UN and NGOs warn of humanitarian impact of intensified Gaza city offensive and further mass displacement

Statement by the Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory*

The Israeli plan to intensify military operations in Gaza city will have a horrific humanitarian impact on people already exhausted, malnourished, bereaved, displaced, and deprived of basics needed for survival. Forcing hundreds of thousands to move south is a recipe for further disaster and could amount to forcible transfer. We reiterate our commitment to serve people wherever they are, and we remain present in Gaza city to provide lifesaving support. We remind parties to the conflict of their obligations under international law to protect civilians, including humanitarian workers and those who cannot or choose not to move, and to safeguard humanitarian facilities and other civilian infrastructure.

The Israeli announcement that tents and other shelter equipment will again be allowed into Gaza is a welcome development, as are other ongoing efforts. It is deeply troubling, however, that it comes in connection with a looming offensive. Since early March, no shelter materials – including tents, tarpaulins and mattresses – have been permitted entry, and more than 780,000 new displacements have taken place. Existing shelters have deteriorated or been left behind amid repeated displacement orders, making the need for new shelter beyond urgent.

Some 86 per cent of the Gaza Strip is already under displacement orders or in Israeli-militarized zones. The remaining areas – including some of Gaza city and parts of the southern coast – are overcrowded and ill-equipped to sustain human survival at scale. Southern hospitals are operating at several times their capacity, and taking on patients from the north would have life-threatening consequences.

We will seize the lifting of the shelter ban to bring in tents, shelter materials, and other non-food items into all parts of the Gaza Strip, including through the northern crossings and to Gaza city. This scale up will take effect as quickly, and to the extent, that systematic restrictions – such as Israeli customs clearance, access to crossings and insecurity – are addressed.

We stress that all those displaced must be allowed to return if they so wish. We reiterate our urgent appeal for a permanent ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, who in the meantime must be treated humanely. We need unimpeded humanitarian access across all of Gaza, with full facilitation of principled aid operations, including community-based distributions and supplies entering at scale through all possible crossings and land routes. Humanitarian partners – UN agencies and NGOs alike – must be allowed to operate without obstruction.

* The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) is a strategic decision-making forum led by the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It brings together heads of UN entities and over 200 NGOs – both international and local – all working on humanitarian affairs in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under internationally agreed humanitarian principles.