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UNRWA Situation Report #98 on the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem - All information from 31 March-1 April 2024, is valid as of 01 April 2024 at 22:30

UNRWA

2 Apr 2024

Key Points

The Gaza Strip

• Israeli Security Forces (ISF) continued military operations across the Gaza Strip, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement and destruction of houses and other civilian infrastructure. Airstrikes and bombardment continued in north Gaza, Khan Younis and Rafah where UNRWA estimates a total of 1.2 million people are now living, the vast majority in formal and informal shelters.
• WHO confirmed the destruction of Al-Shifa hospital, the largest hospital in Gaza and one of the oldest Palestinian health institutions. This followed a two-week military operation and siege by the Israeli Army, where according to WHP at least 21 patients died.
• Access impediments continue to severely compromise the ability of humanitarian organisations to reach people in need in the Gaza Strip. According to WHO, 1 aid teams have been waiting for days on end for Israeli authorities' permission to reach Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza city.
• According to OCHA, since 1 March, the Israeli authorities denied 30 per cent of humanitarian aid missions to northern Gaza . UNRWA is disproportionately impacted, with Israeli authorities continuing to deny UNRWA access to the north to deliver emergency food assistance and other basic supplies.
• Save the Children2 confirmed that so far 27 children have already been died due to starvation and disease and warned that children in Gaza are not getting the food and medical care they need to survive with food being blocked at every turn and the health system obliterated. According to UNICEF3, over 13,000 children have been reported killed in Gaza since 7 October.
• There has been no significant change in the volume of humanitarian supplies entering Gaza or improved access to the north. In March, adaily average of 161 aid trucks have crossed into Gaza per day. The highest this month was on 28 March, when 264 trucks entered Gaza via the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) and Rafah land crossings. This remains well below the operational capacity of both border crossings and the target of 500 trucks per day.
• UNRWA is the largest humanitarian organisation in Gaza, in the month of March over half of all UN supplies delivered via Rafah and Kerem Shalom were UNRWA supplies. The UN Emergency Humanitarian Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said ""UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian operation in Gaza. Any effort to distribute aid without them is simply doomed to fail."
• Since 7 October, UNRWA has reached over 1.8 million people, or 85 per cent of the population, with flour. In addition, nearly 600,0004 people have received emergency food parcels and almost 3.6 million patient consultations have been provided at health centres and points. UNRWA continues to provide storage and distribution for other agencies' food commodities.
• As of 1 April, the total number of UNRWA colleagues killed since the beginning of hostilities is 176, an increase of three.
• As of 1 April, up to 1.7 million* people (over 75 per cent of the population) ** have been displaced across the Gaza Strip, the majority multiple times.*** Families are forced to move repeatedly in search of safety. Following intense Israeli bombardments and fighting in Khan Younis and the Middle Area in recent weeks, a significant number of displaced people have moved further south. 

*This includes 1 million individuals residing in or near emergency shelters or informal shelters. As of 12 October, approximately 160,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) were recorded in UNRWA shelters in Northern Gaza and Gaza City governorates. UNRWA currently estimates that the population of Northern Gaza and Gaza City governorates is up to 300,000 people. The ability of UNRWA to provide humanitarian support and updated data in these areas has been severely restricted. The ongoing hostilities, evacuation orders issued by ISF, and the constant need for safer locations have resulted in people being displaced multiple times.

**UNRWA reported on 15 January in Situation Report 64 that up to 1.9 million IDPs were either residing in 154 UNRWA shelters or near these shelters. Due to the continued escalation of fighting and evacuation orders, some households have moved away from the shelters where they were initially registered.

*** There are instances where the same IDPs are registered in multiple shelters due to the fluid movement of populations; hereafter, estimates are used for these shelters. UNRWA plans to conduct a more accurate count of IDPs in shelters, including informal shelters, as soon as the security situation allows.