The Monthly Humanitarian Bulletin | September 2014

The Gaza Strip Joint Health Sector Assessment Report published this month is the result of quantitative and qualitative data collection undertaken at the beginning of September 2014. It was led by WHO with the support of 23 partner organizations working in response to the confict in Gaza.

During September, the UN brokered a temporary agreement between the Israeli and Palestinian authorities. The new agreement, named the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM), will allow for the entry into Gaza of large amounts of basic construction materials (mainly aggregate, cement and metal bars) and machinery (i.e. trucks, tractors, forklifts, buses, diggers, cement mixers and pumps). These items are defined by the Israel authorities as “dual use items” and their import has been severely restricted since the imposition of the blockade in 2007, with the exception of materials for approved international projects, although these were subject to a lengthy approval process by COGAT. The network of illegal tunnels under Gaza’s border with Egypt, partially met the demand for construction materials by the private sector in Gaza for many years. However, the operation launched in June 2013 by the Egyptian authorities, in the context of military operations in the Sinai, resulted in an almost total halt in smuggling, triggering a severe shortage of building materials on the Gaza market and massive layoffs in the construction sector, previously one of the few functioning outlets in the depressed Gazan economy.

Ongoing concerns in the West Bank regarding the annual olive harvest, the Barrier and settlement activity in East Jerusalem feature in this month’s Bulletin, but the humanitarian consequences of the July-August conflict in the Gaza Strip remain the main focus. Ongoing assessments are revealing the extent and severity of the destruction, adding greater urgency to the response required to meet needs before winter arrives.

While the precise scope of current food insecurity in the Gaza Strip is unknown, the Multi-Cluster/Sector Initial Rapid Assessment (MIRA) carried out during the last week of the July-August hostilities suggested that it has increased significantly. Potential factors include the high level of displacement, inability to access livelihoods, and the loss of productive assets. This has been compounded during the hostilities by sharp increases in food prices, particularly fresh vegetables, due to restricted access to farming land. Prior to the crisis, 57 per cent of Gaza households faced food insecurity and another 15 per cent were defined as vulnerable to food insecurity.

The rerouting of the Barrier in Jayyus (population 2,894) in Qalqiliya governorate was completed on 7 September. Jayyus has 13,000 dunums of land and more than 50 per cent of the population depend totally on agriculture for their livelihoods. Around 2,400 dunums of land and two artesian wells (one unused) have been returned to the ‘Palestinian’ side of the Barrier. This land can now be accessed by farmers without permits for the first time since 2003. According to the Village Council, the rerouting resulted in the uprooting of approximately 75 fruit trees and 350 olive trees, the majority of which have been replanted.

The extensive Israeli aerial bombardment, naval shelling and artillery fire during the last round of hostilities had devastating results on public infrastructure, including water and sanitation. The Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), which is the main provider of water and sanitation services, estimates that between 70 and 80 per cent of the network is now functional following emergency repairs carried out during and since the ceasefire. The remaining 20-30 per cent of the network that remains inoperable is concentrated in the worst-hit areas, primarily within the three-kilometre-wide buffer zone declared by Israel during the hostilities.

Since mid-September, UNRWA, UNDP and the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MoPWH) in Gaza have been conducting assessments of homes affected by the hostilities to assess the level of damage and identify shelter needs. Although these assessments are ongoing, they reveal an unprecedented number of damaged and destroyed housing units. Current estimates indicate that 29 per cent of Gaza’s total housing stock has been affected, which is more than double the initial estimate.

Given the scale of the emerging crisis triggered by the July-August hostilities, it was critical to ensure that much needed resources would be on the ground as fast as possible. To ensure this, in addition to the regular funding to humanitarian agencies and the special funding obtained via the Gaza Crisis Appeal, the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) mobilised over US$16 million from two pooled funds: the CERF, which is managed by a secretariat in New York on behalf of the Emergency Response Coordinator, and the ERF, which is managed in-country by the Humanitarian Coordinator with the support of OCHA and a technical review board of humanitarian partners and an advisory board of donors.