Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #54
On 29 November, the humanitarian pause entered its sixth consecutive day. It has enabled a major increase in the delivery of basic supplies into and across Gaza, primarily by the Egyptian and Palestinian Red Crescent Societies and UN agencies. However, as the UN Secretary-General stressed in a briefing to the Security Council, the level of aid “remains completely inadequate to meet the huge needs of more than two million people.”
Aid convoys to areas to the north of Wadi Gaza (hereafter: the north), which prior to the pause had been almost completely absent, continued on 29 November. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and UNRWA delivered food and non-food items, medical supplies, and fuel to shelters hosting internally displaced persons (IDPs), as well as to warehouses and hospitals. The latter included two hospitals in Gaza city, Al Ahli and As Sahaba, which received a total 10,500 litres of fuel, enough to operate generators for about seven days.
Despite the pause, there has been almost no improvement in the access of residents in the north to water, as most of the main water production facilities remain shut down, due to the lack of fuel and some also due to damages. Concerns about dehydration and waterborne diseases due to water consumption from unsafe sources persist.
Enhanced aid distribution, including fuel to hospitals, water and sanitation facilities, and IDP shelters, also continued in areas south of Wadi Gaza (hereafter: the south), where the vast majority of IDPs are staying. Cooking gas, which has been entering daily from Egypt since the start of the pause, has been available in the market at one distribution centre in Khan Younis, albeit in quantities well below the demand.
One of the partially operational hospitals in the north, Kamal Adwan in Jabalia, urgently requires supplies and medical staff in the fields of obstetrics, paediatrics, neonatology, surgery, and orthopaedics. Eighty of its patients require immediate transfer to a better-equipped facility in the south for their survival. On 28 and 29 November, no evacuations of patients and wounded people from hospitals in the north to those in the south took place.
The UN Secretary-General reiterated his call for “the opening of additional crossings and streamlined inspection mechanisms to facilitate the delivery of life-saving aid.”
On 29 November, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) reiterated his concern about the high risk of infectious diseases in IDP shelters, attributing this to severe overcrowding and the disruption of health, water, and sanitation systems. He noted that more than 111,000 cases of acute respiratory infection, 36,000 cases of diarrhoea in children below five, and 24,000 cases of skin rash had been recorded since the start of the crisis.
On 29 November, twelve Israelis and four foreign nationals, held as hostages in Gaza, and 30 Palestinian detainees, held in Israeli prisons, were released. The freed hostages included seven women and five children. Among the Palestinian detainees were 15 women and 15 children. Since the start of the pause, 210 Palestinians, 68 Israelis, and 20 foreign nationals have reportedly been released.
Read the full report: Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #54
UN agencies deliver fuel to hospitals in northern Gaza. Since the humanitarian pause began, the number of operational hospitals in the north has risen from one to five, although they are only able to provide very limited services. Photo by WHO, 29 November 2023
