Gaza Humanitarian Response Update | 13-19 May 2024

Water distribution. Photo by OCHA

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Period: 13-19 May 2024

The information below is provided on a weekly basis by Clusters and select Technical Working Groups operating in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT). It is updated throughout the week to reflect new content. For an overview of priority needs and activities by cluster, please see the Flash Appeal released on 17 April covering the period from April through December 2024.

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HEALTH

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Response

The Health Cluster has operationalized the Rafah incursion contingency plan that was developed in March 2024, which has enabled the continuity of health services in southern Gaza governorates.
As part of its preparedness measures, WHO safeguarded supplies and equipment in hospitals within and near the evacuation blocks. Medicines, equipment, and supplies have been relocated from the Indonesian field hospital, Al Kuwaiti Hospital, and El-Emirati Maternity Hospital to Nasser Hospital.
WHO set up a 2,300-m² warehouse in Deir al Balah, to which supplies were relocated from the WHO Rafah warehouse, health partners' warehouses, and hospitals. In addition, the 65-m2 cold room warehouse contains supplies from IMC, PUI, and UNFPA.
On 13 May, the Health Cluster conducted a mission to North Gaza, delivering 11,000 litres of fuel, medicines, and medical supplies to Kamal Adwan and Al Awda Hospitals to ensure the continuity of health services in the north.

Challenges

With over 800,000 already displaced from Rafah, people have been relocating to areas lacking basic necessities such as water and food. This dire situation is likely to result in a surge of communicable diseases, including skin rashes, diarrhoea, and hepatitis A, as well as malnutrition.
Fuel shortages persist, negatively affecting health interventions at hospitals and primary healthcare facilities.
Continuous hostilities across the Gaza Strip and issuance of evacuation orders pose significant barriers to accessing healthcare service points.
Essential sexual and reproductive health services in Gaza are severely limited, as only a few hospitals remain partially operational following multiple attacks on healthcare.
Continued closure of Rafah Crossing will place additional constraints on health service delivery.

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Nutrition

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Response

Despite manifold challenges, partners continue to conduct Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) screenings in shelters and healthcare facilities. Since mid-January, 87,743 children aged 6-59 months have been screened for malnutrition, of whom 6,820 have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition, including 5,224 with Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM), and 1,596 with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). These children are currently receiving treatment in line with the simplified protocols.
Since 1 May, WFP and its partners have reached 60,000 children under the age of five and pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBW) with a 15-day allocation of Lipid-based Nutrient Supplements (LNS-MQ) for the prevention of malnutrition.
Nutrition Cluster partners have increased their services in Al Mawasi, Khan Younis, Deir al Balah and Gaza city and have been tracking displaced staff and community volunteers to ensure continued service delivery in areas hosting newly displaced people.
In North Gaza, Juzoor has set up 15 nutrition service centers in shelters, with 32 staff members screening over 1,900 children and managing 90 identified cases of malnutrition since the beginning of May.
So far in May, 4,907 caregivers of children under the age of two, including PBW, received sensitization sessions on Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices in Emergencies (IYCF-E). A total of 16 Mother-Baby Areas for the promotion of IYCF-E have been set up by various partners in Gaza city while almost 400 mother-to-mother support groups have been established. Save the Children (SCI) has opened a site in Deir al Balah, which provides nutrition screening, treatment and referral, as well as group counselling, one-on-one counselling and peer support groups.
WHO partners and Ministry of Health (MoH) continue to offer stabilization services at four health facilities (two in Rafah, one in Gaza city and one in North Gaza) for children suffering from SAM with complications, with support from WHO. However, WHO and MoH are planning to relocate services from the stabilization centre at Tall as Sultan Health Center in Rafah to Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis due its currently limited functionality following the displacement of health workers. An additional stabilization centre is being set up by the International Medical Corps, with support from WHO, in Deir al Balah, which will bring the total number of stabilization sites to five.
UNICEF has provided partners with nutrition supplies estimated to cover requirements for two months. UNICEF also continues to strengthen the capacity of health workers, community volunteers and partners’ staff to sustain and scale-up the delivery of nutrition services.

Challenges

Limited access to Gaza city and North Gaza has hindered plans by UNRWA to start nutrition services at four medical points.
Access constraints across Gaza continue to hamper the early detection of children and women requiring nutrition services and the scale-up of operational presence and needed support.
The delivery of nutrition services has been severely disrupted by the military incursion in Rafah and North Gaza and resulted displacement. In Rafah, WFP partners have lost access to 101 distribution points for malnutrition prevention activities and nine UNRWA nutrition sites have been similarly affected or closed.
Despite redeployment efforts, the limited number of partners present in Khan Younis is insufficient to address the increased need for nutrition services following the large-scale displacement to the area, heightening the risk of inadequate or no follow-up on the cases of children under treatment.

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Gaza Humanitarian Response Update | 13-19 May 2024

Period: 13-19 May 2024

HEALTH

Nutrition

Food Security