Update on humanitarian assistance to Gaza

Statement by the Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr. Muhannad Hadi, on the halt to the entry of humanitarian supplies into Gaza

10 March 2025

The entry of humanitarian assistance into Gaza has been halted for nine consecutive days

Humanitarian aid in Gaza is a lifeline for over two million Palestinians who have endured unimaginable conditions for many months. A sustained supply of aid is indispensable to their survival.

International humanitarian law is clear: civilians' essential needs must be met, including through the unimpeded entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance.

The entry of lifesaving aid must resume immediately. Any further delays will further reverse any progress we have managed to achieve during the ceasefire. 

The ceasefire must hold. The parties must fulfill their obligations under international law. Hostages must be released. Humanitarian assistance must be allowed in.

Israel’s War Decimated Gaza’s Farmlands and Killed Most of its Livestock

GAZA—On an afternoon in early February, Sami Abu Amr, a 61-year-old farmer, walked through his roughly three-acre stretch of land that lies east of the Gaza City neighborhood of Shuja’iyya where he once tended olive trees and grew seasonal vegetables, including cucumbers, tomatoes, and potatoes. Before the war, the sale of his produce to local residents provided the sole source of income for his family of 13, including his sons and grandchildren. But these agricultural lands are now a scene of devastation: A barren landscape of uprooted trees, bulldozer tracks and soil riddled with craters left by Israeli airstrikes.

Along with the ruin of his farmland, the Israeli military had also destroyed Abu Amr’s agricultural equipment, greenhouse, irrigation network, and poultry farm, amounting to losses he estimates at $70,000. "This land is not just a source of livelihood,” Abu Amr said. “It is my life, my history. I have nurtured it with my sweat for years.”

Before Israel’s assault began in 2023, agricultural land covered approximately 47% of the Gaza Strip and produced enough food to serve up to a third of local demand, offering a critical source of food for Palestinians living under siege for nearly two decades.

Following the “ceasefire” that went into effect January 19, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza returned to their homes and land after months of forced displacement only to find an apocalyptic landscape. In addition to the destruction of homes, shops, bakeries, hospitals, universities, roads, and other civilian infrastructure, Israel’s decimated almost all of Gaza’s agricultural capacity.

According to the UN, 82% of croplands, 55% of on-farm irrigation systems and 78% of greenhouses have been damaged, leaving once-productive fields barren. Nearly 70% of agricultural wells have been damaged while 96% of cattle and 99% of poultry have died.

The first phase of the “ceasefire,” which went into effect on January 19, allowed for a surge of aid into Gaza, providing some degree of reprieve to the humanitarian catastrophe. However, Israel violated the agreement by heavily restricting the number of trucks carrying fuel—critical for powering generators and equipment—as well as live animals and animal feed. On March 2, as the first phase of the ceasefire ended, Israel announced it was reimposing a total blockade on Gaza—barring any trucks from entering—as it had done in the opening weeks of its military campaign in October 2023. According to the signed ceasefire agreement, discussions about the implementation of the second phase of the deal were slated to commence on February 3, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to send a negotiating team and swiftly returned to his agenda of sabotage.

Food prices in Gaza doubled or tripled within a day of phase one’s end, as Israel once again wielded forced hunger and starvation as a weapon of war, tactics that led to the issuance of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant. Farmers who have returned to their lands have to contend with the destruction of their equipment, greenhouses and agricultural soil, as well as the scarcity of desalinated water. Israel has also imposed heavy restrictions on the entry of seeds, fertilizers and other items needed for farming.

Abu Amr is now starting from scratch. Accessing water is no easy feat—over the course of the war, the Israeli military targeted essential infrastructure, including water wells that had sustained agriculture in the area. "It's as if they wanted to kill the land before they killed us," Abu Amr said.

Hosni Mehanna, a spokesperson for the Gaza Municipality, told Drop Site that 203 out of 319 water wells in Gaza—more than 65 percent—have suffered severe damage, rendering them unusable. He added that the main challenge now is the absence of equipment and machinery to repair wells and damaged water networks.

Per capita water supply in Gaza has dropped to around three liters per day, Mehanna said. The World Health Organization maintains that 20 liters per capita per day is the minimum quantity of safe water required to meet essential levels of health and hygiene.

With no water supply and no working irrigation pipes, Abu Amr explored digging a private well, but the cost was steep—$8,000, a sum he did not have.

In mid-February, when he told his wife about his dilemma, she handed him gold jewelry she had inherited from her mother. "Take my gold and plant the land,” she told him. “We don’t need gold if we have no land.”

He had no choice but to take the risk, selling the gold and hiring an excavator to drill the well, even as he feared the money might run out before they hit groundwater. "Those were heavy moments,” he said. “I feared the depth wouldn't be enough, or that the water would be scarce. But I kept telling myself: the land never fails its people."

After days of work, water finally burst from the ground—a sign of hope. Abu Amr then collected his hoses, which were damaged during the war and riddled with holes, and asked a local workshop to repair them.

He now faced his next challenge: There were no seeds available due to Israel’s heavy restrictions on seed kits into Gaza for the past 17 months. Searching through what remained of his old stock, Abu Amr found a handful of cucumber and pepper seeds. He began planting them in plastic bags filled with soil, and irrigating them with the little water he could draw from the well until the seedlings were ready for planting. "They may have stolen everything from us, but they will not steal our will,” he said. “This land will be green again, even if I pay for it with my heart's blood." 

An analysis by Forensic Architecture last year found that by March 2024, approximately 40 percent of the land in Gaza previously used for food production has been destroyed. Since then, farmers say the devastation has become even more catastrophic. (Credit: Forensic Architecture)

As farmers begin their efforts to resume cultivation of their land, there are mounting fears that Israel’s relentless bombing campaign and ground invasion may have permanently damaged much of the soil in Gaza and rendered it infertile.

On the outskirts of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, Farid al-Attar, a 52-year-old farmer, stood in the middle of his land, gazing in sorrow at the tomato and corn seedlings he planted weeks ago, now drooped and withering. The soil, he fears, is ruined.

Al-Attar knelt down and touched the yellow leaves of his corn seedlings. "This has never happened to me before. I have been farming here for twenty years, and this soil has always given me good crops. But now, it's as if the land is sick. It doesn't respond to farming," he observed. “I feel that the land is not the same anymore. Even the water we irrigate the crops with has changed, maybe toxic substances have seeped into it?”

Al-Attar’s theory is likely correct. Last November, the Environmental Quality Authority—an independent agency established by the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s—published a report concluding that Israel’s dropping of more than 85,000 tons of munitions on Gaza has led to "pollution of the soil with toxic chemicals that will make agriculture difficult for decades to come." The report also pointed out that Israel used various types of weapons, including white phosphorus, that can cause permanent environmental damage.

Al-Attar fears that this is the beginning of the death of the agricultural sector in Gaza. Israel’s ongoing restrictions on the entry of fertilizers and agricultural equipment, combined with a lack of clean water for irrigation, has stripped farmers of any options to try to salvage their land.

"We are not asking for the impossible, just let us plant and live,” he said. “Agriculture in Gaza is not just a profession, it is our life. If no one moves to save it, we will lose our only source of food."

Rasha Abou Jalal is an independent reporter based in Deir Al Balah, Gaza and we have been honored to publish her reporting at Drop Site News. Her report today details the perilous situation facing farmers and the agricultural sector in Gaza. Israel’s 16 months of massive bombardment and occupation, combined with an ongoing Israeli blockade on equipment, the import of seeds and livestock, and a water shortage, has largely destroyed an industry that once provided food for nearly a third of the population.

We are able to bring you this story, as well as regular, on-the-ground reports from inside Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and elsewhere because of the support of our paid subscribers. We have a commitment to ensuring that our journalism is not locked behind a paywall. But the only way we can sustain this is through the voluntary support of our community of readers. If you are a free subscriber and you support our work, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription or gifting one to a friend or family member. You can also make a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible donation to support our work. If you do not have the means to support our work financially, you can do your part by sharing our work on social media and by forwarding this email to your network of contacts.

I am Rasha Abu Jalal, a journalist from the Gaza Strip. I work in several media outlets covering Palestinian political, humanitarian and social issues. I am a permanent member of the judging committee for the annual Press House Award.

Punitive tax on donations will silence Israel’s conscience, say critics

Israeli not-for-profits including Physicians for Human Rights and Peace Now say if the new tax law passes, they will lose the foreign income that enables them to operate.

For Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition, a new tax regime that could undermine the viability of left-leaning civil society organisations is about rooting out illegitimate foreign influence. Critics say it is about silencing dissent.

But for Tal Applebaum, a volunteer physician at Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), which runs a clinic for asylum seekers in Jaffa, the essence of the NGO is helping the weakest and most vulnerable people in Israel.

The small clinic, marked with a modest sign in four languages on a quiet residential street, treats about a thousand patients a year, many of whom come back multiple times. The patients, adults who have fled Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and other lands, are denied medical care by the Israeli state because of their limbo-like status.

Applebaum and PHR-I fill the void left by the government. “Society must take care of the weak,” she says. “This is the least one can do if he has the time, it’s basic,” she adds, in reference to her own efforts.

Applebaum, a retired Tel Aviv family doctor interviewed during a break, works in a cramped examination room, a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff at the ready on her desk. What the room lacks in space, she makes up for in empathy.

“Life is tough for those who aren’t privileged,” she explains. “I’m privileged and I feel I have to share what I have.”

Although this approach is consistent with the highest values of Judaism, the Netanyahu coalition apparently doesn’t embrace it. PHR-I’s clinic is now threatened as a result of legislation introduced by Ariel Kellner of Likud that passed preliminary reading two weeks ago.

If the bill becomes law, it will shut us down.

Hagit Ofran, Peace Now

The new law would impose an 80% tax on foreign government funding for civil society organisations, and would bar organisations that receive the majority of their funds through foreign state entities from petitioning Israeli courts.

In practice, that would make it impossible for PHR-I and similar non-profits to continue receiving the foreign funding that sustains them or to be active in the Israeli court system where they fight government and army actions they see as abusive and illegal.

Among the other groups threatened are Peace Now, Ir Amim, which focuses on East Jerusalem, Gisha, which presses against the odds for meeting the humanitarian needs of Gaza’s population, B’tselem, the largest Israeli human rights organization combatting the occupation and what it views as apartheid, HaMoked, which fights in the courts against alleged violations of the rights of Palestinians, and Bimkom, which focuses on planning rights, to name a few.

Taken together, such groups are seen by their supporters as the collective conscience of Israel and a last bastion of humanism in a country where Jewish supremacism has gained considerable traction.

Although Applebaum is aided by a translator, cultural and linguistic gaps sometimes give her the feeling that she is unable to help cure as much as she would like. “I see a lot of diseases. But the most difficult part to understand is what is not said during the visit, the problem that makes the patient come again and again.

“There is a cultural difference with Ethiopian patients. If they say they have pain somewhere, they can mean something else. They may think that they have a demon in their abdomen and that I can take it out.”

The explanatory notes to Kellner’s bill essentially cast the NGOs as foreign agents meddling in Israeli affairs. The NGOs counter that issues they address such as the occupation are by definition international and that the donor countries are European democracies.

The bill, which imposes an 80% tax on NGOs that receive foreign government funding, would not apply to NGOs that also receive funding from the Israeli government or to those granted exemptions by the finance minister. In practice this means that right-wing organisations would not be touched.

“The purpose of this bill is to reduce the indirect influence of foreign governments and political entities on the state of Israel,” says the explanatory notes to the bill.

The foreign agent argument was also used by Putin to eliminate NGOs that differed with the regime’s views in Russia.

The foreign agent argument was also used by Vladmir Putin to eliminate NGOs that differed with the regime’s views in Russia.

Critics of the legislation see it as an integral part of a drive to silence freedom of expression, debate and critical voices while engineering a shift to an autocratic system of government. Most of the groups have advocacy arms that have taken on added importance in recent years with the decline and even disappearance of left-wing parties in the Knesset. If not for the field research of the left-wing NGOs, many dark deeds would be unmonitored and unreported.

For example, last week, PHR-I published a report on detention and alleged torture on a wide scale of Gaza doctors and medical personnel. The IDF says its soldiers uphold international law.

PHR-I is simultaneously taking court action to overturn a government halting of medical care previously accorded to children of asylum seekers. It says the cutback violates Israel’s commitments under the UN Convention on Rights of the Child.

In East Jerusalem, Peace Now and Ir Amim are helping Palestinians in the neighbourhood of Silwan combat being evicted as part of the far-right Ateret Cohanim organisation’s drive to expand the Jewish presence in the area.

Although some of the low-income Palestinian families trace their own presence back more than 60 years, discriminatory Israeli laws effectively allow settlers to “reclaim” property in East Jerusalem that was in Jewish hands before 1948 while preventing Palestinians from doing the same in West Jerusalem.

This has led to a series of cruel, court-endorsed evictions, with residents bracing for a likely decision this week that could dispossess two more families, the Odehs and the Shuweikis. All told, 18 homes housing a total of about 700 people are in danger, according to Zuheir Rajabi, a community leader who is himself facing eviction proceedings.

“Peace Now helps us a lot,” Rajabi says. “They stand by us legally and bring people on visits to see what is happening here. They are with us on cases from start to finish. On a psychological level, they always give us the feeling they are with us.”

I don’t want the German government deciding which Jews should live in an old synagogue in the heart of Jerusalem.

Daniel Luria, executive director of Ateret Cohanim

“If they stop the Israelis who help us defend our homes, it’s a big problem,” Rajabi says. “It will make things much harder for us and increase the danger.”

But Ateret Cohanim executive director Daniel Luria says stopping the work of Peace Now, Ir Amim and other foreign government-funded NGOs is a step that is long overdue. “How can any Israeli government allow the funding of all these anti-Israel, anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist activities?” he asked. “I don’t want the German government deciding which Jews should live or not live in an old synagogue in the heart of Jerusalem.”

Hagit Ofran, director of Peace Now’s settlement monitoring unit, says that if the bill becomes law “it will shut us down”.

“We won’t be able to get donations from the countries that support us. No donor will give to us when there is 80% tax. This will shut down all the organisations that the state doesn’t like.” Other NGO staffers stressed that any tax would stop the funding because the foreign government donations are conditional on being tax exempt.

In the PHR-I clinic, Applebaum is defiant when asked about the legislation. Even if the clinic is harmed, it will keep going in some form, she vows. “We will still be here even if we don’t have medicine to give. The most important thing is caring, the fact that someone can speak about what he suffers from. Even if what we can do is very small, we’ll still be here.”

Ben Lynfield

Ben Lynfield covered Israeli and Palestinian politics for The Independent and served as Middle Eastern affairs correspondent at the Jerusalem Post. He writes for publications in the region and has contributed to the Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy and the New Statesman.

Tal applebaum, a doctor at a clinic for refugees in Jaffa run by Physicians for Human Rights Israel (supplied)

Humanitarian Situation Update #269 | Gaza Strip. March 4

he Humanitarian Situation Update is issued by OCHA Occupied Palestinian Territory twice a week. The Gaza Strip is covered on Tuesdays and the West Bank on Thursdays. The Gaza Humanitarian Response Update is issued every other Tuesday. The next Humanitarian Situation Update for the West Bank will be issued on 6 March.

Key Highlights

·         On 2 March, Israeli authorities announced a halt to humanitarian aid entering Gaza, jeopardizing progress made in delivering vital, lifesaving assistance since the ceasefire took effect on 19 January.

·         In February, a slight improvement was found in dietary diversity and since the ceasefire, over 3,000 children and 1,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women have been referred for acute malnutrition treatment.

·         Over 150,000 students have enrolled in 165 schools since the Ministry of Education launched the new, compressed academic year on 23 February, marking the first return to some form of in-person learning at schools since October 2023.

·         Two months into 2025, less than 4 per cent of the US$4 billion in funding required to meet the most basic humanitarian needs of people across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, especially in Gaza, has been secured.

Humanitarian Developments

·         On 26 February, Palestinian armed groups returned to Israel the remains of four deceased hostages, through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). On 26 and 27 February, the Israeli authorities released a total of 642 Palestinian detainees, including 491 who were reportedly detained from the Gaza Strip after 7 October, among them 44 children, and 151 others. In total, 97 detainees were reportedly released to Egypt. Since 19 January, 25 Israeli and five Thai hostages, the bodies of eight Israeli hostages, two of whom were children, and 1,777 Palestinian detainees have been released.

·         As of 25 February, it is estimated that 59 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including hostages who have been declared dead and whose bodies are being withheld.

·         On 24 and 26 February 2025, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society announced the death of two detainees from Gaza while in Israeli custody, which raised the reported number of Gaza detainees who have died in custody since October 2023 to 40. As of March 2025, according to data provided by the Israel Prison Service (IPS) to Hamoked, an Israeli human rights NGO, there are 9,406 Palestinians in Israeli custody, including 1,486 sentenced prisoners, 2,960 remand detainees, 3,405 administrative detainees held without trial, and 1,555 people held as “unlawful combatants.” These figures do not include Palestinians who have been detained from Gaza since 7 October 2023 and are still held by the Israeli military.

·         Between the afternoons of 25 February and 4 March, the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza reported the killing of 57 Palestinians and the injury of 74 others; this includes 49 newly retrieved bodies. Since the ceasefire came into effect on 19 January, and as of 4 March, a total of 771 bodies were retrieved from areas that were previously inaccessible, the MoH reported. Since 7 October 2023 and as of 4 March 2025, the MoH in Gaza reported the killing of at least 48,405 Palestinians and the injury of 111,835 others.

·         Between 26 February and 2 March, several incidents resulting in fatalities were reported across the Gaza Strip. On 28 February, an 18-year-old Palestinian man was reportedly killed in Rafah and a boy was reportedly killed in North Gaza. On 2 March, a young Palestinian man was reportedly killed while on the roof of his house in central Rafah and a woman was reportedly killed and others injured in Khan Younis. Moreover, the widespread presence of explosive ordnance continues to pose risk to people in Gaza. On 26 and 27 February, two people were reportedly killed and five others injured by explosive ordnances in North Gaza and Rafah, where people were reportedly digging to erect tents.

·         Between 7 October 2023 and 3 March 2025, according to Israeli forces and official Israeli sources cited in the media, more than 1,607 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed, the majority on 7 October 2023 and its immediate aftermath. This includes 407 soldiers killed, in addition to 2,582 soldiers injured, in Gaza or along the border in Israel since the beginning of the ground operation in October 2023.

·         Between 1 February and 2 March 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) has supported the medical evacuation of 1,136 patients, including 451 children, and 1,720 companions from Gaza to receive specialized care in Egypt and other countries. About 12,000 to 14,000 people, including more than 4,500 children, remain in urgent need of medical evacuation, according to the Health Cluster.

·         On 26 February, the polio vaccination campaign concluded, reaching 602,795 children under 10 years of age. Among them were 101,777 children in the North Gaza governorate, 210,279 in Gaza, 100,279 in Deir al Balah, 143,931 in Khan Younis and 46,529 in Rafah. Noting that the “ceasefire allowed health workers to reach more children than during previous vaccination rounds,” Director-General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, emphasized that ending “polio hinges on fully vaccinating every last child and ensuring uninterrupted access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene, and proper nutrition.”

·         On 23 February, the Ministry of Education (MoE) launched the new, compressed academic year for 2024-2025, marking the first return to some form of in-person learning at schools since the escalation of hostilities in October 2023. As of 3 March, according to MoE, over 150,000 students have enrolled in 165 governmental schools across Gaza, more than half of which are operating on three shifts a day, and over 7,000 teachers have been mobilized to support teaching. According to the Education Cluster, 30 of these schools are in Gaza governorate, 52 in Deir al Balah, 57 in Khan Younis, and 26 in Rafah. Most schools were severely damaged due to hostilities and/or used as shelters for displaced people and have become worn down, the Cluster added, noting that at least 88 per cent of school buildings still require full reconstruction or major rehabilitation. Yet, shortages in construction materials are preventing essential repairs, and the lack of capacity to clear explosive ordnance is preventing the use of some damaged buildings and increasing the need for temporary learning spaces. At the same time, between 19 January, when the ceasefire took effect and 1 March, only 100 out of an estimated 600 special tents needed to serve as temporary learning spaces entered Gaza and the entry of educational supplies continued to be limited, making it difficult to re-establish an effective learning environment with the required equipment and materials, particularly in North Gaza, where damage levels are especially high.

·         On 2 March, Israeli authorities announced a halt to humanitarian aid entering Gaza, including fuel. Describing Israel's decision to halt aid into Gaza as “alarming,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, stated: “International humanitarian law is clear: We must be allowed access to deliver vital lifesaving aid. We can’t roll back the progress of the past 42 days. We need to get aid in and the hostages out. The ceasefire must hold.” Also, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that the stoppage of aid deliveries into Gaza will quickly lead to devastating consequences for children and families who are struggling to survive.

·         According to the Food Security Sector (FSS), if the disruption to aid entry continues, at least 80 community kitchens may soon run out of stock. Among the kitchens that remain operational, some will need to start to adjust meal content or reduce the number of meals prepared to cope with anticipated shortages. Additionally, FSS partners would be forced to reduce food rations. While the distribution of previously dispatched food parcels is ongoing, these remaining supplies, which will support 500,000 people, will soon run out. Furthermore, household-level flour distribution will have to be suspended to prioritize the available flour stocks for sustaining bakery operations.

·         Beyond the critical need to ensure the continued flow of food assistance, in line with the 2025 Flash Appeal for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, FSS partners are supporting the restoration of local food production systems and agricultural livelihoods in Gaza. These efforts are seeking to complement general food and bread distributions and healthy cooked meals. By providing the necessary resources to small-scale farmers, livestock herders and other agri-food actors, FSS partners aim to enhance access to a diverse and highly nutritious diet, including fresh milk, meat and vegetables. For example, since 19 January, FSS partners have distributed over 1,000 MT of animal feed to approximately 3,000 livestock holders in Gaza city, Deir al Balah, Khan Younis and more than 3,000 vegetable seed kits to support home and community gardening in Rafah, Khan Younis and Deir al Balah. The distribution of the remaining 7,000 vegetable seed kits that have entered the Gaza Strip is underway. However, according to FSS, even before the halt to the entry of humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip, the re-activation of agricultural activities was constrained due to restrictions on the entry of most agricultural inputs, such as seed kits, organic fertilizers and nylon sheets for greenhouses, through both humanitarian and private sector channels. These humanitarian items, FSS emphasizes, are critical to supporting emergency livelihoods, enhancing dietary diversity and reducing food gaps in Gaza.

·         In addition, FSS highlights that safe access of farmers, breeders, and fishers to their lands, livestock and the sea is critical for resuming agricultural activities and restoring the food supply chain. Yet, an estimated 50 million tons of debris are scattered across Gaza, large swathes of agricultural land have sustained damage, and incidents of fishers being fired at while fishing just metres from the shore continue. To enable the resumption of safe agricultural practices and fishing activities, FSS emphasizes that the import of agricultural and fish production inputs and tools needs to resume, the removal of hazardous materials, including unexploded ordnance, should continue, and fishers must be granted safe access to fishing waters without fear of harm. According to the Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (IRDNA) issued by the World Bank, European Union, and UN on 18 February, economic losses in the agricultural sector are estimated at US$1.3 billion, and US$1.06 billion is required to address agricultural and food systems needs in the immediate and short terms (up to three years), with a focus on stabilizing infrastructure and basic needs to achieve 70 per cent functionality of critical assets in the first year and increase local food production by 40 per cent.

·         Data collected by the Nutrition Cluster in February showed a slight improvement in the number of children and pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBW) consuming the minimum required food groups, with about eight per cent of children consuming four or more food groups, and a noticeable increase in the consumption of fruits, vegetables, eggs and dairy products, which can be attributed to the then increased availability of goods on the local market. Within this context, Nutrition Cluster partners continue to support the scale-up of screening processes of children and PBW to identify acute malnutrition cases that need to be enrolled in treatment programmes. Overall, since the ceasefire took effect on 19 January, more than 3,000 children and 1,000 PBW have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition in the Gaza Strip and referred for treatment. As of 1 March, Nutrition Cluster partners provided services at four in-patient stabilization centres for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition with medical complications and 135 sites currently provide out-patient treatment of acute malnutrition, compared with 120 sites prior to the ceasefire. To strengthen preventative measures, partners have also scaled up the blanket distribution of nutrient supplements, reaching nearly 230,000 children and 90,000 PBW since 19 January, in addition to providing more than 19,000 children with ready-to-use complementary foods (e.g., jars of mixed fruit). At present, about 180 sites across Gaza are providing nutrient supplementation, compared with 151 sites prior to the ceasefire, and over 320 sites are providing infant and young child feeding services compared with 160 prior to the ceasefire.

·         On 4 March, WHO warned that the, “lack of water and sanitation threatens the health, dignity and, survival of women and girls in Gaza … [as the] inability to maintain hygiene increases anxiety and stress, deepening the mental health crisis among those displaced.” A female doctor displaced from North Gaza and interviewed by WHO described witnessing women cutting up their clothes to provide their daughters with makeshift sanitary pads in displaced sites, stressing that "only a woman can truly understand this suffering – lack of necessities, underwear, sanitary pads, and hygiene.” In response to the dire hygiene needs, since the ceasefire took effect, partners addressing gender-based violence have distributed 90,000 dignity kits, compared with 2,388 prior to the ceasefire, and WHO provided hygiene and sanitation supplies to meet the needs of over 77,000 women and girls.

·         Drawing attention to the devastating mental health consequences if the ceasefire does not hold, a child psychotherapist and mental health activity manager for Médecins Sans Frontières stated: “The mental health of both children and adults in Gaza has been severely affected. They have gone through immense trauma, worrying about their lives for more than a year. We see depressive symptoms in adults and children … because they can’t take it anymore … The ceasefire needs to hold because without it, these children will once again be trapped in extreme survival mode … the uncertainty, fear and trauma have lasted too long for anyone to bear.”

Funding

·         As of 3 March 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$156.4 million out of the $4.07 billion (3.8 per cent) requested to meet the most critical humanitarian needs of three million out of 3.3 million people identified as requiring assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025, under the 2025 Flash Appeal for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Nearly 88 per cent of the requested funds are for humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 12 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during February 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF) managed 87 ongoing projects, totalling $62.6 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (86 per cent) and the West Bank (14 per cent). Of these projects, 50 are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 25 by national NGOs and 12 by UN agencies. Notably, 37 out of the 62 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service webpage and the oPt HF webpage.

* Asterisks indicate that a figure, sentence, or section has been rectified, added, or retracted after the initial publication of this update.