Humanitarian Situation Update #182 | 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 next update will be issued on 26 June.

Key Highlights

• The UN Human Rights Office deplores repeated strikes on Ash Shati’ Refugee Camp west of Gaza city.
• WHO appeals for the urgent medical evacuation outside Gaza of over 10,000 critically ill and injured patients through all possible crossings.
• The inability of humanitarian agencies to consistently and safely transport aid commodities from Kerem Shalom Crossing and the closure of Rafah Crossing are significantly undermining aid operations.

Humanitarian Developments

• Israeli bombardment from the air, land, and sea, as well as ground incursions and heavy fighting, continue to be reported across much of the Gaza Strip, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction of houses and other civilian infrastructure.
• Between the afternoons of 20 and 24 June, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, 195 Palestinians were killed and 445 were injured. Between 7 October 2023 and 24 June 2024, at least 37,626 Palestinians were killed and 86,098 were injured in Gaza, according to MoH in Gaza.
• Between the afternoons of 21 and 24 June, one Israeli soldier was killed in Gaza, according to the Israeli military. Between 7 October and 24 June, according to the Israeli military and official Israeli sources cited in the media, over 1,513 Israelis were killed, the majority on 7 October and including 313 soldiers killed in Gaza or along the border in Israel since the beginning of the ground operation. In addition, 1,977 soldiers were reported injured since the beginning of the ground operation. As of 24 June, it is estimated that 120 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including fatalities whose bodies are withheld.
• On 22 June, MoH reported that 24 people were killed and 49 were injured when tents of displaced people were hit west of Rafah city a day earlier. On 21 June, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stated that “heavy-calibre projectiles landed within meters” of its office in Al Mawasi area of Rafah, “which is surrounded by hundreds of displaced civilians living in tents.” As a result, there was an influx of mass casualties into the nearby Red Cross Field Hospital and the ICRC office sustained damage. Noting that ICRC facilities had previously been affected by “stray bullets,” the Committee stressed that “firing so dangerously close to humanitarian structures” endangers the lives of civilians and humanitarian workers and “parties to the conflict have an obligation to take all feasible precautions to avoid harm to civilians and damage to civilian objects, including humanitarian facilities.” The Israeli military said that an initial inquiry into the incident showed that there was no direct attack on the Red Cross facility, adding that a further examination will be carried out and its findings presented to international partners.
• On 23 June, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) deplored repeated strikes on Ash Shati’ Refugee Camp west of Gaza city, including at least three that occurred on 21 and 22 June and resulted in the reported killing of 34 Palestinians, including children. OHCHR reiterated that “Israel’s conduct of hostilities continues to raise concerns over serious violations of international humanitarian law,” including the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution, resulting in high numbers of casualties among civilians already enduring a “life-threatening lack of food, clean water and access to objects indispensable for their survival.”
• The following are among other deadly incidents reported between 20 and 23 June:
  • On 21 June, five Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured when two residential buildings were hit behind Deir Al Latin School in Gaza’s Old City.
  • On 22 June, at about 12:00, at least 24 Palestinians, including children, were reportedly killed and dozens of others injured when a residential block was hit near As Susi Mosque in Ash Shati' Refugee Camp, west of Gaza city.
  • On 22 June, at about 12:00, 19 Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured when a house was hit in At Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza city.
  • On 22 June, at about 15:00, four Palestinians, including two children, were reportedly killed when a house was hit in Ash Shuja’iyeh neighbourhood, east of Gaza city.
  • On 23 June, in the morning hours, eight Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured when a house was hit in As Sabra neighbourhood, in Gaza city.
  • On 23 June, MoH reported that Gaza’s Director of Emergency and Ambulance Services had been killed in a strike on Ad Daraj clinic in Gaza city.
• Access constraints continue to severely hamper the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance and services across Gaza, including the provision of critical food and nutrition aid, medical care, protection and shelter support, as well as water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services to hundreds of thousands of people. Between 1 and 23 June, out of the 86 planned coordinated humanitarian assistance missions to northern Gaza, 42 (49 per cent) were facilitated by the Israeli authorities, 10 (11.5 per cent) were denied access, 24 (28 per cent) were impeded, and 10 (11.5 per cent) were cancelled due to logistical, operational or security reasons. In addition, out of the 232 coordinated humanitarian assistance missions to areas in southern Gaza, 162 (70 per cent) were facilitated by Israeli authorities, 14 (six per cent) were denied access, 28 (12 per cent) were impeded, and 28 (12 per cent) were cancelled. In one incident on 23 June, a humanitarian aid mission returning to southern Gaza after delivering fuel and medical supplies in Gaza city was delayed for over 13 hours at an Israeli military checkpoint, exposing the convoy to the high risk of being caught in crossfire and being stranded at an unsafe location during the night. Between 18 and 23 June, three coordinated missions scheduled to pick up aid supplies from the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom Crossing were cancelled due to security concerns, including active hostilities and the collapse of public order and safety along the route designated by the Israeli military for cargo movement between the crossing and central Gaza.
• Persistent fuel shortages continue to hinder aid operations and the functioning of critical water, sanitation, health and other facilities across the Gaza Strip. Since the beginning of 2024, only 14 per cent of fuel (diesel and benzene) that used to enter Gaza on a monthly basis prior to October 2023, has been entering Gaza (two million vs. 14 million litres), with recent field reports indicating critically low levels of benzene available for distribution. On 23 June, the Director of the Kuwait Field Hospital in Khan Younis announced that the main electricity generator had stopped functioning due to the lack of fuel, and the facility was now relying on a secondary generator to maintain operations.
• Some of the 17 hospitals categorized as “partially functioning” in effect maintain only minimal operations, and access to them is so fragile that some pregnant women reaching these facilities have been reportedly requesting early Caesarean sections for fear of not being able to deliver safely later, stated the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, during a press briefing in Geneva on 21 June. In the same briefing, WHO Trauma Surgeon and Emergency Officer, Dr. Thanos Gargavanis, explained that the protracted closure of Rafah Crossing, the increase in fighting, large-scale displacement and the collapse of law and order have also meant that the United Nations continues to operate in an “un-workable environment” and what it is achieving “is only a fraction of what we should be doing.” Given the critical situation, the focus inside Gaza continues to be on lifesaving and limb-saving operations, Thanos added, with currently no conditions in place to bring in protheses or deploy specialized medical teams to assist amputees, many of them children and adolescents, in the rehabilitation process. The total number of wounded Palestinians and other medical cases evacuated since 7 October represents less than six per cent of the injury toll reported by MoH (4,895 out of more than 85,000 reported injuries). Within this context, WHO appealed for the facilitation of medical evacuations for over 10,000 patients, including trauma cases and people with cancer, heart, mental health and other conditions, through all possible crossings to ensure they receive the medical care they need. Until 7 October, patients and their companions were among the few categories of people from the Gaza Strip eligible to apply for Israeli-issued permits to exit Gaza, with the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza largely banned from exiting via Israel, including for passage to the West Bank. Between January and August 2023, according to the Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs, there were at least 1,700 monthly exits of patients from Gaza to the West Bank via Beit Hanoun/Erez crossing. During the same period, about 80 per cent of the 1,645 Gaza patient applications submitted to the Israeli authorities on average every month were approved for exiting Gaza, of which nearly half were for gaining access to health care facilities in East Jerusalem. Cancer patients comprised the largest category of those seeking referral to hospitals outside Gaza, constituting about 36 per cent of applicants.
• To help mitigate the impact of the health system’s collapse and address soaring needs, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and UNRWA are seeking to reactivate some of their services in northern Gaza. On 20 June, a PRCS specialized team, accompanied by the ICRC, was deployed to Gaza city to oversee the reactivation of the Al Quds Hospital and other relief services, including clinics and primary health centres, in northern Gaza. PRCS teams and volunteers are also working to reactivate services at the Society’s branch in Jabalya, which was damaged during a raid by Israeli forces at the end of 2023. Meanwhile, efforts have begun to clean up the UNRWA health centre in Jabalya, which was set on fire during a military operation and will require full rehabilitation to be functional again. According to UNRWA, other critical priorities in Jabalya include ensuring access to safe drinking water and addressing the accumulation of solid waste, as the scorching heat across Gaza continues to exacerbate the already dire water, sanitation and health conditions.
• The World Food Programme (WFP) continues to support the reopening of additional bakeries across the Gaza Strip, including in northern Gaza. As of 22 June, 12 WFP-supported bakeries are operational: six in Deir Al Balah, four in Gaza City, and two in Jabalya. One of the bakeries in Deir Al Balah resumed operations on 22 June after temporarily closing due to cooking gas shortage while five bakeries in Rafah remain closed due to the ongoing hostilities. One of the two bakeries in Jabalya is now providing fresh bread every day to about 3,000 families in the area, reported WFP Country Director, Matthew Hollingworth, on 23 June. Hollingworth stressed that while these efforts have helped achieve “some small levels of food security,” it remains “essential for commercial fresh food to enter northern Gaza,” where every child he met during his visit said “they’re dreaming of eating vegetables… [and] meat [and] they’re sick of eating aid even though it’s keeping them alive, but it’s barely a life.” Still, the entry of aid itself remains tenuous; in recent weeks, like all other aid actors, Food Security Cluster partners have been unable to consistently and safely transport aid commodities from Kerem Shalom Crossing to central and southern Gaza, due to ongoing fighting, criminal activities and the risk of looting along Salah Ad Din Road, forcing them to reduce food rations and limit coverage. Unless safe access to the Crossing is restored, food parcels available for distribution would be depleted in July and the number of cooked meals (now estimated at about 650,000 across Gaza) would be significantly reduced, the Cluster warned. Echoing the same concerns, the Nutrition Cluster cautioned that access limitations and security concerns have significantly limited pipeline supplies for the blanket supplementary feeding programme, which can only cover 30 per cent of the needs of children and pregnant and breastfeeding women through the end of July. According to the Food Security Cluster, urgent interventions are needed to roll back months of near starvation conditions by further expanding the volume, frequency, and geographic reach of life-saving food and other critical assistance as well as allowing for improved flows of private sector commercial supplies and cash liquidity.
• The unprecedented environmental impacts of the war in Gaza include “rapidly growing soil, water and air pollution and risks of irreversible damage to [communities’] natural ecosystems,” according to a preliminary assessment published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on 18 June. Conflict-generated debris, now averaging over 107 kilogrammes per square kilometre in Gaza or five time the debris from the 2017 conflict in Mosul (Iraq), is one key concern as it poses significant “risks to human health and the environment, from dust and contamination with unexploded ordnance, asbestos, industrial and medical waste, and other hazardous substances.” In addition, Gaza’s soil and water sources have been contaminated with munitions that contain heavy metals and explosive chemicals and with sewage due to the near collapse of water and sanitation systems, and they could be further harmed by anticipated lead leakage from destroyed solar panels. UNEP added that air quality is likely to sharply deteriorate due to the ongoing accumulation of rubbish, associated with damage to five out of six solid waste management facilities, as well as the burning of wood, plastic and waste as an alternative to cooking gas. These risks are both short and long term and are likely to persist long after the hostilities end, UNEP emphasized.

Funding

• As of 24 June, Member States have disbursed about US$1.19 billion out of $3.42 billion (35 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. 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.