The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that, despite the ceasefire, UN staff and facilities in the Gaza Strip continue to come under fire, posing an unacceptable risk to their safety. Meanwhile, attacks against civilians have continued, with more than 340 people killed and over 880 injured by Israeli forces since the ceasefire took effect on October 10.
On Monday, a yard at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) school in Jabalia was reportedly bombed by an Israeli quadcopter.
On Tuesday night in Deir al Balah, a group of armed Palestinians fired at a United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) team, hitting one of their clearly marked vehicles multiple times. According to OCHA, the team had just finished loading fuel and monitoring the Kerem Shalom crossing when the attack occurred. No one was injured in either attack.
OCHA reiterated on Friday, that civilians, including humanitarian workers, and civilian infrastructure, including humanitarian convoys, supplies, and facilities, must always be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Such attacks expose UN staff, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the civilians who depend on their vital services to grave risks, including death and injury. These attacks also further impede humanitarian work. The UN urges all parties to protect civilian lives and allow the safe passage of life-saving aid.
Despite these risks, as well as other obstacles such as Israel's prevention of the full implementation of the humanitarian scale-up, the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to provide services and critical relief items to those in need across Gaza.
Since the beginning of November, aid agencies have distributed monthly food parcels to over 1.15 million people through 59 distribution points across the Gaza Strip, including two in northern Gaza and 19 in Gaza City, according to an OCHA report released Saturday.
Winter weather drives additional needs
With cold weather intensifying and heavy rainfall becoming more frequent, humanitarian organizations are focusing on winterization efforts. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned that for the hundreds of thousands of children living in tents or amid the rubble of their former homes, winter poses an even greater threat.
High levels of malnutrition continue to endanger the lives of children in Gaza, compounded by winter weather accelerating the spread of disease and increasing the risk of death among the most vulnerable children.
"Despite progress, thousands of children under the age of five remain acutely malnourished in Gaza, while many more lack proper shelter, sanitation, and protection against winter," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell on Friday.
"Too many children in Gaza are still facing hunger, illness, and exposure to cold temperatures, conditions that are putting their lives at risk. Every minute counts to protect these children."
With homes and infrastructure, including hospitals, destroyed; shelters overcrowded; and access to clean water, fuel, and electricity critically limited, hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of exposure to the cold.
The winter weather is putting a strain on collective winterization efforts, creating an additional need for emergency shelters and necessitating the evacuation of shoreline sites. Most people in Gaza are still living in inadequate shelters that fail to meet basic emergency standards. These shelters include tents, makeshift tents, and partially or heavily damaged buildings.
Aid levels in the territory remain alarmingly low, and the humanitarian situation has worsened after heavy rains and flooding made life more unbearable for thousands of displaced families. There is a heightened risk of hypothermia, respiratory infections, and death.
During the first two weeks of November, reported cases of acute watery diarrhea increased by 13 percent compared with the previous two-week period, while jaundice cases more than doubled — highlighting a continued deterioration in public health.
The latest UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report found that over half a million people in Gaza are experiencing famine, and approximately 640,000 are facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
It is estimated that 132,000 children under five are suffering from acute malnutrition, including 41,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Additionally, over 55,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as 25,000 infants, are likely to suffer from acute malnutrition and require urgent nutritional support.
There has been a surge in severe acute malnutrition since the start of the Gaza conflict. More than 36,000 children have been admitted to stabilization centers for SAM treatment in the first ten months of 2025 alone.
Israel is deliberately failing to provide relief and is preventing necessary supplies from reaching the civilian population in Gaza. More than a month after the ceasefire agreement, healthcare workers report critical shortages of medication and equipment, resulting in patient deaths.
Due to Israel’s restrictions on aid entry, hospitals remain overwhelmed with critically injured and malnourished patients, and there has been no meaningful uptick in medical supplies since the start of the ceasefire agreement.
The October 10 ceasefire in Gaza allowed many humanitarian organizations to gradually resume operations in previously inaccessible areas and expand aid and service delivery. However, Israeli forces have repeatedly violated the ceasefire by launching heavy air bombardments on the territory, killing hundreds of civilians.
Since October 2023, over 240,000 Palestinians, primarily civilians, have been killed, injured, or maimed in Israeli military operations. The recorded death toll exceeds 69,700, including over 20,000 children, and the overall number of injuries has reached nearly 172,000. However, the actual number of casualties is believed to be much higher.
Amnesty International: Israel’s genocide continues
According to UN commissions, international and Israeli human rights organizations, human rights experts, and leading genocide scholars, Israel's actions in Gaza, including the blockade and obstruction of humanitarian aid, not only meet the legal definitions of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but also amount to genocide against Gaza's population.
On Thursday, Amnesty International stated that, more than a month after the Gaza ceasefire was announced and all living Israeli hostages were released, Israeli authorities are still committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by deliberately inflicting conditions of life that are calculated to bring about their physical destruction without signaling any change in intent.
“The ceasefire risks creating a dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
“But while Israeli authorities and forces have reduced the scale of their attacks and allowed limited amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the world must not be fooled. Israel’s genocide is not over.”
In a new report, the organization provides a legal analysis of the ongoing genocide, along with testimonies from local residents, medical staff, and humanitarian workers, which highlight the dire conditions Palestinians in Gaza are facing.
In December 2024, Amnesty International had issued an extensive study concluding that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, arguing that the country had carried out three prohibited acts under the Genocide Convention with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian population in Gaza.
These acts include killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions of life on Palestinians in Gaza that are calculated to bring about their physical destruction.
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities have failed to investigate or prosecute individuals suspected of being responsible for genocide, or to hold officials accountable for making genocidal statements, as required by national and international law.
West Bank: Ongoing Israeli violence is causing casualties, damage, and displacement
On Friday, OCHA reported that violence continues unabated across the West Bank, with casualties, damage, and displacement reported daily. Palestinians' movements are increasingly constrained, with thousands under curfew and many others facing restrictions that severely limit their access to workplaces, schools, and essential services.
As a result, humanitarian needs are mounting, as is people’s dependence on aid.
Updated figures released Thursday by OCHA indicate that, since the beginning of 2025, more than 1,600 attacks perpetrated by Israeli settlers have led to casualties, property damage, or both, affecting over 270 Palestinian communities across the West Bank.
The number of Palestinians injured in these attacks has surpassed 1,000 — most of whom sustained physical assault, were hit by stones, or inhaled tear gas.
Some 700 Palestinians were injured by settlers; the rest were injured either by Israeli forces or by unknown assailants. This toll of about 700 is roughly double the number of Palestinians injured by Israeli settlers in settler attacks in all of 2024, when about 360 such injuries were documented.
OCHA stressed once again that the killings and violence must stop, the perpetrators must be held accountable, and Palestinians in the West Bank must be protected.
According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Israeli forces and settlers have killed over 1,030 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since October 2023, including 223 children.
On Friday, OHCHR spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told reporters in Geneva that the UN human rights office was appalled by the apparent summary execution of two Palestinian men by Israeli border police in Jenin, West Bank, on Thursday.
“Following yesterday’s incident, which was caught on film by a TV channel, an internal review was announced,” he said.
“But statements by a senior Israeli government official sought to absolve Israeli security forces of responsibility, raising serious concerns about the credibility of any future review or investigation conducted by any entity that is not fully independent from the Government.”
The impunity enjoyed by Israeli security forces, their unlawful use of force, and the ever-growing violence of Israeli settlers must end, said the OHCHR spokesperson. In this regard, Volker TĂĽrk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has called for an independent and effective investigation into the killings of Palestinians and for those responsible for the violations to be held accountable.
In response to journalists' questions, Laurence emphasized that such brutal use of force is abhorrent and that all cases must be addressed through the rule of law and due process. Violence in the West Bank is on the rise. In November 2025 alone, 21 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces.