The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations continue to scale up much-needed relief efforts in the Gaza Strip. In a statement on Thursday, OCHA reiterated that maintaining the ceasefire is "crucial to keep this life-saving work going," amid reports that the truce's continuation is threatened by reported disagreements over its implementation.
With reports that a return to full-scale war may have been averted over the weekend, OCHA said Wednesday that aid agencies are "seizing every opportunity afforded by the ceasefire" to expand the provision of water, food, shelter, health, sanitation, hygiene, clothing, education and other assistance to Gazans.
OCHA continues to stress the need for the fragile ceasefire to hold and the importance of sustaining the humanitarian scale-up in Gaza. The needs are immense, with a population of some 2.1 million Palestinians devastated by fifteen months of constant bombardment, forced displacement and lack of critical resources.
An unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe had been taking place in Gaza for more than a year, with people dying from widespread attacks, starvation, dehydration, disease and hypothermia. The relentless operations of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) led to mass casualties and widespread destruction.
Thousands of trucks carrying essential humanitarian aid have entered Gaza since the ceasefire took effect on January 19. On Wednesday alone, some 800 trucks entered Gaza.
According to the UN, at least 1.9 million people - or about 90 percent of the population - have been uprooted throughout the territory during the war. Many have been displaced repeatedly, some a dozen times or more.
Since the start of the ceasefire, there have been large population movements as people try to return to whatever is left of their homes. Among the displaced, nearly 600,000 people have moved back to northern Gaza.
On Sunday, during the first 42-day period of the ceasefire, the IDF completed its withdrawal from the Netzarim corridor, which facilitates the return of people. Meanwhile, most of the homes in Gaza – about 92 percent, according to officials – are either severely damaged or destroyed.
Since October 7, 2023, more than 48,200 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Gaza and more than 111,600 injured, most of them civilians. However, the real numbers are estimated to be much higher.
Among the dead are at least 384 aid workers, 277 UN staff, 1060 health workers and 200 journalists.
Estimates suggest that at least 15,000 children are among the fatalities. More than 10,000 people, including thousands of children, are missing and presumed dead. In total, Israel's air and ground operations in Gaza since October 7, 2023, have killed, injured or left missing at least 169,000 people, or more than 8 percent of Gaza's population, most of them women and children.
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said today that the January 19 ceasefire, and the significant influx of aid it has allowed, has pushed back the risk of starvation in Gaza. But the UN agency warned that if the truce collapses, it could quickly return.
WFP has stepped up its efforts to provide life-saving food assistance to Palestinians, while also restocking bakeries and providing cash to help them rebuild their lives and revive local economies. As of Thursday, WFP and its partners had delivered nearly 47,000 metric tons of food aid.
“This is nearly triple what we got through in December and nearly five times more than in October,” Antoine Renard, WFP Country Director for Palestine, said in a statement today.
Over the past few weeks, WFP has reached nearly 862,400 people with emergency assistance - food parcels, hot meals, wheat flour and bread bundles, and provided critical supplies to breastfeeding mothers and children under five.
Since the start of the cessation of hostilities, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has provided critical food assistance to more than 1.5 million people. The agency has opened dozens of new shelters for people returning to the north, providing tents, blankets, plastic sheeting and warm winter clothes.
More than 1,750 UNRWA trucks were among those that entered Gaza.
UNRWA has also repaired water wells and provided water and sanitation services to nearly half a million people in and around its shelters. As of last week, the agency was hosting some 120,000 people in 120 shelters, including more than three dozen that have opened since the ceasefire.
In total, at least 644,000 people across Gaza have received shelter assistance since the ceasefire took effect, including tents, sealing materials and tarpaulins from other aid agencies.
Since the ceasefire took effect, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been able to bring in supplies for 1.6 million people. WHO has also expanded its operations and pre-positioned supplies at health facilities.
In a press briefing on Wednesday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, noted that since the start of the ceasefire, WHO has supported the medical evacuation of 414 patients requiring treatment outside Gaza, along with 588 accompanying persons.
However, between 12,000 and 14,000 people, including some 5,000 children, remain in urgent need of medical evacuation, as only 50 percent of hospitals in Gaza are partially operational.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, OCHA reports that Israeli military operations continue in northern areas, causing further death, destruction and displacement of civilians. The UN humanitarian office continues to receive reports of Palestinian casualties there.
As of today, 44 deaths have been recorded since the start of these military operations on January 21.
Aid agencies estimate that tens of thousands of people - particularly those living in refugee camps - have been displaced by the ongoing operations, depriving them of access to basic shelter and other essential services.
A total of 19,000 Palestinians has been displaced in Tulkarm and 3,000 more in Tubas. In Jenin, more than 17,000 people have been displaced, including those displaced during an earlier operation by Palestinian forces.
According to OCHA, at least 876 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since October 7, 2023. Of these, 498 Palestinians were killed in 2024.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) demanded on Wednesday that the military campaign and the destruction of refugee camps in the West Bank - "a means to end the Palestinian right of return and right to self-determination" - must cease immediately.