Humanitarian Needs and Response Update | 5-11 March 2024

The delivery of fuel to hospitals in northern Gaza. Photo by the World Health Organization
The delivery of fuel to hospitals in northern Gaza. Photo by the World Health Organization

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Period: 5-11 March 2024

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The information below is provided on a weekly basis by Clusters and select Technical Working Groups operating in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT). This update was initially published on 11 March and additional content has been subsequently added.

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 HEALTH

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Needs

  • Expanding essential healthcare services is critical to safeguard public health and mitigate the spread of infectious diseases especially amongst IDPs. This includes provision of medication supplies, redoubling immunization rates, enhancing access to reproductive and maternal health services, and ensuring the availability of laboratory equipment and reagents critical for precise diagnostics and testing, and blood products in hospitals.
  • Ongoing military operations, particularly in and around hospitals, have resulted in a reduction in their capacity, which necessitates the establishment of field hospitals across the Gaza Strip.
  • Reports of death and threat of death among children who suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) due to inadequate food and nutrition supplies necessitate urgent access to the northern governorates of the Strip to supply food and establish SAM stabilization centres, and outpatient therapeutic feeding programs.
  • There is a need to improve access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation facilities to prevent water-borne diseases among affected people, particularly IDPs.

Response

  • A WHO-led mission, in collaboration with OCHA, UNFPA and UNICEF, delivered over 40,000 litres of fuel, medicine, and medical supplies to Kamal Adwan, Al Ahli, As Sahaba and Al Awda hospitals.
  • Kuwait Hospital's bed capacity was expanded from 60 to 132 with support from WHO and partners due to congestion at An Najjar Hospital.
  • Partners established a medical point at the World Central Kitchen Welcome Center in Deir al Balah and which is providing food and non-food items (NFIs) to displaced people fleeing from Gaza city and the northern governorates.
  • The SAM Stabilization Center in Rafah began providing care for children suffering from SAM with medical complications.
  • WHO provided rapid diagnostic tests for meningitis at Al Aqsa and European Gaza hospitals to improve disease surveillance.
  • WHO and PRCS evacuated 96 critical patients from An Najjar Hospital to Rafah IMC Field Hospital.
  • UNICEF hired a cleaning company to manage cleaning and waste disposal at Rafah and Deir al Balah hospitals.
  • MedGlobal deployed an Emergency Medical Technician to support maternity services in Al Awda Hospital in An Nuseirat refugee camp.
  • UNFPA delivered inter-agency reproductive health kits to As Sahaba Hospital in northern Gaza and conducted a needs assessment to identify crucial maternity and reproductive health needs.
  • UNICEF prepositioned 50 incubators for premature infants in Rafah and distributed them to the European Gaza and Al Aqsa hospitals, with plans to deliver incubators to Kamal Adwan Hospital to support the resumption of neonatal unit services.
  • WHO and UNFPA developed a community-sensitive Clinical Management of Rape and Gender-Based Violence strategy and will preposition PEP kits at medical points in Rafah, Khan Younis, and Deir Al-Balah.

Challenges

  • Al Awda, Al Ahli, As Sahaba and Kamal Adwan hospitals in northern Gaza face challenges due to recent military operations and limited access to the area. They are in dire need of fuel, medical supplies, and specialized medical staff. Operating with limited resources, all four hospitals experience electricity shortages and an increase in trauma cases and malnutrition. Continued cross-sectoral support is urgently needed.
  • There is limited access to the northern governorates of Gaza, preventing the   provision of adequate healthcare.
  • Continuous hostilities across the Gaza Strip pose significant barriers to accessing healthcare service points.
  • Increases in cases of acute jaundice syndrome and bloody and watery diarrhoea, due to the unavailability of safe drinking water and poor and lack of sanitation facilities, continue to pose a significant public health challenge.
  • The absence of segregated sanitation facilities and electricity within shelters presents a considerable safety risk for women and girls.
  • The MoH in Gaza reports that 346 healthcare workers have been killed since the beginning of the war.

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 Food Security

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Needs

  • The food situation in Gaza is alarming, with reports of hunger impacting the entire population and a growing risk of famine-like conditions.
  • In northern Gaza, recent airdrops have delivered thousands of meals but remain insufficient to meet the soaring needs of some 300,000 people in the area.
  • The situation is similarly critical in the middle and southern governorates, with most of the population queuing for hours to receive food when trucks manage to enter. Partners report a lack of food to distribute and existing stocks lasting only for a short time period.
  • In Rafah, more than a million people are striving to find safety in densely populated areas and a rise in the number of undernourished children.
  • There is urgent need to import the agricultural inputs necessary for reactivating domestic production of essential fresh foods such as eggs, vegetables, meat, fish, and milk.
  • There is a need to establish secure and uninterrupted humanitarian corridors, with the support of the private sector.

Response

  • Between 4 and 10 March, 19 partners provided food assistance, including food parcels and hot meals, across the Gaza Strip, reaching a daily average of 200,000 people (around 10 per cent of the population) at least once: 68 per cent were in Rafah governorate, 14 per cent in Deir al Balah, 8 per cent in Khan Younis, one per cent in Gaza, and nine per cent in northern Gaza.
  • Since 21 November, 373,193 households have received flour, with 35 per cent receiving two rounds of assistance.

Challenges

  • Hostilities, frequent border closures, access constraints, and insecurity continue to impede the establishment of sustainable and dependable modalities for the flow of food aid, the resumption of food production, as well as the safe and efficient delivery of humanitarian assistance.

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 Nutrition

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Submitted on 14 March 2024