Attachments
All information updated for 18 – 24 March 2026 [1]
Days 891 - 897 since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip
Highlights
The Gaza Strip
- Families across the Gaza Strip have concluded the month of Ramadan amid deepening humanitarian needs and heightened exposure to violence, displacement, and destruction of property. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warns that Palestinians in Gaza are still living under conditions of precarity and dehumanization, even five months after the ceasefire.
- The Israeli authorities reopened the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on 19 March for the limited movement of people, namely medical evacuations and returns to Gaza. Meanwhile, Kerem Shalom remains the only operational crossing for cargo, creating a major bottleneck for incoming supplies. Only limited numbers of trucks are entering the Gaza Strip, with the consequent scarcity of goods triggering further increases in prices and leading to shortage in medicines and spare parts needed to maintain essential operations.
- Airstrikes, shelling, and gunfire continued across the Gaza Strip, resulting in civilian casualties. According to the Ministry of Health (MoH), as reported by OHCHR, 673 Palestinians have reportedly been killed since the announcement of the ceasefire in October 2025.
Key points
The Gaza Strip
Fatalities and injuries
- Between 7 October 2023 and 18 March 2026, according to the MoH, as reported by OCHA, 72,253 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip and another 171,912 injured.
- UNRWA has recorded 391 colleagues killed in Gaza since the start of the war (310 UNRWA personnel, and 81 persons who were supporting UNRWA[2]), up to 24 March.
Health crisis
- UNRWA has been unable to proceed with the establishment of a new medical facility in Beit Lahia, in the North Gaza area, despite advanced preparations, due to the recent expansion of the Israeli-militarised zone of control and worsening security conditions in the area.
- UNRWA rapid response medical teams continue to closely monitor the trend in reported skin infections across multiple collective emergency shelters.
Displacement, Site management
- UNRWA continues to monitor the movement of displaced persons and displacement sites. An estimated 67,000 displaced people are living in 83 collective emergency shelters managed by the Agency.
- Over the winter months, UNRWA site management teams conducted approximately 6,000 interventions, including distributing tents, tarpaulins, hygiene kits, and other non-food items to thousands of families in need and mitigating the impact of harsh weather.
- Currently, 127 UNRWA facilities are located within the Israeli-militarised zone behind the so-called “Yellow Line” and in areas where access is subject to Israeli approval or coordination.
Operational implications and humanitarian response
- Around 11,000 Palestinian UNRWA personnel continue to provide services and assistance to Gaza’s entire population in need. In the occupied West Bank, UNRWA continues to play a central role with over 4,000 UNRWA Palestinian personnel providing education, health, and other services to Palestine Refugees.
- All UNRWA international staff are prevented from entering the Occupied Palestinian Territory - the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This follows the implementation of laws passed by the Israeli parliament on 28 October 2024[3] that purport to prohibit UNRWA’s operations in areas that Israel considers its sovereign territory, including occupied East Jerusalem, and seek to bar any contact by Israeli officials with UNRWA. The Israeli authorities have not granted the Agency’s international staff visas or permits to enter the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Gaza, since the end of January 2025.
- Since March 2025, the Israeli authorities have been blocking UNRWA from directly bringing humanitarian personnel and aid into the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, pre-positioned outside Gaza, UNRWA has enough food parcels, flour, and shelter supplies for hundreds of thousands of people.
The occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem
- According to OCHA, between 7 October 2023 and 15 March 2026, 1,071 Palestinians – at least 233 of them children – were killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Of these, 25 have been killed since the beginning of 2026.
- On the evening of 18 March, four Palestinian women were killed when missile fragments linked to the regional conflict landed on a beauty salon in Beit ‘Awwa, south-west of Hebron. Several other women were injured. These marked the latest casualties in the West Bank incurred by missile fragments and interceptor shrapnel, which have landed across the West Bank since 28 February.
- The Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem remained closed to worshippers for Eid al Fitr prayers, which fell on 20 March. This was widely reported to be the first time the mosque had been closed for Eid prayers since 1967. The site has been closed to the public since the beginning of the regional conflict on 28 February.
- Heightened Israeli settler violence occurred over the Eid period, targeting numerous Palestinian villages across the West Bank, including Qaryut, Jalud, Qusra, and Sabastiya. This came following an incident on 21 March, in which one Israeli settler died and another injured during a collision with a Palestinian driver near Homesh settlement, located in the vicinity of Burqa village.