UNRWA Situation Report #30 on the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem (all information is valid as of 13 November 2023 at 18:30 local time) [EN/AR]

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Day 38 of Hostilities

Key Points

The Gaza Strip

• In the last 24 hours, one UNRWA colleague was injured while travelling in an UNRWA vehicle that sustained collateral damage due to nearby strikes. In total, 102 UNRWA colleagues have been killed since the beginning of the hostilities. This is the highest number of United Nations aid workers killed in a conflict in the history of the United Nations.
• UNRWA received another extremely concerning report that Israeli Forces entered one UNRWA school in Gaza and used the installation for military operations. UNRWA is further verifying this report.
• Two internally displaced persons were injured due to shrapnel that fell inside an UNRWA school after a building near the school was hit in the Middle area.
• Almost 1.6 million people have been displaced across the Gaza Strip since 7 October.
• Nearly 795,500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are now sheltering in 154 UNRWA installations across all five governorates of the Gaza Strip, including in the north.
• About 634,500 IDPs are sheltering in 97 facilities in the Middle, Khan Younis and Rafah areas. Nearly 160,000 IDPs were sheltering in 57 UNRWA schools in the northern and Gaza areas as of 12 October 2023, before the evacuation order was issued by the Israeli Authorities. UNRWA is not able to access these shelters to assist or protect IDPs and does not have information on their needs and conditions.
• Obtaining updated figures and information is becoming increasingly challenging, especially in the Middle area, due to serious communication breakdowns. In some areas, the telecommunications companies have stopped operating. It is expected that communications will start to fail as of Thursday 16 November, when telecommunications companies run out of fuel to operate their data centres and major connection sites.
• With current supplies, UNRWA is only meeting 39 per cent of the food needs and one per cent of WASH needs in the shelters.

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem

• Israeli Security Forces (ISF) operations took place in the early hours in Balata, Askar and Aqbet Jaber refugee camps, and resulted in the delay of school openings in these locations.

Overall Situation

The Gaza Strip

• According to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, as of 10 November over 11,078 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since 7 October; two thirds of them are reportedly children and women. Due to the collapse in MoH services and communications in the north, casualty data has not been updated for the last three days.
• Overall, around 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed in Israel, according to Israeli Authorities, the vast majority on 7 October (OCHA).

The West Bank

• According to OCHA, since 7 October, 173 Palestinians, including 46 children, have been killed by Israeli Security Forces (ISF) and eight, including one child, by Israeli settlers.

Humanitarian Access, Protection of Civilians

The Gaza Strip

• One UNRWA colleague was injured while she was travelling in an UNRWA vehicle that sustained collateral damage due to strikes nearby, in Nuseirat camp, Middle Area. 102 colleagues have been killed since the beginning of the war.
• Nearly one third of the UNRWA colleagues who were killed were below the Wadi Gaza line, in the southern and middle areas of the Gaza Strip.
• UNRWA received another extremely concerning report that Israeli Forces entered an UNRWA school in Gaza City and used the installation for military operations, including using it as a sniper position. UNRWA is further verifying this report. If confirmed, the military use of UNRWA facilities raises serious concerns, as such use puts civilians at serious risk of harm, in addition to being a severe breach of UN privileges and immunities.
• Due to strikes close to one UNRWA school in Nuseirat camp, in the Middle area, two IDPs were injured by shrapnel that fell inside the school. Over 6,400 IDPs are sheltering in the school.
• At least 563 IDPs sheltering in UNRWA premises have been injured and 71 killed since 7 October. The number of killed and injured IDPs is likely to be higher as UNRWA is still trying to verify casualties of incidents impacting its installations in the North and Gaza areas.
• At least 64 UNRWA installations have been impacted since the beginning of the war.

UNRWA Response

The Gaza Strip

UNRWA Shelters

• The number of displaced people continues to increase. UNRWA shelters in the Middle and Southern areas are severely overcrowded and are unable to accommodate new arrivals.
• The installations accommodate far more people than their intended capacity. They are not designed to host such a large number of people and do not have adequate facilities to provide safe and dignified living conditions. The over-crowding is leading to significant spread of diseases, including acute respiratory illness and diarrhea, raises environmental and health issues and limits the Agency’s ability to provide services.
• People inside shelters do not have enough food and basic survival items. Hygiene levels are poor as mental health issues increase.

Health

• Due the continued communication breakdowns in some areas in the South and especially in the Middle areas, at the time of reporting data is only available for services provided on 12 November.
• On 12 November, nine (out of 22) UNRWA health centres were still operational in the middle and southern areas, recording 7,210 patient visits, including Palestine Refugees and non-refugees.
• Most of these health centres are unable to use online registration systems for patients due to network breakdown. Patient information is therefore mostly registered on paper, making data collection and reporting more challenging.
• Midwives are providing care for post-natal and high-risk pregnant women at the nine operational health centres. There are an estimated 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza, with more than 180 giving birth every day. A total of 277 post-natal and high-risk pregnancy cases have been attended to at the health centres and a total of 765 post-natal mothers have been attended to in the shelters since the beginning of October.
• 1,067 children were vaccinated at seven health centres according to the national vaccination programme.
• Emergency dental services (bleeding- swellings- trauma and extraction) were provided to 259 cases at seven health centres.
• UNRWA continued to provide health care to IDPs at shelters through 124 medical teams deployed to the shelters. 281 health workers attended a total of 10,244 cases on 12 November.
• As of 14 November, the fuel reserves of the health centres will be depleted. UNRWA operations will entirely depend on solar energy which is designed only to cater for minimal operations. Functionality of the solar energy is not guaranteed as any malfunction and/or battery failure will cause the complete stop of all operations.

Relief and Social Services/Psychosocial support

• UNRWA has counsellors and social workers in the shelters to provide psychosocial first aid and other specialized protection services. Since 7 October, over 38,000 individuals (over 62 per cent of whom are females) received psychosocial support including family support and recreational activities.

Water, Sanitation, Hygiene (WASH)

• With the little fuel it has remaining, UNRWA continues to operate water wells in Khan Younis and Rafah for the provision of potable and domestic water supply. Potable water trucking operations to the shelters in Rafah and Khan Younis areas also continue. However, given the high number of people in the shelters, the water provided is not enough to meet personal water consumption needs as per WHO standards.

• As of 15 November, public WASH facilities will start shutting down, this includes: 1. 60 water wells in the south of Wadi Gaza. This will cut domestic water off at 44 UNRWA IDP shelters in the south of Wadi Gaza, which are currently hosting over 290,000 IDPs. It will also cut domestic water supply to most housing units in the South of Wadi Gaza.
  2. Two main desalination plants in Rafah and Middle areas will start shutting down as well. This means cutting off the major source of potable water, which supports the population South of Wadi Gaza, and provides water to 44 UNRWA managed IDP shelters hosting over 290,000 IDPs.

• Solid waste collection from the camps and from emergency shelters and transfer to landfills also continues in the Middle, Khan Younis and Rafah areas.

• These operations are challenged by the frequent breakdown of already aged vehicles, the unavailability of spare parts, risk of staff movement and scarcity of fuel.

• As of 14 November, UNRWA sanitation work will start shutting down, causing environmental hazards with around 400 tons of solid waste per day accumulated in all camps and UNRWA managed and overcrowded IDP shelters. Combined with stopping public sewage pumping stations (see below), and the shutdown of municipality sanitation operations, this will impose serious threats to public health, with a high risk of water contamination and disease outbreak.

• On a daily basis, UNRWA teams handle maintenance and rehabilitation works at several shelters including plumbing, repair to water and sewage networks and electrical fixings, to ensure that facilities at the shelters are as operational as possible.

Food Security

• UNRWA is providing shelters with wheat flour used by IDPs to make bread.
• Since the war started, UNRWA has been drawing down on its already existing stocks of flour and dried food. These stocks are nearly depleted. UNRWA has started to deliver flour to families in the shelters in the middle and southern areas and so far over 70,000 families have received flour.

Funding

• UNRWA has updated its appeal for the emergency response in the occupied Palestinian territory. The Agency requires US$ 481 million until the end of the year. So far, confirmed funding – comprising received funds and confirmed pledges – stands at US$ 128.1 million, representing about 27 per cent of total requirements.

* * *

On 13 November, UN flags were lowered to half-mast at Headquarters and offices around the world to honour UNRWA staff killed in Gaza

“Across Gaza we keep the UN flag flying high to symbolize UNRWA's unwavering commitment to serve the people of Gaza.” – Tom White, UNRWA Director in the Gaza Strip

“We have many, many colleagues who are unaccounted for and they may still be stuck under the rubble.” – Juliette Touma, UNRWA Director of Communications

#HearTheirVoices

ENDS

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