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UNRWA Situation Report #129 on the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. All information from 16 - 19 August 2024, is valid as of 19 August 2024 at 22:30 (local time)

UNRWA

21 Aug 2024

The Gaza Strip

• Ongoing strikes by Israeli Security Forces (ISF) continue, with aerial, land and maritime bombardments across the Gaza Strip, resulting in civilian casualties, displacement and the destruction of residential structures and public infrastructure.

• During the reporting period, the Israeli Authorities issued additional evacuation orders (17 August), warning people living in parts of Deir al Balah (Middle Areas), including the entire Al Maghazi Refugee Camp. Since October, according to OCHA, approximately 314 square kilometres, or nearly 86 per cent of the Gaza Strip, has been placed under evacuation orders by the Israeli military.

  ​On World Humanitarian Day, 413 humanitarian organisations around the world including UNRWA and other UN agencies, ICRC, IFRC and NGOs appealed to all States, parties to armed conflict and the wider international community to:

  • End attacks on civilians and take active steps to protect them and the critical civilian infrastructure they rely on.
  • Protect all aid workers, including local and national actors, and their premises and assets and facilitate their work, as called for in UN Security Council Resolution 2730 adopted last May.
  • Hold perpetrators to account. Those who commit violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) cannot go unpunished.

• On World Humanitarian Day, UNRWA's Commissioner-General paid tribute to aid workers killed and injured around the world including at UNRWA. Gaza continues to be one of the most dangerous places in the world for humanitarian aid workers and health workers, with at least 289 aid workers, including 207 UNRWA team members killed, in addition to 885 health workers.

• The World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), UNRWA and partners are expected to launch polio vaccination campaign to over 640,000 children under ten years of age across the Gaza Strip starting end of August. WHO and UNICEF have requested all parties to the conflict to implement humanitarian pauses in the Gaza Strip for seven days to allow for two rounds of vaccination campaigns to take place. These pauses in fighting would allow children and families to safely reach health facilities and community outreach workers to get to children who cannot access health facilities for polio vaccination. Without the humanitarian pauses, the delivery of the campaign will not be possible.

• UN Secretary-General António Guterres appealed to all parties to "provide concrete assurances right away guaranteeing humanitarian pauses" for a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza, reiterating that "the ultimate vaccine for polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire."

• According to the Health Cluster's latest evacuation orders and forced displacement into small and overcrowded areas, continue to have a negative impact on public health including: i) limited access to basic amenities like WASH facilities and a limited supply of safe drinking water; ii) overcrowding with people living in tents or poor shelter infrastructure, leading to an increased risk in the occurrence and spread of infectious diseases; iii) poor access disrupting emergency medical services and response.; iv) overwhelmed health facilities, compromising the quality of care and putting patients' lives at risk.

• According to the UN, up to 1.9 million people (or nine in ten people) across the Gaza Strip are internally displaced, including people who have been repeatedly displaced (some up to 10 times).

• Several challenges stand in the way of collecting much needed humanitarian supplies from the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing point in southern Gaza. These include deteriorating law and order, the war and insecurity, damaged infrastructure, fuel shortages and access restrictions. According to OCHA, between 1 and 12 August 2024, only an average of 76 humanitarian trucks entered the Gaza Strip every day. This is well below the pre-crisis average of 500 trucks per working day.

• The latest information on supplies entering Gaza can be accessed through the below link:

Gaza Supplies and Dispatch Tracking | UNRWA