east of Khan Younis city.
  • On 6 June, at about 23:00, five Palestinian men, including the mayor of An Nuseirat, were reportedly killed when the municipality building in Deir al Balah governorate was hit.
  • On 7 June, at about 11:30, at least eight Palestinians, including four children and a woman, were reportedly killed and others injured when a house was hit in 'Abasan al Kabira town, in Khan Younis.
  • On 7 June, at about 23:15, five Palestinians, including at least two children and a woman, were reportedly killed and 14 others injured when a house was hit in Ar Radwan neighbourhood in southern Gaza city.
  • On 8 June, at about 7:30, at least six Palestinians, including two females, were reportedly killed and others injured when a house was hit in block 12 in Al Bureij Refugee Camp, in Deir al Balah.
  • On 9 June, at about 0:30, four Palestinians, including a child, were reportedly killed and seven others injured when a house was hit, near Al Jerjawi School, in Ad Daraj neighbourhood, in central Gaza city.
• Between the afternoons of 7 and 10 June, one Israeli soldier was reported killed in Gaza. As of 10 June, 295 soldiers have been killed and 1,908 soldiers have been injured in Gaza or along the border in Israel since the beginning of the ground operation, according to the Israeli military. In addition, according to the Israeli media citing official Israeli sources, over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 33 children, have been killed in Israel, the vast majority on 7 October. On 8 June, four Israeli hostages were released by Israeli forces in an operation in An Nuseirat Refugee Camp. As of 10 June, it is estimated that 120 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including fatalities whose bodies are withheld. 
• Attacks on schools sheltering internally displaced persons (IDPs) continue to be reported. As of 5 June, UNRWA reported that at least 435 incidents have impacted its facilities sheltering displaced families. As a result, at least 456 IDPs taking refuge in UNRWA shelters (including schools) have been killed, 1,478 injured, and 186 different UNRWA installations damaged since 7 October, the Agency reported. Subsequently, on 7 June, at about 12:15, at least three Palestinians were reportedly killed and 15 injured when UNRWA’s Asmaa School sheltering IDPs in Ash Shati’ Refugee Camp was hit.  
• Intensive land and air strikes during the Israeli military operation in An Nuseirat Refugee Camp on 8 June resulted in the killing of 274 Palestinians and the injury of another 698 people, according to MoH in Gaza. Moreover, the Gaza Government Media Office (GMO) reported that 64 children, 57 women and 37 elderly people were among the fatalities, and 153 children, 161 women and 54 elderly people were among the injured. GMO further stated that 89 inhabited houses and residential buildings were targeted during the operation without prior notification. MoH reported that large numbers of casualties were transferred to the already overwhelmed Al Aqsa Hospital, in Deir al Balah, where tens of injured people were lying on the floor amid severe shortages of medicines, medical consumables and fuel.  
• In a press statement issued at the height of the emergency on 8 June, the director of Al-Aqsa Hospital urged citizens to donate blood to help treat wounded patients and appealed for new generators, stressing that the facility is now surviving with only one electricity generator and, should it break down, the hospital would be forced to cease operations. MoH also warned that a critical shortage of generators across Gaza is threatening the continued provision of life-saving health services, placing the lives of the sick and injured at risk, and appealed to the international community for support. MoH noted that many generators have been destroyed in the hostilities and the maintenance of existing ones has been hampered by restrictions on the entry of spare parts into Gaza. After being the sole source of electricity for health facilities for nearly nine months, many generators urgently require repairs, MoH emphasized. On 10 June, MoH further warned that the only oxygen station in Gaza governorate, which supplies health facilities and chronically ill patients with oxygen, could cease functioning in a matter of hours due to the shortage of fuel.  
• The mass casualty incident in An Nuseirat Refugee Camp has greatly overwhelmed the limited capacities of hospitals, especially Al Aqsa and Al Awda hospitals in Deir al Balah and Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. A UN inter-agency mission to Al Aqsa Hospital on 8 June highlighted that the hospital was hosting about 700 patients, or nearly five-fold its capacity for in-patient services prior to the war, as well as providing dialysis services to an estimated 700 patients, albeit at a reduced pace. Describing the situation at Al Aqsa Hospital on 8 June as a “nightmare,” Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) coordinator in Gaza, Samuel Johann, stated that the hospital had to cope with back-to-back mass casualties, which is “way beyond what anyone could deal with in a functional hospital, let alone with the scarce resources” available. MSF, whose medical teams were working alongside doctors at Al Aqsa and Nasser hospitals, further reported that doctors had to deal with the full gamut of conflict wounds, including amputations, eviscerations, trauma, brain injuries, fractures and severe burns, and the intensive care unit at Nasser Medical Complex was already full as patients kept on arriving. At one point, about 50 critically injured patients, including unconscious children, arrived in the span of one hour, added MSF, noting that Nasser Medical Complex had limited CT scanning capabilities and suffered from a shortage of painkillers, with morphine and ketamine being rationed. Al Awda Hospital in Deir al Balah was similarly inundated with injured patients and dead bodies, highlighted CADUS, which has two medical teams embedded at Al Awda and Al Aqsa hospitals. The NGO additionally reported being unable to immediately dispatch additional urgent support due to requirements to coordinate movements to this area with the Israeli military 24 hours in advance.  
• The World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Cluster partners continue to step up support for the provision of critical health services across the Gaza Strip, but significant challenges persist. On 7 June, WHO reported that a truck carrying European Commission-supported medications for noncommunicable diseases, such as hypertension, cardiac conditions, type 2 diabetes, and chronic respiratory illnesses, had arrived in Gaza via the Kerem Shalom Crossing on 30 May. WHO noted that the distribution of these supplies would support the treatment of up to 44,000 people at health facilities, stressing that “given the scale of needs, the extremely limited quantity of health supplies trickling in via Karem Shalom is simply not enough.” Meanwhile, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) noted that its team at Al Amal Hospital in Khan Younis is setting up tents with medical beds in front of the hospital’s reception and emergency department, to increase bed capacity at the facility and better respond to emergencies. At present, 17 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially functional, including three in North Gaza, seven in Gaza, three in Deir al Balah and four in Khan Younis, while none are operational in Rafah.  
• Fuel shortages continue to severely disrupt people’s access to water and the operation of vital sanitation facilities in the Gaza Strip, compounding the impact of prolonged electricity cuts and damage to infrastructure. According to the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster, between 26 May and 2 June, only 20 per cent of fuel needed per week to ensure the operation of vital water and wastewater facilities was received (94,000 out of 490,000 litres required). Fuel deliveries were also suspended between 31 May and 6 June due to safety concerns and the shifting of logistical support services from Rafah to Khan Younis amid intensified military operations. In North Gaza, while the delivery of some fuel supplies has enabled the operation of the pumping station at Sheikh Radwan sewage lagoon, helping to reduce the level of accumulated wastewater, the lack of a steady flow of fuel creates a continued risk of sewage overflow into neighbouring areas. In addition, the lack of sufficient fuel limits water distribution through the functional networks, which, coupled with the lack of generators and spare parts, continues to impact the availability of potable water. As of 2 June, daily water production in the Gaza Strip stood at around 95,000 cubic metres per day, representing only 26 per cent of water produced prior to October 2023.  
• The accumulation of “mountains of waste and rubble” in Gaza is “posing significant health and environmental risks," warned the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) on the occasion of World Environment Day, on 5 June. Prior to the intensification of hostilities on 7 October, nearly all collected waste was transferred to two primary landfills: Juhr Al Dik, serving Gaza city and northern Gaza; and Al Fukhari, serving the central and southern areas. However, the inaccessibility of the two landfills, coupled with fuel shortages, damage to infrastructure, and the destruction of about 100 waste collection vehicles and machines, have severely compromised the waste management system, according to PCBS, resulting in waste being burned, piled up or disposed off at random dumpsites. To address this crisis, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has recently contributed to collecting 47,000 tons of waste from Deir al Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah and transferring them to temporary dumpsites by employing over 200 workers. UNDP has also distributed some 80,000 litres of fuel to support waste management operations. Public health protection in Gaza, however, requires vital upgrades to the temporary dumpsites, landfill access, and additional funding for the maintenance of vehicles and supply of containers, stressed UNDP. As of 9 June, the WASH Cluster estimates that around 330,400 tons of solid waste have so far accumulated in or near populated areas across the Gaza Strip. 

Funding 

• As of 10 June, Member States have disbursed about US$1.06 billion out of $3.4 billion (31 per cent) requested to meet the most critical needs of 2.3 million people in Gaza and 800,000 people in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between January and December 2024. For funding analysis, please see the Flash Appeal Financial Tracking dashboard.    
• The oPt HF has 109 ongoing projects, for a total of $78.9 million, addressing urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (86 per cent) and West Bank (14 per cent). Of these projects, 69 projects are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 26 by national NGOs and 14 by UN agencies. Notably, 43 out of the 83 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. Since 7 October, the oPt HF has mobilized over $100 million from Member States and private donors, designated for programmes throughout Gaza. A summary of the oPt HF activities and challenges in May 2024 is available through this link and the 2023 Annual Report of the oPt HF can be accessed here. Private donations are collected directly through the Humanitarian Fund. 

For the most recent Gaza Humanitarian Response Update for the period between 20 and 26 May, please visit: Gaza Humanitarian Response Update | 20–26 May 2024. For the most recent Reported Impact Snapshot, please visit: Reported Impact Snapshot | Gaza Strip (9 June 2024).