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UNRWA Situation Report #193 on the Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem

UNRWA

22 Oct 2025

All information updated for 13- 19 October 2025 [1]
Days 735 - 741 since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip

Highlights

The Gaza Strip

• On 19 October, the Israeli authorities accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire, citing reported attacks on their troops in southern Gaza. In response, the Israeli Forces conducted airstrikes across multiple locations in the Gaza Strip. One of the strikes hit an UNRWA school building being used as a shelter, resulting in four fatalities and several persons injured.
• On the same day, the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip was temporarily halted by the Israeli authorities, with closure of all crossings. Later the same day, the Israeli forces announced the renewed enforcement of the ceasefire, including resumption of aid deliveries.
• UNRWA continues to face a ban on bringing humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, pre-positioned outside Gaza, UNRWA has enough food parcels for 1.1 million people, flour for 2.1 million individuals, and shelter supplies for up to 1.3 million people.
• Following the start of the ceasefire, large-scale population movements were recorded by the Site Management Cluster, mainly from southern to northern Gaza. A total of 487,988 displacement movements were recorded between 10 and 18 October.
• UNRWA started to expand its operations in Gaza City. UNRWA staff resumed health services in Salah Ad-Din Medical Point, as well as restarting work in over 20 emergency shelters in Gaza City. In addition, solid waste removal and distribution of water resumed in Gaza City, albeit at reduced capacity.
• Efforts to rehabilitate installations are complicated by the widespread presence of explosive ordnance, which continues to pose life-threatening risks to people across the Gaza Strip. As noted by OCHA, it is urgent to ensure improved access for mine action partners so they can conduct the full spectrum of essential activities, including explosive ordnance clearance, which requires specialized personnel and equipment.
• On 18 October, UNRWA launched the new e-learning school year, aiming to reach 290,000 children across the Gaza Strip through its distance learning programme, a vital pathway to restoring formal education for children.
• The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) recently estimated, based on satellite imagery collected on 8 July 2025, that widespread destruction across the Gaza Strip has generated more than 61 million tons of debris.
• According to the latest Gaza Protection Cluster Snapshot, the absence of a stable income for displaced families in Gaza is deepening dependency on humanitarian assistance and driving negative coping mechanisms, such as skipping or reducing food portions or sending adolescent boys to unsafe informal labour.

The occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem

• With the official start of the annual olive harvest on 9 October, Israeli settler violence towards Palestinian communities has increased, with attacks on olive trees and Palestinians harvesting olives recorded across the West Bank. The Director of UNRWA Affairs for the West Bank Field Office called for the protection of all Palestinians participating in the annual harvest.
• As part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, were included in the prisoner release conducted on 13 October.