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UNRWA Situation Report #99 on the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem - All information from 2 - 3 April 2024, is valid as of 3 April 2024 at 22:30

UNRWA

4 Apr 2024

Key Points

The Gaza Strip

As of 8 April, the Gaza Strip update will shift to twice a week, every Monday and Thursday.

• 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.

• Seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) staff were killed in multiple Israeli airstrikes while travelling in a convoy in Deir al Balah (middle areas) after reportedly informing the Israeli army of their movement.

• Following the Israeli attack on WCK convoy, both WCK and ANERA confirmed that they will be suspending operations due to concerns of safety and security of staff. Similarly, the Secretary-General's spokesman confirmed that the United Nations has decided to suspend its night movements in Gaza for at least the next 48 hours due to security concerns, which "impact our personnel on the ground and the civilian population we are trying to help."

• UN experts condemned the destruction and killing at Al-Shifa Hospital following a two-week siege and urged UN Member States to use all their powers to stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Al-Shifa was the largest hospital and main referral centre in the Gaza Strip, with 750 beds, 26 operating rooms, 32 intensive care rooms, a dialysis department and a central laboratory. Its destruction now means that only 10 of Gaza's 36 hospitals remain functional, several only operating partially.

• Oxfam reported that people in northern Gaza have been forced to survive on an average of 245 calories a day since January. Over 300,000 people are believed to still be trapped there, unable to leave and are surviving on less than 12 per cent of the average daily calorie needs.

• Gaza is a death trap for children. According to Save the Children more than 13,800 children have been killed in Gaza and over 12,009 children have been injured in Gaza. UNICEF meanwhile reported at least 1,000 children have had one or both legs amputated.

• The United Nations, World Bank and European Union released a joint Interim Damage Assessment summary. Using satellite imagery to assess damage the report found the following:

  • The ongoing conflict has damaged or destroyed approximately 62 per cent of all homes in Gaza,
  • The conflict has damaged or destroyed 84 per cent of all health facilities.
  • 625,000 children in Gaza are out of school as the education system has collapsed.

The ongoing conflict has caused unprecedented devastation, with severe social and mental health consequences for women, youth, and vulnerable populations

• The majority of the nearly 980 NGOs registered in Gaza have ceased operations.

• There has been no significant change in the volume of humanitarian supplies entering Gaza or improved access to the north. Since the beginning of April, a daily average of 169 aid trucks have crossed into Gaza per day 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.

• Since 7 October, UNRWA provided over 1.8 million people, or 85 per cent of the population, with flour. In addition, nearly 600,000 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 3 April, the total number of UNRWA colleagues killed since the beginning of hostilities is 177, an increase of one.

• 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 people living 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.