Gaza Humanitarian Response Update | 10- 23 November 2024

Amid desperate conditions, people queue for bread outside one of the few UN-supported bakeries still operating in Gaza. Photo by UNRWA

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Period: 10 - 23 November 2024

The information below is provided every other week by Clusters and select technical working groups operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). For an overview of priority needs and activities by cluster, please see the Flash Appeal.

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Health

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Response

Between 10 and 23 November, a total of 42 Health Cluster partners reported providing primary and secondary services to over 479,000 people across Gaza. In addition, health partners continue to respond to mass casualty incidents across the Strip.
On 23 November, 11 Health Cluster partners conducted an assessment mission in Gaza city and are now in the process of delivering health supplies and medications, establishing additional health service points in sites hosting internally displaced persons (IDPs), and expanding services in existing hospitals, including hemodialysis and maternity services and at neonatal care units.
On 17 November, after four unsuccessful attempts, a WHO-led mission managed to reach the Kamal Adwan Hospital in North Gaza and delivered 10,000 litres of fuel and medical supplies sufficient for 1,500 trauma patients, in addition to some food and water supplies. The mission also evacuated 20 patients and 22 caregivers to Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza governorate, along with three unaccompanied children who were subsequently transferred to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.
On 17 November, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) evacuated 15 patients from Al-Awda Hospital in North Gaza to Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza city.
During the reporting period, UNFPA distributed individual clean delivery kits sufficient for 10,000 pregnant women across the Gaza Strip.

Challenges

Access constraints to health facilities in North Gaza, including the Kamal Adwan, Al-Awda and Indonesian hospitals, hinder the facilitation of humanitarian aid to patients, healthcare workers, and IDPs in the area.
Attacks at or in the vicinity of hospitals have continued, with a total of 563 health attacks recorded by WHO across the Gaza Strip as of 12 November.
A severe fuel shortage is affecting hospitals and health partners' operations. This crisis is worsened by the significant presence of armed looters along Salah al-Din Road, further obstructing fuel deliveries to Gaza.
The limited number of functional crossings and access impediments to collect supplies from them continue to cause shortages in medicines and medical supplies across the Gaza Strip.

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Nutrition

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Response

During the reporting period, WHO and Relief International established a new Stabilization Center (SC) for the treatment of acute malnutrition in Deir al Balah, bringing the total number of SCs presently operational throughout the Strip to four. Meanwhile, the SC in the Kamal Adwan Hospital in North Gaza remains closed.
Between 1 and 23 November, 3,410 children were admitted for outpatient treatment of acute malnutrition. An average of 4,700 children were admitted for outpatient treatment of acute malnutrition each month between July and October 2024, reflecting a marked increase in cases of acute malnutrition in recent months, compared to a monthly average of about 1,770 cases between January and June. Cumulatively, 32,817 children have been admitted for treatment since the beginning of 2024.
Between 10 and 31 October, the Nutrition Cluster has observed a significant increase in the admission of children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) with nutritional edema – a life-threatening condition – where patients show swelling caused by fluid retention in the tissues which is an indicator of lack of protein in diets. Cases have surged from 10 per cent before October 2024 to 74 per cent of all children with SAM admitted for in-patient treatment at the two SCs in the Deir al Balah governorate, highlighting a worsening in the nutritional situation and the urgent need to scale up interventions.
WFP and its partners are scaling up the Blanket Supplementary Feeding Programme (BSFP), with 71,000 children and pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBW) reached between 1 and 23 November in Rafah, Khan Younis, Deir al Balah and Gaza city, despite delays faced in the first half of the month due to logistical challenges.

Challenges

In North Gaza, due to the escalation of hostilities, evacuation orders and tightened siege, all Nutrition Cluster partner activities continue to remain suspended, including the treatment of acutely malnourished children and supplementary feeding for children and PBW. The massive displacement of people from North Gaza to Gaza city has caused delays in detecting and initiating treatment for malnutrition cases and compromised required follow ups for children already under treatment. 
The near halt to commercial trucks entering the Gaza Strip has not only driven commodity prices up and threatened market stability but also worsened the nutritional status of vulnerable children and women, who for months have faced severely limited access to adequate food, water and hygiene products.
Shrinking humanitarian space and continued supply chain complications, including the inability to reliably pick up supplies from the Kerem Shalom Crossing due to insecurity and the risk of looting, have prevented full coverage of the needs, despite the prepositioning of adequate quantities of supplies outside the Gaza Strip.

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Food Security

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