Humanitarian Situation Update #212 | 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 4 September.

Key Highlights

• Local humanitarian pauses enabled the launch of the emergency polio vaccination campaign, with nearly 87,000 children vaccinated in central Gaza during the first day.
• With water borne disease on the rise, and despite challenges, water services have been partially restored in several areas, and essential supplies for water disinfection have been delivered.
• Since January 2024, 16 incidents involving UN vehicles being directly hit have been recorded in Gaza.

Humanitarian Developments

• Israeli bombardment from the air and land continues to be reported across the Gaza Strip, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction of houses and other civilian infrastructure. Ground operations, particularly in Beit Hanoun, southwest Gaza city, eastern Khan Younis and Deir al Balah and east as well as south Rafah, with heavy fighting, also continue to be reported.
• Between the afternoons of 29 August and 2 September, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, 184 Palestinians were killed and 369 were injured. Between 7 October 2023 and 2 September 2024, at least 40,786 Palestinians were killed and 94,224 were injured, according to MoH in Gaza.
• The following are some of the deadly incidents reported between 29 and 1 September:
  • On 29 August, nine Palestinians, including three children (of whom two were newborn), and two women (of whom one was pregnant), were reportedly killed when the upper floor of a residential tower was hit in western An Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in Deir al Balah.
  • On 29 August, five Palestinians were reportedly killed and at least 13 others injured in Deir al Balah.
  • On 29 August, five Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured when internally displaced people’s (IDP) tents were hit in Wadi Saber area, east Khan Younis.
  • On 31 August, seven Palestinians from the same family were reportedly killed when a house was hit in As Sabra neighbourhood in Gaza city.
  • On 31 August, five Palestinians, including three females and a doctor, were reportedly killed when a house was hit in southern Khan Younis.
  • On 31 August, five Palestinians, including four females, were reportedly killed and 15 others injured when a house was hit in southern Khan Younis.
  • On 1 September, 11 Palestinians were reportedly killed and tens others injured when Safad school hosting IDPs was hit in Az Zaitoun neighbourhood, east of Gaza city.
• Between the afternoons of 30 August and 2 September, no Israeli soldiers were reportedly killed in Gaza, according to the Israeli military. Between 7 October 2023 and 2 September 2024, according to the Israeli military and official Israeli sources cited in the media, more than 1,539 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed, the majority on 7 October and its immediate aftermath. The figure includes 339 soldiers killed in Gaza or along the border in Israel since the beginning of the ground operation. In addition, 2,266 Israeli soldiers were reported injured since the beginning of the ground operation.
• On 1 September, Israeli forces recovered the bodies of six Israeli hostages from a tunnel within the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli military, an initial assessment indicates they were killed a short while before being discovered. As of 2 September, it is estimated that 101 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including hostages who have been declared dead and whose remains are withheld in Gaza.
• Area-specific humanitarian pauses have enabled the first round of the emergency polio vaccination campaign on 1 September in central Gaza. Nearly 87,000 children were reached on the first day, according to World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, stated that the joint effort among the Ministry of Health, WHO, UNICEF, UNRWA and partners would be undertaken in phases, focusing on one zone at a time - starting in central Gaza, before shifting to the south, and finally to the northern governorates. Some 2,180 health workers and community outreach workers have been trained to provide vaccinations and inform communities about the campaign which is being rolled out through 392 fixed points and almost 300 mobile teams. Dr. Peeperkorn welcomed the area-specific humanitarian pauses during the campaign and appealed to all parties to “pause the fighting to allow children and their families to safely access health facilities and [enable] community outreach workers to get to children who cannot access health facilities for polio vaccinations.” The campaign will last three consecutive days in each zone and will be extended by a fourth day if needed. Round two of the campaign will aim to administer the second dose of the vaccine in four weeks’ time. The overall objective is to reach more than 640,000 children under the age of 10 across the Gaza Strip in each of the two rounds. This is a “massive, massive effort, we've had thousands upon thousands of people working around the clock over the past several weeks to get ready for the launch of the campaign today”, stressed the UNRWA Director of Planning, Sam Rose, on 1 September, adding that UNRWA alone had over 200 teams administrating the vaccines in UNRWA clinics and health points; going tent-to-tent to reach the most vulnerable children.
• On 1 September, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced the completion of the new Emergency Department at the Al Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza. With a capacity of 70 beds, the new department includes a triage section with three resuscitation rooms, two operating theatres, a sterilization room, as well as a laboratory, a blood bank and a radiology section with basic X-ray and ultrasound capabilities. The Al Shifa Medical Complex was the largest hospital in Gaza and was destroyed during a two-week long Israeli military siege that began on 18 March. The Health Cluster also reports that a haemodialysis unit comprising 18 dialysis machines has been established at the Az Zawaida Field Hospital in Deir al Balah, after the facility had been hastily opened in late August by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), jointly with the MoH, to provide urgent care to patients who had to evacuate Al Aqsa Hospital. Despite these achievements, Health Cluster partners continue to face challenges delivering fuel and essential supplies to health facilities in the north. WHO reports that in recent weeks, only two out of six planned missions to hospitals in the north were approved. Fuel shortages may force Al Awda Hospital to suspend maternity services and daily surgeries, including C-sections. The Al Helou International Hospital is also facing considerable operational limitations.
• Insecurity and access restrictions continue to jeopardize humanitarian efforts. On 30 August, Anera reported that an Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinians at the front of its aid convoy carrying food and fuel to the Emirati Red Crescent Hospital. This follows an incident in which a World Food Programme (WFP) convoy was directly fired upon on 28 August resulting in the temporary suspension of staff movements. Since 1 January 2024, UN partners in Gaza have recorded 16 incidents in which UN vehicles have been hit.
• Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) services and responses are severely hampered by the ongoing destruction of water and sanitation facilities, restricted access, and limitations on the entry of essential resources and items. The approaching rainy season will exacerbate these challenges. The Council for Northern Gaza Municipalities and the Municipality of Gaza City have reported the destruction of 97 water wells, 13 major sewage pumps, 57 generators used for wells, 204 waste collection vehicles and 255,000 metres of water and sewage lines since October 2023. The Council has warned that as winter sets in, extensive damage to rainwater and sewage networks is likely to result in severe flooding, particularly in Jabalyia Camp and Beit Lahia where humanitarian needs are already acute. The WASH Cluster has highlighted the near impossible conditions partners are operating under, including access challenges that disrupt the transfer of essential items.
• The Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) informed UN partners that a dedicated direct electricity line to power the southern Gaza seawater desalination plant was successfully established during August. However, electricity provision through that line – which is meant to come from an Israeli provider has not yet started, impeding the plant’s provision of clean water to hundreds of thousands of people in southern Gaza. In a positive development, CMWU, in collaboration with UNICEF and local municipalities, has repaired and maintained the main water transmission line running from Israel to Khan Younis, which was damaged during recent military operations. This has restored water access to several areas, including Al Mawasi, where hundreds of thousands of IDPs are living under challenging conditions. Additionally, 12,000 litres of sodium hypochlorite solution (chlorine bleach), essential for water disinfection, were supplied by UNICEF to the municipalities of Gaza city and Jabalya for the first time in three months. Furthermore, in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), CMWU installed 41 integrated water chlorination and injection units across Gaza. These efforts aim to address some of the immediate public health risks.

Funding

• As of 30 August, Member States have disbursed approximately US$1.60 billion out of the $3.42 billion (48 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. (*2.3 million reflects the projected population of the Gaza Strip upon issuance of the Flash Appeal in April 2024. As of July 2024, the UN estimates that about 2.1 million people remain in the Gaza Strip, and this updated number is now used for programmatic purposes.)
• During July 2024, the occupied Palestinian territory Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF) managed a total of 98 ongoing projects, totalling $81.4 million. These projects aimed to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (89 per cent) and the West Bank (11 per cent). The projects were strategically focused on education, food security, health, protection, emergency shelter and non-food items, water, sanitation, and hygiene, coordination and support services, multi-purpose cash assistance and nutrition. Of these projects, 55 projects are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 31 by national NGOs and 12 by UN agencies. Notably, 32 out of the 67 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. Since 7 October, the oPt HF has mobilized over $112 million from Member States and private donors to support urgent humanitarian and life-saving programmes across the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Of the total funding, 89 per cent has been allocated to projects in Gaza. A summary of the oPt HF activities and challenges in July 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 oPt HF. For an overall picture of the OCHA-managed pooled funds response since October 2023, please see link.