Attachments
Executive summary
The 2026 United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA or ‘the Agency’) Flash Appeal for the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) seeks to mobilise US$ 1.26 billion to respond to the ongoing, unprecedented impacts of conflict and the deepening protection crisis across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. At a time when no other actor can match its scale or reach, the Agency will continue, under extraordinary circumstances, to provide urgent life-saving and essential assistance to an estimated 2.4 million people in need across the oPt.
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip remains catastrophic, shaped by over two years of sustained hostilities, compounded by severe administrative impediments and other access constraints, and marked by mass destruction and death.1 The ceasefire that came into effect on 10 October 2025 remains extremely fragile, while humanitarian needs are staggering. Crisis-level or worse food insecurity affects nearly the entire population, while health systems are overwhelmed. Only a fraction of medical facilities are operational. Shelter needs are acute, with more than 1.9 million people displaced and only limited shelter supplies entering Gaza. Water and sanitation services are collapsing; wastewater overflows, contaminated water sources, and failing solid waste disposal systems are accelerating the deterioration of public health.
In parallel, the humanitarian situation in the West Bank deteriorated sharply in 2025, amid escalating violence, destruction, forced displacement and advancing Israeli policies and practices amounting to annexation, as stated by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).2 Following the launch of Operation Iron Wall by the Israeli security forces (ISF) in January 2025, some 40,000 people were forcibly displaced from Palestine refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams, marking the largest and longest displacement since 1967.3 Approximately 32,400 people remain in precarious conditions amid widespread damage to homes and critical infrastructure, with many displaced households unable to afford rent and facing repeated relocations due to overcrowded or otherwise unsuitable shelter. Escalating Israeli settler violence has aggravated coercive dynamics in the West Bank, contributing to loss of life, property destruction and forced displacement of Palestinians, including entire communities.4 Moreover, intensified movement and access restrictions across the West Bank have deepened existing socioeconomic vulnerabilities and hindered the work of humanitarian actors,5 including UNRWA. The crisis has severely disrupted access to education, health care and shelter, while shortages of medicines and a 28.6 per cent unemployment rate6 have compounded hardship.
The Agency remains operationally irreplaceable within the broader humanitarian response in the oPt. Despite the passage of two laws by the Israeli parliament (the Knesset) in October 2024, implemented at the end of January 2025, which seek to prohibit UNRWA’s operations in areas Israel considers to be its sovereign territory, the Agency has continued to deliver critical humanitarian services to over 2 million Palestinians in the oPt. In Gaza, UNRWA remains the largest provider of primary health care and continues to reach over half the population with water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. The Agency still operates the largest network of collective emergency shelters hosting tens of thousands of displaced people, with hundreds of thousands more sheltering in their vicinity. It continues to ensure the continuity of learning activities for almost half of Gaza’s schoolchildren and remains the primary provider of psychosocial support (PSS). In the West Bank, responding to mass displacement, UNRWA serves as the linchpin of the health care, basic assistance and shelter support to affected Palestine refugees, while supporting the coordination of, and directly delivering the humanitarian response.
Under the 2026 Flash Appeal, in Gaza, the Agency aims to contribute to stabilising conditions, restoring and scaling up the delivery of essential services, protecting the most vulnerable and providing life-saving humanitarian assistance to those in need. UNRWA will seek to address the food insecurity of up to 1.1 million people facing multi-generational impacts of extreme hunger and to provide emergency multi-purpose cash assistance (EMPCA) for up to 55,000 Palestine refugee families, enabling them to meet critical basic needs and mitigate famine risks. The Agency will provide health services to approximately 1.6 million people, including nutrition support for malnourished children and pregnant women. In addition, UNRWA will support over 290,000 students through remote learning and non-formal education, expanding these efforts via temporary learning spaces (TLS). With 90 per cent of the population displaced multiple times, the Agency will continue to support the system-wide response as co-lead of the site management cluster while maintaining approximately 100 collective emergency shelters (currently hosting approximately 80,000 internally displaced people). UNRWA will deliver WASH services to at least 1.7 million people, including the provision of water, sanitation services and hygiene promotion. The Agency will continue to assess its installations and premises in newly accessible areas and undertake maintenance and rehabilitation to restore functionality and safety of critical health, water, sanitation and education infrastructure, to enable further service scale-up. Cash-for-work (CfW) opportunities through the Job Creation Programme for over 10,000 persons will support both livelihoods recovery and service restoration and support to productive and household level generation of assets.
UNRWA will reinforce its protection response to safeguard the rights and well-being of the most vulnerable in Gaza. Case management will be expanded across collective emergency shelters and community settings. More than 100,000 individuals, including gender-based violence (GBV) survivors and separated, unaccompanied or otherwise vulnerable children, will receive psychological first aid (PFA), case management and referrals to specialised services, including legal aid and safe spaces. Community-based protection will be strengthened through monitoring visits, focus group discussions and reporting, ensuring that emerging risks are addressed promptly. The Agency will deliver comprehensive mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services to 350,000 individuals through specialised health staff, school counsellors and social workers, integrated across its programmes. Over 200,000 children and adults will benefit from explosive ordnance risk education (EORE). These interventions aim to uphold dignity, reduce harm and provide life-saving assistance in an extremely hazardous environment. UNRWA will continue working closely with humanitarian partners to sustain the response in Gaza through coordinated efforts on supplies and joint programming, including maintaining its pipeline of medicines and other life-saving supplies, while also facilitating aid distribution and sharing dedicated assets with partners, to ensure critical goods reach affected communities.
In the West Bank, the Agency will deliver a multi-sectoral emergency intervention targeting tens of thousands of affected Palestine refugees. Key measures will include protection services, cash assistance for shelter and basic needs to at least 26,500 vulnerable families, food assistance to over 8,000 vulnerable households and non-food item (NFI) assistance to 1,700 families. In addition, 6,453 CfW opportunities will be created, while education in emergencies (EiE) interventions will target 48,000 students. WASH support and emergency health services will also be maintained. These efforts aim to address urgent humanitarian needs across the West Bank.