Attachments
Highlights
- Civilians in North Gaza experience large scale military operations leading to injury or even death, as healthcare, food, and shelter are lacking, and families face separation and detention.
- Approximately 100,000 people (25,000 families) moved from North Gaza to Gaza City governorate in October due to escalating hostilities, including airstrikes.
- The risk of famine persists across the Strip, with a strong likelihood that famine is imminent in the northern Gaza Strip.
- Shelling and arson have impacted schools, including in schools sheltering internally displaced persons, with 31 incidents, among which 20 in North Gaza, documented between 13 and 26 October by the Education Cluster.
- The second round of the polio vaccination campaign concluded with more than 556,000 vaccinated children, and over 448,000 receiving Vitamin A.
- In the West Bank, UNICEF continued to provide essential child protection, prevention, and response interventions to 3,100 people, including 1,300 children.
SITUATION OVERVIEW AND HUMANITARIAN NEEDS
Humanitarian access in the Gaza Strip remains severely constrained due to ongoing hostilities leading to mass civilian casualties, displacement, and the destruction of infrastructure. Since 6 October, the Israeli military has conducted a ground offensive in North Gaza, particularly around Jabalya refugee camp, imposing a tightened siege and causing severe disruptions to communications and internet services. Humanitarian aid efforts have been significantly hampered, with 36 coordination requests for critical aid missions for North Gaza denied, 14 impeded, and 23 facilitated between 6 to 28 October. On 26 October, UN Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Ms. Joyce Msuya, condemned the attacks on hospitals, detention of health workers, destruction of shelters, and prevention of first responders from rescuing people. She reported hundreds of Palestinian deaths and tens of thousands of displacements, warning that the entire population of North Gaza is at risk.
The risk of famine persists across the whole Gaza Strip, according to the latest IPC analysis. Between September and October 2024, the entire territory is classified in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency). About 1.84 million people across the Gaza Strip are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity classified in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis) or above, including nearly 133,000 people facing catastrophic food insecurity (IPC Phase 5), and 664,000 people in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency). As shown in the map, Acute Malnutrition is at Serious level (IPC AMN Phase 3), ten times higher than before the escalation of the hostilities in 2023. The analysis made by the IPC Global Initiative includes a projection from November 2024 until April 2025, and given the recent surge in hostilities, there are growing concerns that the worst-case scenario may materialize, which is famine.
Children are dying not only from the conflict related violence but also due to the restrictions on leaving to access for life-saving medical care. Between May and October, only 127 critically ill or injured children were allowed to leave the Strip. In addition, as of 5 November, 557 attacks on health were recorded in the Gaza Strip, with 110 health facilities and 139 ambulances affected. Lifethreatening risks including non-communicable diseases, hunger, and poor nutrition during pregnancy, are affecting the public health of an estimated 177,000 women as of September 2024. Due to escalating violence and unsafe conditions in northern Gaza, the Polio Technical Committee for Gaza, which includes the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH), UNICEF, WHO, UNRWA, and partners, has delayed the final phase of an emergency polio vaccination type 2 (nOPV2) campaign, planned to reach 119,279 children. The unsafe conditions, including attacks on civilian infrastructure, have made it impossible for families to safely bring their children for vaccination and for health workers to operate. However, after negotiations, an agreement had been reached to conduct the vaccination between 2 and 4 November in the Gaza governorate. Completing this phase and vaccinating at least 90 per cent of children is crucial to stop polio transmission and prevent further cases of paralysis.
As of 31 October 2024, 43,259 Palestinians were reported killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of hostilities. Up to 50 per cent (out of 40,717 identified fatalities) are reported to be children or women. Additionally, at least 101,827 Palestinians were reported injured, with up to 50 per cent (out of 54,000 identified injuries) reported to be women or children. As of 30 September, 304 aid workers have been reported killed.
In October, the West Bank including East Jerusalem was highly impacted by settler violence and militarized law enforcement operations, increasing children’s risk of grave violations and harm to their physical and mental well-being, and affecting their access to education and services. Across the West Bank, six Palestinian children were killed in October, three of whom in an airstrike on a residential building in the densely populated Tulkarm refugee camp which was the single deadliest incident in the West Bank since 2005. Regular militarized operations across the northern West Bank, particularly in Tulkarm, Jenin, and Tubas governorates, involved armed clashes and airstrikes and caused extensive infrastructural damage, prolonged access delays for medical teams, and service disruptions affecting water, electricity, and internet networks. From 7 October 2023 until 31 October 2024, 173 Palestinian children and two Israeli children were killed in conflict-related violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In total, since 7 October, at least 736 Palestinians were killed. More than 1,100 children were reported injured in the same period, almost half with live ammunition.
Since October 2023, OCHA documented approximately 1,600 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, particularly in communities near settlement outposts. Some 6,300 Palestinians, including more than 2,760 children, have been displaced, mainly in Area C and East Jerusalem, due to settler violence and intimidation, home demolitions, and destruction of residences during militarized law enforcement operations. In October, most settler violence incidents were related to the olive harvest, in which approximately 60 Palestinians were injured and more than 1,000 trees burnt or damaged, with one-third of incidents occurring in Nablus governorate. Israeli settlers also attacked, as in previous months, the Bedouin Al-Ka’abneh Elementary School northwest of Jericho, which accommodates 100 students, smashing windows and surveillance cameras. As of 4 November, there have been 650 attacks on health, affecting at least 58 health facilities, 20 mobile clinics, and 460 ambulances. Israeli authorities report that approximately 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed in the attacks of 7 October 2023, including 37 children, and more than 7,500 people were reported injured. Some 255 people, including 36 children, were abducted from Israel into the Gaza Strip, of whom 154 were released or returned, including 34 children, with very limited information available on the children remaining in captivity