11 May 2026

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA Response in the Gaza Strip

Despite unprecedented operational constraints,1 the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA) remained the linchpin of the humanitarian response in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) throughout 2025 in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In the Gaza Strip, humanitarian conditions in 2025 were catastrophic, marked by widespread food insecurity, famine, the displacement of 1.9 million people, and the near collapse of essential services. The 11-week blockade on humanitarian assistance imposed by Israeli authorities, combined with the breakdown of the January ceasefire in March, further disrupted operations and exacerbated the humanitarian crisis. Limited improvements in access following a new ceasefire in October were insufficient to meet overwhelming humanitarian needs. Against this backdrop, the Agency delivered life-saving and essential services at a scale no other actor could match.

Approximately 11,500 Palestinian Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA personnel in the Gaza Strip, many themselves displaced and affected by hunger and insecurity, continued to work under extreme conditions. More than 390 colleagues had been killed, including in the line of duty, and over 300 Agency installations were damaged or destroyed. Despite these challenging operating conditions, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA continued to serve as the backbone of the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip. The Agency was not only the largest humanitarian actor in the Gaza Strip in 2025, but also a central and irreplaceable pillar of the collective aid response, as recognised by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The Agency¡¯s unparalleled infrastructure, deep-rooted community presence and operational reach enabled the sustained delivery of assistance despite extreme constraints. Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA also continued to provide critical common services and logistical support to humanitarian partners, including storage and coordination functions that helped keep humanitarian operations functioning. In 2025, the Agency:

  1. Delivered food to almost the entire population in the Gaza Strip, reaching over 2.1 million people. This included 15,171 metric tonnes of flour and over 710,000 food parcels, designed to cover up to 90 per cent of daily calorific needs.
  2. Continued to manage the largest network of collective emergency shelters, with up to 120 Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA installations hosting tens of thousands of the displaced at any given time, and hundreds of thousands more sheltering nearby. In addition, more than 1.6 million individuals were supported with emergency shelter items, such as tents, tarpaulins, and other non-food items.
  3. Remained the largest humanitarian primary healthcare provider, despite extensive damage to health infrastructure and acute shortages of fuel and medical supplies. During 2025, the Agency provided 3.8 million medical consultations through its health centres, medical points, and mobile teams. In coordination with partners, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA continued to support immunisation and nutrition services conducting over 16,000 routine vaccination sessions per month. During the third round of the polio vaccination campaign in February, nearly 603,000 children under the age of ten were vaccinated across all five governorates. Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA delivered approximately one third of the vaccinations through fixed and mobile teams, a component of making it the largest provider of integrated nutrition services in Gaza.
  4. Delivered half of all water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services across the Gaza Strip, reaching at least 1.7 million people. This included the provision of safe water to 1.4 million people, as well as the distribution of essential household hygiene supplies, including tailored items for women and girls, to over 710,000 individuals. Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA teams also removed solid waste to mitigate public health risks in overcrowded displacement settings, including Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA shelters, benefiting 1.7 million displaced persons.
  5. Reached 79,959 people across 21,920 severely vulnerable households with multi-purpose cash assistance to help meet basic needs and mitigate acute food insecurity.
  6. Ensured the continuity of learning activities for almost half of the Gaza Strip¡¯s schoolchildren, reaching approximately 300,000 students in 2025 through formal remote learning and non-formal education in shelters.
  7. Supported around 442,000 displaced persons, including some 264,000 children, with psychosocial support interventions, rendering the Agency the largest provider of such interventions across the Gaza Strip.
  8. Reached over 500,000 persons with protection interventions, including explosive ordnance risk education, psychological first aid (PFA), cash-for-protection and case management for severe instances of gender-based violence (GBV), child protection and other protection cases, as well as internal and external referrals

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Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA response in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem?

In the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the humanitarian and protection situation further deteriorated in 2025 amid escalating violence, destruction, forced displacement and accelerating Israeli policies and practices amounting to annexation, as stated by the ICJ. Following the launch of Operation ¡°Iron Wall¡± by Israeli forces in January 2025, up to 40,000 people were forcibly displaced from the camps in Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams. Around half of the structures in these camps were damaged or destroyed,5 marking the largest and longest displacement since 1967.6 Approximately 32,400 people remained displaced by the end of the year, facing precarious conditions amid widespread damage to homes and critical infrastructure. Escalating Israeli settler violence led to loss of life, property destruction and forced displacement, including of entire communities. Heightened movement and access restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities deepened socioeconomic vulnerabilities and disrupted access to education, healthcare and shelter. Shortages in medicine and the continued loss of livelihoods further intensified hardship. In response to mass displacement and the humanitarian consequences of escalating violence, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA ¨D through more than 4,000 Palestinian personnel on the ground ¨D continued to support coordination and directly deliver life-saving and essential assistance in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

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