Attachments
Highlights
- Since the collapse of the ceasefire in Gaza on the night between 17 and 18 March 2025, intense Israeli Forces activities escalated, resulting in tens of thousands of civilians reportedly killed and injured, further damage and destruction to civilian infrastructure, and new waves of forced displacement.
- According to OCHA, people are confined to ever-shrinking spaces, with 82 per cent of the Gaza Strip now within the Israeli-militarized zone, under displacement orders, or where these overlap. The UN estimates that over 640,000 people have been displaced yet again since the breakdown of the ceasefire, including over 200,000 between 15 May and 3 June.
- On 1 June, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini posted on X (previously known as Twitter) that aid distribution in Gaza has become “a death trap”, with mass casualties reported during aid distribution.
- On 2 June, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that he was appalled by the reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in the Gaza Strip and called for “an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable.”
- On 29 May it was publicly reported that the construction of 22 new Israeli settlements in the West Bank had been approved by the Israeli cabinet, including the legalization of nine existing outposts.
- Following the demolition order issued on 1 May for 106 houses in Nur Shams and Tulkarm camps, demolitions in Nur Shams Camp resumed on 29 May after a short pause.
Key points
The Gaza Strip
- Since the night between 17 and 18 March, the Israeli Forces have escalated bombardments from air, land and sea across the Gaza Strip and expanded ground operations, resulting in tens of thousands of reported casualties, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and large-scale displacement. Hospitals continue to be hit with extremely severe consequences on the provision of lifesaving treatments, alongside residential buildings, schools, and tents where forcibly displaced people live. According to OCHA, fighting between the Israeli Forces and Palestinian armed groups has been reported.
- Since 19 May, after almost 80 days of siege on the entry of aid and any other supplies into the Gaza Strip – including food, medicine and fuel, the Israeli authorities have allowed only a select number of UN agencies and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to resume the delivery of limited aid into Gaza. OCHA confirmed that limited amounts of certain food, nutrition supplies, medical supplies, and water purification items have entered the Gaza Strip since 19 May. However, UNRWA has not been able to bring in any supplies for more than three months (since 2 March).
- OCHA reported that the militarized distribution mechanism of food supplies, through the newly established Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), began on 27 May at two points set up in Rafah and Deir al-Balah. Since then, thousands of Palestinians reportedly walked towards these distribution sites to receive food packages, but several shooting incidents resulted in mass casualties.
- On 1 June, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini posted on X (previously known as Twitter) that aid distribution in Gaza has become “a death trap”, with mass casualties reported during aid distribution. He stated that “a distribution point by the Israeli-American distribution plan was put far south in Rafah,” adding that “This humiliating system has forced thousands of hungry and desperate people to walk for tens of miles to an area that’s all but pulverized due to heavy bombardment by the Israeli Army.”
- On 2 June, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that he was appalled by the reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in the Gaza Strip and called for “an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable.” He added that “Israel has clear obligations under international humanitarian law to agree to and facilitate humanitarian aid.”
- On 3 June, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, stated that “Palestinians have been presented the grimmest of choices: die from starvation or risk being killed while trying to access the meagre food that is being made available through Israel’s militarized humanitarian assistance mechanism.” He added that “This militarized system endangers lives and violates international standards on aid distribution, as the United Nations has repeatedly warned,” saying that “The willful impediment of access to food and other life-sustaining relief supplies for civilians may constitute a war crime.”
- The fuel blockade – now entering its fourth month, continues placing life-sustaining services at severe risk. While forced mass displacement continues, no shelter supplies have entered the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the 11-week-long siege imposed by the Israeli authorities on 2 March.
- While aid and supplies available in the Gaza Strip continue to be limited, the nutritional situation of children keeps deteriorating. According to the Nutrition Cluster as reported by OCHA, preliminary analysis indicates that out of 46,738 children under five who were screened for malnutrition in the second half of May, 2,733 (5.8 per cent) were diagnosed with acute malnutrition – up from 4.7 per cent in the first half of May. Available data for pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBW) confirm that there has been a sharp deterioration in their nutritional status in the last two months.
- According to the Protection Cluster, systematic attacks on fishers and fishing infrastructure and Israeli military restrictions on fishing activities in the Gaza Strip, combined with the damage and destruction of other food production infrastructure and severe access restrictions, have “contributed directly to risk of famine and growing protection concerns for vulnerable persons, creating conditions which threaten the survival of Gaza’s population.”
- OCHA reported that, according to humanitarian partners, there has been a sharp rise in child protection challenges, including an increase in child-headed households pushed into dangerous survival strategies. Children are reported working on the streets, participating in looting or gathering within large crowds in search of food supplies at insecure distribution points. Since the ceasefire collapsed on 18 March, nearly 50 child protection centres have been forced to suspend operations because of displacement orders and the displacement of staff, directly affecting at least 40,000 children.
- UNRWA medical services are critically under-resourced. Forty-seven per cent of essential supplies are already out of stock and over one fifth (22 per cent) are projected to run out in under two months.
- All UNRWA international staff are banned from entering the Gaza Strip since the few remaining left at the end of March. This follows the passage of two laws by Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, on 28 October 2024[1], which aimed to prohibit UNRWA’s operations in “Israeli territory” and bar any contact between UNRWA and Israeli officials.
- Meanwhile, around 12,000 Palestinian UNRWA personnel in Gaza continue to provide services and assistance to an entire population in need, while spearheading the collective humanitarian response. In the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem, over 4,000 UNRWA Palestinian local staff continue to provide education, health and other services to Palestine Refugees. No visas have been issued from the Government of Israel to UNRWA international staff since end of January 2025.
- With at least 35 displacement orders issued by the Israeli military since 18 March, about 277.6 square kilometres of the Gaza Strip are now under active displacement orders (the total area of the Gaza Strip is approximately 365 square kilometres). According to OCHA, over four-fifths (or 82 per cent) of the Gaza Strip are within the Israeli-militarized zone, under displacement orders, or where these overlap. The UN estimates that over 640,000 people have been displaced yet again since the breakdown of the ceasefire (mid-March), including over 200,000 between 15 May and 3 June alone.
- Between 28 May and 3 June, three displacement orders affecting areas with 157 UNRWA installations were issued by Israeli Forces.
- On 2 June, the Israeli Forces issued a displacement order impacting Al Mahattah, Khan Younis Camp, and Al Amal. Eight UNRWA installations were located in affected areas.
- On 31 May, the Israeli Forces issued a displacement order impacting Rafah, Khan Younis City Centre, Abasan area, Al Qarara, Bani Suhaila and east Deir al-Balah. Seventy-four UNRWA installations were in the affected area.
- On 29 May, the Israeli Forces issued a displacement order impacting north Gaza and Gaza City (At Tuffah, Shaja'iya, Az Zaitoun, Gaza Old City, and the eastern part of Ad Darraj). Seventy-five UNRWA installations were in the affected area.
- At least 182* UNRWA installations – or around half of all UNRWA installations in the Gaza Strip – are located within the Israeli-militarized zone, under displacement orders, or where these overlap.
- Despite the lack of aid and existing challenges, UNRWA continues providing services to communities overwhelmed by 20 months of bombardment, forced displacement, and lack of critical resources. However, the resumed bombardment and the 11-week-long siege, which completely banned entry of any basic supplies from UNRWA since 2 March, have further worsened an already dire situation, severely hindering humanitarian actors’ ability to respond to the population’s need for food, water, sanitation, shelter and more.
- According to the UN, at least 1.9 million people – or about 90 per cent of the population – across the Gaza Strip have been displaced during the war. Many have been displaced repeatedly, some 10 times or more. Since the recent displacement orders were issued, more people have been forced to flee in search of safety.
- Between 7 October 2023 and 4 June 2025, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, as stated by OCHA, at least 54,607 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Gaza and 125,341 have been injured.
- Over 310 UNRWA team members have been confirmed killed since 7 October 2023.
- OCHA reported that, of the 75 planned aid movements coordinated with Israeli authorities across Gaza from 28 May to 3 June 2025, 44 were denied, 11 were initially accepted but faced impediments, two withdrawn, and 18 facilitated. Overall, of the 276 planned aid movements coordinated with Israeli authorities across the Gaza Strip between 1 and 31 May, 156 were denied, 33 impeded, 14 withdrawn, and 73 facilitated.