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UNRWA Situation Report #55 on the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem (All information is valid as of 19-20 December 2023 at 22:30)

UNRWA.

21 Dec 2023

Information is valid as of 19-20 December 2023 at 22:30 (local time)

Day 73-74 of Hostilities
Published 21 December 2023

1. Key points

The Gaza Strip

• On 20 December, the main telecommunication provider in the Gaza Strip stated that all telecommunications services were down due to cuts in the main fibre routes in Khan Younis. This followed the longest shutdown (across the Gaza Strip between 14 and 18 December, and a partial resumption at about ten per cent capacity in southern Gaza. Telecommunications blackouts make an already difficult operating environment even worse. As a result, this update provides only partial information about the humanitarian situation in Gaza over the past 48 hours.
• This telecommunications cut is the sixth documented since the war began on 7 October.
• As of 20 December, the total number of UNRWA colleagues killed since the beginning of hostilities is 136.
• Since 7 October, up to 1.9 million people (or over 85 per cent of the population) have been displaced across the Gaza Strip, some multiple times. Families are forced to move repeatedly in search of safety.
• As of 19 December, UNRWA estimated that approximately 1.77 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are sheltering or accessing services in UNRWA shelters. Nearly 1.4 million IDPs are sheltering in 156 UNRWA facilites, across all five governorates of the Gaza Strip, including in the north and in Gaza City and approximately 400,000 are in close vicinity of these installations and receiving assistance from UNRWA. UNRWA shelter information is updated daily to the extent possible. The information for north Gaza and Gaza City was last updated on 12 October due to access constraints and security situation.
• In the period between 21 October and 20 December, UNRWA distributed 11,977 metric tons (MT) of flour.
• In the same period, UNRWA delivered across the Gaza Strip:
  • 453.3 MT of medicines and medical supplies with a total value of more than US$ 2.7 million.
  • Over 13.8 million litres of water.
  • 2.5 million units of high energy biscuits.
  • Nearly 1.5 million cans of protein-based food, including beans, chicken, beef and canned meat.
  • Over 4.8 million units of dairy food items (mainly cheese).
  • Other food items including dates, cake and juice.
  • Non-food items (NFI) including 60,050 mattresses; 103,631 family hygiene kits; over 1.5 million diapers for children and olders persons; 103,755 blankets; and 635,169 cleaning supply items.

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem

• On 20 December, one Palestinian child was shot dead by Israeli Security Forces (ISF) and ten others including a child were injured due to armed tensions in Husan, in the southern West Bank.
• On 20 December, the ISF shot and killed one Palestinian man in his vehicle at a checkpoint in Beit 'Einum, southern West Bank.
• ISF search and arrest operations took place in several areas in the West Bank.