Humanitarian Situation Update #214 | 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 9 September.

Key Highlights

• After the successful completion of the polio vaccination campaign in central Gaza, the second phase of the campaign commenced in the south, where vaccination teams aim to reach 340,000 children in four days.
• Medical evacuations of critically ill and injured patients out of Gaza remain generally suspended since the closure of the Rafah crossing on 7 May, with an estimated 12,000 patients waiting to leave the Strip to receive urgently needed medical care.
• Daily meals provided to families in need dropped by 35 per cent across the Gaza Strip, from July to August, due to Israeli-issued evacuation orders in August.

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. Heavy fighting and rocket fire were also reported.
• Between the afternoons of 2 and 5 September, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, 110 Palestinians were killed and 230 were injured. Between 7 October 2023 and 5 September 2024, at least 40,878 Palestinians were killed and 94,454 were injured, according to MoH in Gaza.
• The following are some of the deadly incidents reported between 1 and 5 September:
  • On 1 September, six Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured in an airstrike in Beit Lahiya, in north Gaza.
  • On 2 September, eight Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured when a group of Palestinians was hit in front of Al Fakhoura School’s main gate in Jabalya Camp, in north Gaza.
  • On 3 September, nine Palestinians, including at least one woman and five children, were reportedly killed and others injured when a residential building was hit in central Gaza city.
  • On 3 September, seven Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured when a children’s nursery was hit in western Jabalya, north Gaza.
  • On 4 September, six Palestinians were reportedly killed and eight others injured near At Taalim Roundabout in Beit Lahiya, in north Gaza.
  • On 4 September, six Palestinian men were reportedly killed and others injured in Ash Sheihkh Zaied buildings, north Gaza city.
  • On 4 September, five Palestinians, including two children, were reportedly killed and others injured when a house was hit in Ash Sheikh Redwan neighborhood in Gaza city.
  • On 5 September, five Palestinians were reportedly killed, and 15 others were injured, including children, when internally displaced people’s (IDP) tents were hit near the external clinics of Al Aqsa Hospital, in eastern Deir al Balah. The strike resulted in the destruction and burning of many tents located in the area.
• Between the afternoons of 2 and 6 September, no Israeli soldiers were reported killed in Gaza, according to the Israeli military. Between 7 October 2023 and 6 September 2024, according to the Israeli military and official Israeli sources cited in the media, more than 1,540 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed, the majority on 7 October and its immediate aftermath. The figure includes 340 soldiers killed in Gaza or along the border in Israel since the beginning of the ground operation. In addition, 2,270 Israeli soldiers were reported injured since the beginning of the ground operation.
• On 5 September, the second phase of the polio vaccination campaign commenced in southern Gaza, where some 517 teams, including 384 mobile teams, have been deployed, aiming to reach 340,000 children in four days. The campaign moved to the south after the successful completion of the first phase in central Gaza on 3 September, where over 187,000 children under the age of 10 were vaccinated in a three-day effort. This exceeded the estimated target of 157,000 children. Vaccines were provided at 143 fixed sites, including hospitals and primary healthcare centres, IDP camps, key transit routes and public gathering spaces such as temporary learning sites, food, and water distribution points. Mobile teams also conducted tent-to-tent visits and conducted special missions to access families who, due to insecurity, would have otherwise been unable to immunize their children. To ensure that no child is missed, four large health facilities in central Gaza are continuing to offer vaccines for a few more days. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, Dr Richard Peeperkorn, continued appealing to all parties to the conflict to uphold a commitment for area-specific humanitarian pauses that are critical for the success of the campaign. The current phase in southern Gaza should conclude on 8 September, with the third and last phase set to take place in northern Gaza from 9 to 11 September, targeting around 150,000 children. UNICEF reports that all 1.6 million doses of Oral Polio Vaccine Type 2 (nOPV2) are necessary to immunize all children under the age of 10, with the second shipment having arrived on 3 September.
• Medical evacuations of critically ill and injured patients outside Gaza remain generally suspended since the closure of the Rafah crossing on 7 May, with few exceptions allowed in recent months. WHO reports that on 15 August, 11 children suffering from cancer, alongside 17 accompaniers, were evacuated to Jordan through the Kerem Shalom Crossing. Five other children with cancer and two who had suffered amputations, alongside their 10 accompaniers, were evacuated from the Strip on 26 August. Overall, only 124 patients and 137 accompaniers have been evacuated from Gaza on four separate occasions since 7 May, while an estimated 12,000 patients have been unable to leave and receive urgently needed medical care abroad since then, stresses WHO. The Health Cluster has warned that, without a systematic mechanism for the medical evacuation of severely sick and injured patients outside Gaza, the waiting list “keeps growing while the clinical conditions of many of them continue to deteriorate.”
• The ongoing escalation of hostilities is resulting in widespread contamination by Explosive Ordnance (EO). While the exact number of EO-related casualties is unknown, there have been cases of people who died due to the explosion of EO, according to humanitarian partners. On 3 September, a Palestinian girl was reportedly critically injured by the explosion of an EO in southwestern Khan Younis and succumbed to her wounds on 4 September. Children face a heightened risk of being exposed to EO, as they usually play outside, tend to search for scraps amongst rubbish and rubble, and lack an awareness on the dangers of EO. Despite ongoing efforts by humanitarian partners to conduct in-person and digital Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) campaigns, educational material as well as minimum standard Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) equipment are refused entry into Gaza by Israeli authorities, therefore limiting the capacity of the mine action response. Furthermore, according to the Protection Cluster’s monitoring system, mine action remains one of the most critical needs for emergency life-saving activities. In a survey conducted by the cluster covering July and August, 89 per cent of respondents had not received EORE awareness material in their community and 72 per cent did not know where to report the discovery of EO or an incident where someone is affected by one. Despite continuous efforts by the cluster to raise awareness, the lack of material and multiple Israeli-issued evacuation orders have forced them to temporarily suspend their in-person EORE sessions following the evacuation orders in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis. The restrictions on humanitarian partners to assist with mine-action related programmes will increase the risk to people’s lives.
• The food security situation in the Gaza Strip is deteriorating due to the critical shortages of aid commodities as well as ongoing hostilities, insecurity, damaged roads, access limitation and breakdown of law and order. Despite the ongoing efforts of humanitarian partners, more than one million people did not receive any food rations in southern and central Gaza during August; families will only be able to receive one food parcel during the September distribution cycle. In northern Gaza, food distribution was suspended in July and August due to the evacuation orders in Gaza city and North Gaza. As a result, each family will receive a monthly ration of two food parcels, excluding wheat flour which is prioritized for supporting bakeries. According to the Food Security Cluster, as of 2 September, 14 bakeries supported by humanitarian partners were operational in the Gaza Strip including four in Gaza city, two in Jabalya, seven in Deir al Balah and one bakery in Khan Younis which reopened recently after almost eight months of closure due to the hostilities. The multiple Israeli-issued evacuation orders have forced around 70 kitchens to either suspend cooked meal provision or relocate. As a result, around 450,000 cooked meals prepared in 130 kitchens were provided daily to families across the Gaza Strip by the end of August, which is a 35 per cent decrease compared with up to 700,000 meals provided at more than 200 kitchens in early July.
• The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster is concerned with the staggering increase in the cost of basic hygiene items. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), in July, the price of soap has increased 1,177 per cent and shampoo has increased 490 per cent across the Strip, compared to July 2023. The WASH Cluster warned that the lack of affordable hygiene items, combined with limited access to clean water and sanitation facilities, poses a growing risk of severe health impacts. This is especially true for families who have been displaced, as they face extreme difficulties maintaining basic hygiene in overcrowded shelters and displacement sites, while critical facilities—such as health centres, community kitchens, child-protection spaces, nutrition centres, and schools—lack the necessary tools to ensure safe and sanitary conditions. These conditions are all likely to deteriorate further during the winter.
• WASH partners are attempting to restore wells that were damaged due to fighting in Deir al Balah. On 26 August, Israeli-issued evacuation orders in Deir al Balah had caused the loss of access to 15 out of the 18 groundwater, resulting in a 75 per cent reduction in groundwater production (12,000 to 3,000 cubic metres a day) for the remainder of the month. Once WASH partners were able to return to parts of the evacuated area, they identified eight wells that were significantly damaged, four of which cannot be repaired at present. Plans are underway to utilize materials recovered from these four wells to repair the remaining four. The long-term impact on Deir al Balah's water production capacity is still being evaluated. Despite the evacuation orders and widespread destruction of WASH assets, the cluster reported that from 19 August to 1 September, an average of 114,901 cubic metres of water were produced daily for safe drinking and domestic use across the Gaza Strip. This volume represents about 30 per cent of the potential production capacity of 378,500 cubic metres per day, leaving hundreds of thousands of people with insufficient water resources. In an additional challenge, the cluster notes that water is also lost due to infrastructure leaks, damage, and spillage during transport and at collection points. In a positive development, the volume of water transported through trucking operations between 19 August and 1 September doubled to 13,881 cubic metres a day. Despite the substantial increase in trucking efforts, the efficiency of water distribution remains severely hampered by fuel shortages and persistent traffic congestion in the Al Mawasi area, where thousands of IDPs reside.