Gaza Humanitarian Response | Situation Report No. 68

20 Feb 2026

As of 18:00 on 18 February 2026, unless otherwise noted

This report, issued every Friday, outlines efforts and progress made by the UN and its partners to scale up the humanitarian response across the Gaza Strip following the ceasefire that entered into effect on 10 October 2025. The next report will be issued on 27 February. For all situation reports see here.

HIGHLIGHTS

The Gaza city Mekorot supply line from Israel, which had been operating at reduced flow due to two identified leaks, has been fully shut down since 10 February. Water, health and sanitation partners have increased water trucking in affected neighborhoods to mitigate gaps in drinking water.
Services to address non‑communicable diseases continue to be affected by critical shortages of medicines and laboratory reagents, impacting the quality of care and delaying full-service resumption.
At least 12 fires in displacement sites have been recorded since November 2025, causing injuries and destroying shelters. Overcrowded makeshift sites continue to pose severe fire risks; displaced families cook, sleep and store belongings in small, flammable shelters, with congestion limiting emergency access and civil defense teams lacking equipment.
Between 16 and 19 February, 146 tents were installed to create new or expand existing Temporary Learning Spaces for 19,000 school-aged children.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

Between 11 and 19 February, airstrikes, shelling and gunfire continued across the Gaza Strip, reportedly resulting in civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza (MoH), 20 Palestinians were killed, and 52 others injured during this period, bringing the total casualty toll reported by MoH since the ceasefire came into effect on 10 October 2025 to 611 killed and 1,630 injured.

Between 1 and 14 February, the Site Management Cluster recorded approximately 6,450 population movements within the Gaza Strip. Since the ceasefire agreement, nearly 833,000 population movements have been observed, of which more than 694,000 were from southern to northern Gaza. Most were returns to areas of origin, largely driven by a desire for family reunification. Some movements were also reportedly driven by inadequate shelter conditions and overcrowding in displacement sites, prompting some households to seek alternative locations. Military activity in or near residential areas was also cited as a trigger for new displacement.

Between 11 and 18 February, WHO supported the medical evacuation of 118 patients and their 179 caregivers outside of Gaza through the Rafah Crossing. Overall, since the reopening of the Rafah Crossing in early February for the limited movement of people, a total of 211 patients have been medically evacuated alongside 359 companions.

The UN and partners also supported 296 returnees during the same period, and a total of 564 since the re-opening of the Rafah Crossing to limited movement. In addition to transportation, the UN and partners continue to provide protection and medical assistance, as well as basic supplies.

Humanitarian partners have visited the re-opened crossing and have noted gaps in basic facilities, including limited availability of latrines and handwashing stations, raising concerns for hygiene. People are experiencing prolonged waiting periods, often in areas with limited shade, with insufficient seating and a lack of wheelchairs. The access road to and from Rafah is also in disrepair, affecting patients during medical evacuations. Engagement is ongoing with relevant authorities to ensure that conditions are safe and dignified.

Efforts to address immediate weather‑ and accident‑related needs through joint humanitarian aid distributions continue. Between 11 and 17 February, aid workers in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis provided tents, tarpaulins, bedding and blankets, hygiene products, plastic sheeting, and clothing to 85 displaced families whose shelters and belongings were damaged by a recent fire that broke out in a nearby warehouse in Gaza city. On 14 February, six additional households received a multisectoral package, including families affected by flooding during the last rains and those affected by accidental fires in the Al Mawasi area of Khan Younis and Deir al Balah. On 15 February, a further 582 households - mainly affected by rains - were supported with essential items, such as plastic sheeting, blankets, and clothing kits. In total, 673 households received assistance during the reporting period.

Overcrowding in displacement sites remains a major contributor to fire risks, as shelters - 80 per cent of which are makeshift - are packed closely together with little to no space for safety purposes. Families often live in small structures, typically around 20 square metres (for six people, where cooking, sleeping and storage all take place in the same confined area. During winter and rainy periods, many families are forced to cook inside their highly flammable shelters. Damaged infrastructure and extreme congestion also make it difficult for ambulances, water trucks, and emergency responders to reach affected sites, with civil defense units overstretched and lacking essential equipment, including fire trucks, protective gear, and reliable access to water. Basic fire safety items, such as fire extinguishers and fire blankets, remain largely unavailable. Since November 2025, at least 12 fire incidents have been recorded by the Site Management Cluster, resulting in dozens of shelters being damaged or destroyed and several injuries. Cluster partners continue to provide fire safety awareness to displaced communities and to implement limited fire hazard mitigation measures as much as possible.

HUMANITARIAN AID^*

Between 12 and 19 February, at least 13,000 pallets of aid administered by the UN and its partners were offloaded at Gaza’s crossings, based on data retrieved from the UN2720 Mechanism dashboard at 17:00 on 20 February. About 71 per cent of these pallets contained food supplies, followed by shelter items (17 per cent), water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) assistance (5 per cent), education supplies (3 per cent), operations, logistics and telecommunication material (2 per cent), nutrition and health items (over one per cent each, respectively).

During the same period, international monitors with the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) deployed at Gaza’s crossings verified the collection of 8,381 pallets of aid – 6,432 through Kerem Shalom Crossing and 1,949 through Zikim Crossing. These included 5,365 pallets of food assistance, 1,339 pallets of shelter items including tents, tarpaulins, mattresses, and kitchenware, 457 pallets of WASH items, 349 pallets of medical items, 275 pallets of nutrition supplies, some fuel containers and some solid fuel supplies.

Overall, between the announcement of the ceasefire on 10 October 2025 and 19 February 2026, at least 308,098 pallets of humanitarian cargo were offloaded, and 303,134 pallets were collected from the operating crossings. Some 1,532 pallets, less than one per cent of all collected aid, were intercepted during transit within Gaza.

The above data does not include bilateral donations and the commercial sector.

Between 12 and 19 February, the United Nations coordinated 67 humanitarian missions with the Israeli authorities inside Gaza. Of these, nine (13 per cent) were denied outright. Of the remaining missions, 42 (64 per cent) were facilitated, and nine (13 per cent) were approved but faced impediments, such as long delays – including seven that were fully accomplished despite the impediments and two that were only partially accomplished. Another seven missions (10 per cent) were cancelled by the organizers due to operational, logistical, or security reasons.

UN and international NGO trucks manifested through the Egypt Corridor continued to face high return rates throughout the reporting period. Overall, between 1 and 17 February, out of 854 trucks manifested by the Logistics Cluster, only 296 -- or 35 per cent -- offloaded at Kerem Shalom.

HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

Food Security

As of 16 February, Food Security Sector (FSS) partners had provided approximately 134,000 families (670,000 people) with household-level general food assistance as part of the monthly distribution cycle. Since 5 February, ration sizes have been covering half of the minimum caloric needs. Current stocks of humanitarian food supplies in Gaza are insufficient to sustain even these reduced ration distributions for the rest of the month.
As of 15 February, FSS partners continued to prepare and deliver almost 1.75 million hot meals daily through 18 kitchens across the Strip - 555,000 meals through 49 kitchens in the northern governorates and almost 1.2 million meals through 131 kitchens in southern and central Gaza. Since the start of Ramadan, partners have adjusted cooked meal preparation and distribution timings to align with fasting hours. Partners also continue to enhance meal quality with additional fresh produces and/or protein products.
Over the past four months, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has distributed more than 1,800 metric tons of animal feed and provided veterinary kits to 2,000 holders of small ruminants and around 250 owners of working animals, along with emergency cash assistance to herders and farmers to safeguard their remaining assets and reactivate production. Between October 2023 and November 2026, livestock survival rates dropped to 33 per cent for goats, 20 per cent for sheep, and 11 per cent for poultry. In addition, only 37 per cent of cropland is currently accessible for cultivation, with just 4 per cent being both accessible and not damaged, and thus immediately cultivable.

Health

As of 18 February, 252 of 611 health service points were functioning across the Gaza Strip, the vast majority only partially. These include 19 out of 37 hospitals, 12 field hospitals, 105 primary health care centers, and 116 medical points. Most service points (108) are run by national non-governmental organizations (NNGOs), followed by international NGOs (78), the United Nations (38), government providers (23), and a small number of other and private partners. Geographically, the largest concentration of services is in Deir al Balah (76), followed by Khan Younis (76), Gaza governorate (77) and North Gaza (7). Additionally, 22 ambulance centers are partially functioning with 10 in Deir al Balah, nine in Khan Younis, two in Gaza city, and one in Rafah.
Between 11 and 18 February, six medical evacuation missions were conducted, enabling 136 patients, along with 212 caregivers, to leave Gaza to receive urgent medical treatment presently not available in the Strip. Of all patients, 97 were trauma cases; 17 were affected by ophthalmological disorders, six had cancer, five had cardiovascular diseases, and the remainder were orthopedic, gastrointestinal, neurological, urological, congenital, and transplant cases. A total of 118 patients were evacuated to Egypt through the Rafah Crossing, while another 18 reached Jordan through Kerem Shalom Crossing. Men represented 68 per cent of all evacuees, followed by children (24 per cent) and women (19 per cent).
During the first two weeks of February, health partners reached approximately 15,000 people through the distribution of Inter‑Agency Reproductive Health Kits, contraceptives, midwifery kits, essential consumables, pharmaceuticals, and cardiotocography (CTG) devices. Additionally, 16,000 flyers and 144 posters for maternal health awareness have been finalized and are currently being printed. One partner also conducted the first clinical management of rape training of 2026 for 15 providers, with a second round planned.
Non‑Communicable Disease (NCD) services continued to be affected by critical shortages of medicines and laboratory reagents, impacting the quality of care and delaying full-service resumption. During the reporting period, the Health Cluster distributed emergency hemodialysis supplies (5,600 gallons of acid concentrate and 1,680 bicarbonate cartridges), levothyroxine following a prolonged stockout, and additional antidiabetic and antihypertensive medicines. Two new NCD screening clinics have become operational, one is operated by the Palestinian Medical Relief Society as a specialized clinic and the other through UNRWA’s resumption of services at the Bureij Health Centre, supported by laboratory preparations in North Gaza. Partners also agreed to update NCD service mapping, and service restoration efforts are continuing with phased expansion planned.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

The Mekorot water pipeline from Israel supplying northern Gaza, which was previously operating at reduced flow due to two identified leaks, has been fully shut down since 10 February. Repairs have reportedly begun near the reservoir, and WASH partners will assess the second leak once the first repairs are completed. To meet household needs, WASH partners are increasing water trucking in affected neighborhoods and continue to advocate for a full assessment of the entire line to identify issues and develop a comprehensive repair plan.
Removal of solid waste from the Firas Market in downtown Gaza city to the newly identified temporary dump site in Abu Jarad is ongoing and is expected to help address major environmental health risks faced by the population returning to Gaza city. Over the past week, UNDP transferred 700 cubic metres (m3) of solid waste over four days of operations. Waste transfer activities are expected to scale up by late February or early March.
Between 11 and 18 February, WASH partners distributed 94,000 jerrycans, 30,000 bars of soap, 9,500 hygiene kits, and 732 Safe Toilet (SATO) latrine kits (including a self‑closing flap, installation frame, and basic fittings) to 9,500 households across the Gaza Strip.
In designated shelters, over the past week, water wells provided 15,500 cubic metres (m3), with an additional 2,700 m3 delivered by trucks, with about 450,000 people benefitting from drinking water and 800,000 from domestic water. A total of 1,500 tons of solid waste has been transferred to temporary dump sites, 500 hygiene promotion sessions have been conducted to approximately 3,000 people, and maintenance and unblocking of stormwater drains has continued, including the cleaning of more than 200 manholes.

Shelter

Between 11 and 17 February, Shelter Cluster partners reached 11,759 households with emergency shelter and non-food items (NFI) assistance through in-kind and voucher-based modalities. In-kind distributions included 3,083 tents, 740 tarpaulins, 8,900 bedding items, 1,293 bedding kits (comprising four mattresses, four blankets, six mats and six pillows), and 975 clothing kits.
Since January 2026, partners have taken into Gaza 872 durable flat-pack shelters – commonly referred to as Refugee Housing Units (RHUs). So far, 70 have been already installed: 16 in health facilities across the Strip and 54 in the Al Zaytoun displacement site, in Gaza city.
The Shelter Cluster has published the Shelter Damage Overview – Multisource Damage Mapping for Gaza, which provides a municipality‑level analysis of structural damage and affected populations to support evidence‑based planning and prioritization.
The Cluster technical team is rolling out several tools to support partners, including a unified needs assessment tool, a rapid assessment tool for verifying minor damage to facilitate emergency repairs, social vulnerability criteria and scoring to strengthen prioritization, and an Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) package to guide the upgrading of makeshift shelters.

Site Management

Over the past two weeks, Site Management Cluster partners continued the rapid displacement site review that started on 3 February, with a total of 613 sites surveyed to date. Of these, 447 sites have been identified as active, collectively sheltering more than 500,000 people who are enduring extremely difficult living conditions. An additional 77 sites were found to be inactive or uninhabited. The coverage spans all governorates, with Deir al Balah accounting for 253 surveyed sites, followed by Khan Younis with 152, Gaza city with 135, North Gaza with 44, and Rafah with 11. More than 80 per cent of the identified sites are makeshift settlements, while the remaining 20 per cent are collective centers, including Designated Emergency Shelters.

Protection

General Protection
- Between 11 and 18 February, partners reached nearly 5,300 people – children, caregivers, women, persons injured and with disabilities, frontline workers, and communities in displacement sites and shelters – with protection related services across Gaza. Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS), including Psychological First Aid (PFA), individual and group counselling, and emotional decompression, reached 3,100 people, while specialized case management and follow‑up supported 500 people, and more than 100 other people received legal counselling and assistance.
- Protection monitoring was conducted in seven different sites, with 11 focus group discussions and 110 key informant interviews carried out with community members in accessible locations across all governorates.
- As part of intersectoral and interagency efforts to support returnees, the Protection Cluster continued coordinating the Protection Desk, which assisted 463 returnees through the mobilization of partners providing PFA, emergency assistance and referral services.
Child Protection
- Between 11 and 18 February, Child Protection (CP) partners continued delivering integrated child protection and MHPSS services across Gaza, reaching approximately 3,200 children and 1,150 caregivers through structured and community‑based MHPSS interventions, individual and group psychological counselling, and psychological first aid for children experiencing acute distress.
- Case management services also continued, with 170 children receiving individual social work support and follow‑up. In addition, 78 children received speech and language therapy, and 11 children received physiotherapy to address developmental, disability‑related and health needs.
- Child protection awareness‑raising activities constituted a significant part of the response, reaching approximately 2,500 children and 1,000 caregivers through structured sessions focused on child protection risks, preventing family separation during displacement, violence prevention and stress management.
- Parenting support sessions reached additional 200 caregivers through structured programmes designed to strengthen their ability to support children living under prolonged crisis conditions.
- Community‑based child protection activities were integrated into special events, including recreational gatherings and seasonal celebrations, reaching around 2,000 children and caregivers. These events provided safe opportunities for engagement while reinforcing key protection messages and promoting family cohesion and well‑being.
- From 16 to 19 February, partners conducted a four‑day case management training targeting approximately 90 Child Protection case workers from at least 15 organizations across the Strip. The training was developed in response to identified capacity gaps and partner requests to strengthen caseworkers’ ability to manage complex child protection cases. Sessions covered core interagency case management principles, risk assessment, case planning, safe referrals, documentation and supervision. Preliminary feedback indicates improved understanding of case management concepts and enhanced practical skills among participants.
Addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV)
- A total of 59 Women and Girls Safe Spaces provided multisectoral services addressing GBV between 11 and 18 February. Partners conducted monitoring and provided technical support to two of these spaces, including a newly established space in Gaza city supported by the Humanitarian Fund.
- In collaboration with the Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Technical Working Group, GBV partners supported 19 women in fixing the lights in their tents to help mitigate GBV risks.
- Partners also provided support to women and girls arriving from the Rafah Crossing and to those seeking assistance at the protection desk in Nasser Hospital.
Mine Action
- Between 12 and 18 February, partners conducted 22 explosive hazard assessments (EHAs) in support of debris removal activities, bringing the total EHAs conducted in Gaza since the start of the ceasefire to 1,333, amounting to 5.4 million m2 of land assessed.
- Explosive ordnance risk education (EORE) sessions to civilians have continued, reaching almost 12,500 people across Gaza city, Deir al Balah, and Khan Younis between 15 and 19 February.

Education

Between 16 and 19 February, a total of 146 tents were allocated and distributed across the Strip to support both the expansion of existing Temporary Learning Spaces (TLSs) and the establishment of new ones. Installation is currently underway across 82 TLSs, and enrolment capacity is expected to increase significantly, accommodating 19,000 additional students, once all sites are fully operational.

Logistics

Between 11 and 16 February, the Logistics Cluster facilitated the transport of 2,071 pallets of aid inside Gaza from Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings on behalf of six partners.
During the same period, the cluster’s common warehouses across Gaza received 2,068 pallets of aid for storage on behalf of six partners. The common storage capacity has increased to seven warehouses, totaling more than 9,000 m2. A new facility was secured in Deir al Balah and has been operational since 21 February.

* All figures solely refer to UN and partner assistance dispatched through the UN-coordinated system and are preliminary. Supplies entering through bilateral donations and the commercial sector are not reflected.