Gaza Humanitarian Response Update | 11-24 May 2025

Response

• On 25 and 26 May, around 299,000 daily meals were prepared and delivered by 16 partners through about 70 kitchens.
• Between 22 and 24 May, following the entry of a limited amount of wheat flour into Gaza, five out of the 25 UN-supported bakeries briefly resumed operations in the central part of Gaza. This enabled the distribution of over 113,000 two-kilogramme bread bundles by FSS partners via more than 120 locations in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis governorates, including community kitchens, shelters and informal displacement sites.
• Humanitarian partners have pre-positioned over 171,000 metric tons (MT) of food in the region, ready for immediate delivery once restrictions on the entry of aid and other supplies are fully lifted by the Israeli authorities. This stockpile is enough to sustain the entire population of about 2.1 million people for three to four months.
• Amid acute food shortages, which have heightened security and looting risks, FSS partners have been scaling up community engagement efforts through in-person meetings and dissemination of community messages to support ongoing response efforts.
• During the reporting period, partners have been working with communities to identify beneficiaries and provide in-kind inputs, such as nylon sheets still available on the market, to support farmers and families in home gardening initiatives and local vegetable production. These efforts aim to improve dietary diversity, primarily in accessible locations in Deir al Balah and Al Mawasi area of Khan Younis.

Challenges

• Escalating insecurity - including looting and crowd violence – have disrupted operations, forcing the suspension of bakery activities that briefly resumed on 22 May. Since 19 May, when limited aid was allowed, Israeli authorities prevented FSS partners from directly delivering food to families, leaving bakeries and community kitchens as the only option to provide food assistance. Partners are assessing how to resume food support and emphasize the need for safe conditions. FSS partners remain committed to delivering aid directly to families through proven and principled humanitarian systems.
• Access constraints across the Gaza Strip continue to hamper efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to communities. The diversity of food in Gaza has sharply declined since March, pushing diets to dangerously imbalanced and nutritionally inadequate levels. The population is now facing extreme levels of poor dietary diversity, with most people unable to access even the most basic food groups.
• Most of the community kitchens that remain operational have been forced to adjust meal content and/or reduce the number of meals prepared daily to stretch dwindling resources. The single daily meal provided through community kitchens is insufficient to meet the daily caloric and dietary diversity needs of children and adults. Moreover, growing overcrowding is being observed across all remaining operational kitchens, leading to increased safety concerns, social tensions and further marginalization of vulnerable groups, including persons with disabilities, orphans, the elderly and single-headed households, who are less likely to physically access kitchens and collect meals.
• Food production and food systems in Gaza have been severely weakened by the lack of safe access of farmers, breeders, and fishers to their lands, livestock and the sea. Since 18 March 2025, access to cropland available for cultivation has significantly declined. As food supplies continue to dwindle and as fresh produce remains scarce and unaffordable, some wholesalers, fishers and farmers are forced to take grave risks to reach areas near or within the Israeli-militarized zones or the sea. In April and May, several incidents were reported in which fishing boats were hit or came under Israeli fire near the shore, resulting in casualties among fishers. Since October 2023, the Israeli authorities have banned sailing off Gaza's shore, but some fishers have continued to work within less than one nautical mile from the short using non-motorized boats since over 70 per cent of fishing assets have been destroyed or damaged.

Response

• After about 80 days of total blockade on the entry of aid and other essentials, UNICEF’s preventive nutrition supplies finally entered Gaza on 21 May. The cargo included 19 trucks carrying 20,790 boxes of Specialized Lipid-Based Nutritional Supplements (LNS-SQ) and 95,352 packs of ready-to-use complementary food (RUCF). The LNS-SQ is a high-calorie, protein-rich, and micronutrient-dense supplement designed to prevent malnutrition, wasting, and stunting in children aged 6-59 months. The current supply of LNS-SQ is sufficient to meet the needs of around 300,000 children for one month. RUCF, a fortified baby food that includes all five essential food groups, is designed for children between 6 and 24 months. The current supply is sufficient to support 24,223 infant and young children for one month, which is 25 per cent of the total monthly need. UNICEF is distributing the supplies through 14 partners, with 40 per cent of the supplies allocated to the northern governorates and 60 per cent to the south.
• During the reporting period, the World Food Programme (WFP) brought in 97 MT of Medium Quantity Lipid Based Nutrient supplement (LNS-MQ), used to prevent malnutrition. The quantity is sufficient to meet the nutritional needs of 61,000 children and pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBW), for one month, and must be combined with food, as it is only a supplement. This represents 15 to 20 per cent of the estimated monthly requirement.
• Nutrition partners continue to screen, identify and treat children and PBW with acute malnutrition. In the first two weeks of May, about 47,800 children under five were screened, of whom 2,264 were diagnosed with acute malnutrition, including 286 cases of severe acute malnutrition (SAM). This brings the total number of children diagnosed and treated for malnutrition since the beginning of 2025 to over 13,635, including 1,684 cases of SAM. During the same period, partners have conducted 114,871 screenings of PBW, of whom 2,573 have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition and enrolled in the therapeutic supplementary feeding programme. As of 24 May, there are four stabilization centres operational across Gaza, including one in Deir al Balah, two in Khan Younis and one in Gaza city.

Challenges

• Shrinking humanitarian space and access constraints continue to impede malnutrition detection and treatment efforts, even as the nutrition situation continues to deteriorate. As of 24 May, partners reported delivering treatment at 85 outpatient therapeutic programme (OTP) sites across Gaza, including 27 OTP sites in Gaza governorate, 26 OTP sites in Deir al Balah, and 23 OTP sites in Khan Younis, while only six are operational in North Gaza and three in Rafah.
• Although limited supplies are entering, ongoing restrictions on the entry of aid and other essentials continue to severely limit the availability of essential supplies required to implement nutrition programmes. Malnutrition prevention stocks are nearly depleted, while some supplies in warehouses remain in hard-to-reach or inaccessible areas or are stalled at crossings. Furthermore, due to severe food shortages, incidents of looting of nutritious supplements have become increasingly common, hindering the ability to reach children and PBW in acute need.

Response

• Between 9 and 22 May, the Palestinian Water Authority and Coastal Municipalities Water Utility reported an average daily water production from public utilities of about 91,000 cubic metres. This reflects a continued decline in water amounts, a trend observed since the collapse of the ceasefire. The reduction in water production can mainly be attributed to the need for fuel rationalization across groundwater wells, as well as repeated damage, repairs, or maintenance of the Mekorot supply line to Gaza city. Of the total amount of water production, 28,000 cubic metres was of drinking water quality, sourced from seawater, brackish water desalination plants and Mekorot lines. The remaining 63,000 cubic metres came from groundwater wells and was classified as domestic water with high levels of salinity levels. However, the WASH Cluster estimates that 50 to 60 per cent of the water produced is lost due to leaks caused by the damaged distribution network.
• On average 23,733 cubic metres of drinking water and 13,700 cubic metres of domestic water have been distributed daily by 27 WASH partners to 1,603 water collection points. These figures are consistent with volumes of water distributed through water trucking activities since early May.
• Solid Waste collection continues in accessible locations of Gaza city, Khan Younis and Deir al Balah, despite significant challenges in transferring waste to temporary dump sites.
• WASH Cluster continues to advocate for the immediate entry of sufficient quantities of fuel, repair materials, and water treatment supplies to enable life-saving WASH activities and for access to be granted to conduct necessary repairs.

Challenges

• Critical fuel shortages are impeding water production, halting other critical WASH activities, and forcing WASH partners to ration available fuel supplies.
• Lack of access and materials has prevented the repair of the electric feeder line to the UNICEF-supported South Gaza Desalination Plant, which has the capacity to produce 18 million litres of drinking water per day, and the repair of the Bani Saeed Mekorot line, which can produce about 12 million litres of drinking water per day. This can potentially serve about 400,000 people.
• Chemical supplies essential for water treatment and de-clogging, such as chlorine and anti-coagulants, are critically low. The previously agreed monthly consignment of these materials was abruptly halted at the end of the ceasefire. As of 24 May, all requests for their entry have been denied by Israeli authorities, leading to severe public health implications. Acute watery diarrhea now accounts for 25 per cent of non-trauma medical consultations, and this is expected to further increase, heightening the risk of morbidity and mortality among vulnerable populations.
• Lack of access to suitable landfills and appropriate sites for temporary dumping in Gaza city remains unresolved. As a result, North Gaza governorate, eastern Gaza city, and other areas, including overcrowded displacement sites, are no longer assisted with solid waste collection and disposal activities, further deteriorating public health conditions. Moreover, solid waste collection has ceased entirely in all areas under displacement orders.

Response

• About 500,000 medical treatments, consultations and interventions were conducted by 69 Health Cluster partners providing primary and secondary health services across the Gaza Strip.
• Two health facilities reported the provision of additional emergency and in-patient services, making available 80 beds, including 20 beds at Al Ahli Arab Hospital and 60 beds at Al Quds Hospital, both in Gaza city. One Cluster partner began supporting a primary health care centre in Gaza governorate.
• Two trucks carrying medical supplies entered Gaza, while two others were denied entry. One of the denied trucks contained wheelchairs and crutches.
• As of 27 May, there were 22 Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) in the Gaza Strip: six in Gaza governorate, seven in Deir al Balah, eight in Khan Younis and one in Rafah. These include two national (353 local staff) and 20 international EMTs (59 international staff).
• During the reporting period, WHO supported the evacuation of 138 patients, along with 171 companions, to receive urgent medical treatment abroad.

Challenges

• Attacks on health care continue to take place, with 29 attacks reported so far in May 2025, further disrupting the already fragile health care system and overburdening hospitals that remain operational, however partially. These included the following key attacks:
  • Al Awda Hospital in Beit Lahiya, in North Gaza, was repeatedly hit between 15 on 23 May, resulting in the injury of staff and extensive damage to the hospitals’ warehouse containing medical supplies. Since 19 May, ongoing hostilities and precarious road access have prevented patients from reaching the hospital, which has remained partially operational under extreme conditions. As of 24 May, 19 patients and 131 staff (including 14 doctors and 40 nurses) were inside the hospital.
  • The Indonesian Hospital has been rendered out of service by strikes on 19 and 20 May, resulting in the loss of 162 hospital beds.
  • The European Gaza Hospital was forced to close on 13 May following intense Israeli airstrikes, which resulted in casualties among patients and other civilians, the destruction of oxygen lines and sewage systems, loss of 329 beds, and the cut-off of vital services, such as neurosurgery, cardiac care and cancer treatment.
• The reporting period witnessed a marked deterioration in the functionality of health service points, with 53 health service points (six hospitals, 20 PHCs and 27 medical points) falling in areas placed under displacement orders. In addition, three hospitals, one field hospital, six PHCs and 19 medical points were situated within 1,000 meters of the areas slated for displacement during this period. Overall, between 11 and 24 May, the number of functional hospitals decreased from 23 to 19 while PHCs declined from 74 to 63. Similarly, the number of functioning medical points dropped from 161 to 137, and field hospitals dropped from eight to seven.
• Almost 80 days of full blockade on aid and other essentials have had a detrimental impact on the availability of essential medicines, critical blood units, medical consumables and vaccines for routine immunization, hampering the delivery of lifesaving health services. The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that 43 per cent of essential medicines (271 out of 622 items) and 64 per cent of medical disposables (644 out of 1,006 items) were out of stock as of the end of April 2025. These supply shortages are especially acute for open-heart surgery and catheterization supplies (100 per cent), orthopedic surgery (87 per cent), ophthalmic surgery (84 per cent), hemotherapy and blood disease treatments (62 per cent), maternal and child health (53 per cent), primary healthcare (48 per cent), and vaccination programmes (42 per cent).

Response

• Child Protection – During the reporting period, CP partners distributed child identification bracelets in shelters, displacement corridors and displacement sites across the Gaza Strip. These durable, non-removable bracelets, which include the child’s full name, date of birth, caregiver contact information and displacement site registration details, are a simple, low-cost tool that has proven lifesaving. CP partners successfully reunified over 250 children with their families using bracelet information. Building on that success, 74,000 bracelets and 40,000 awareness raising flyers were printed and distributed, along with community sensitization sessions for families affected by displacement orders. Meanwhile, case management, referral and protection monitoring activities continued. During the reporting period, 359 children were referred for cash-for-protection support to meet their urgent needs, while 60 children and caregivers in residential care were referred for food assistance, which is itself in short supply. A refresher training was conducted for 48 frontline staff to strengthen frontline response, with a focus on tracking and identifying unaccompanied and separated children (UASC).
• Mine Action – During the reporting period, Mine Action (MA) Area of Responsibility (AoR) delivered two online explosive ordnance risk education (EORE) sessions to 53 humanitarian workers, and through UNRWA, conducted 1,110 EORE sessions for host community members and internally displaced people (IDPs), reaching a total of 19,004 people. During the same period, two incidents involving explosive ordnance (EO) were recorded, resulting in one fatality and six injuries. Mine Action teams also conducted two Explosive Hazard Assessments (EHAs), one at a medical facility and another at a shelter site, as well as supported four inter-agency missions, providing technical expertise and contributing to safety during humanitarian missions in Gaza.
• UNRWA's protection teams carried out the following protection monitoring activities in UNRWA shelters and displacement sites:
  • Carried out 62 protection observations, 51 key informant interviews and 40 focus group discussions in Khan Younis (including Al Mawasi), Deir al Balah, Gaza city and North Gaza.
  • Facilitated referrals to specialized services and distributed in-kind assistance, which is now mostly depleted.
  • Distributed dignity and hygiene kits, bedding kits, diapers and clothing to 379 people.
  • Conducted 150 awareness-raising sessions on child protection, EORE, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) and prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), reaching more than 3,438 women, girls, men and boys.
  • Coordinated the provision of available assistance to 39 former detainees who were released to Gaza from Israeli detention centres.
• Gender-Based Violence (GBV) - During the reporting period, dedicated teams from 30 GBV service providers have continued to deliver essential services in Deir al Balah, Khan Younis and Gaza city governorates. Efforts focused on providing individual and group psychosocial support (PSS) and individual GBV case management. Services were delivered in person at Women and Girls Safe Spaces (WGSS), in shelters, and remotely via helplines. To ensure continued, effective support for survivors amid rapidly shifting operating environment, the GBV AoR updated the GBV referral pathways to reflect significant changes in service availability and population movements. Additionally, online training sessions continued, reaching 21 GBV case workers.
• Housing, Land and Property Technical Working Group (HLP TWG) finalized and published the following products to support partners during the reporting period: a flyer on keeping documents safe; debris management and HLP Guidance Note; a one-page information document on mainstreaming HLP rights into debris management; and a guidance note for humanitarian aid workers on negotiating the stay of internally displaced persons on private land in Gaza. Additionally, the HLP TWG launched an online course for aid actors on debris management in Gaza.

Challenges

• Ongoing bombardment, displacement orders, and restrictions on the entry of aid and other supplies into Gaza continue to constrain the ability of partners to deliver critical protection, psychosocial, and other basic services across Gaza. Some partners have been forced to relocate or altogether suspend activities. During the reporting period, one Women and Girls Safe Space had to temporarily suspend operations, and 28 CP partners were forced to either suspend some or all activities or completely shut down operations.
• Referral pathways for protection services are critically undermined by the absence or lack of shelter, healthcare, WASH and food assistance, movement restrictions, and fuel shortages that make it difficult for people to access the few available services.
• In addition to movement restrictions, humanitarian staff are increasingly suffering from burnout, with most – along with their families – at heightened risk of hunger and displacement, among other dire conditions.
• Needs are growing while the capacity to respond to them has been constrained; protection monitors report deteriorating physical and mental health among people and lack of access to medication and specialized medical care. Especially impacted are people with chronic illnesses, older persons, persons with disability, women and girls who face heightened GBV risks, and children who are at an increased risk of neglect and child labor.

Response

• Education Cluster partners continue to implement innovative solutions to address the growing need for education supplies in Gaza despite immense challenges. On 17 May, one partner distributed stationery kits to 305 learners in An Nuseirat, in Deir al Balah, from the last remaining stocks. Another partner distributed 29 sets of tables and stools repurposed from wooden pallets, demonstrating resourcefulness amid severe supply constraints, with preparations underway to deliver 75 additional sets.
• On 22 May, the Education Cluster organized a webinar to enhance partners’ understanding of key disability concepts, support them in strengthening inclusive and equitable access to education, and strengthen the identification of appropriate tools for collecting disability-related data in education programmes.
• During the reporting period, the Education Cluster began disseminating revised guidelines for the establishment of temporary learning spaces (TLS) to harmonize partners’ approaches and provide updated guidance on minimum standards for improving the quality, safety, and inclusiveness of learning in these emergency settings. Given significant operational constraints, the guidelines are intended to enhance planning, coordination and service delivery while partners are encouraged to adapt and apply the guidance to the extent possible.
• Partners continue to engage in advocacy to protect learning spaces and mobilize resources to scale up the education response.

Challenges

• At least 103 TLSs, mostly located in eastern Khan Younis and northern Gaza, were in areas placed under displacement orders between 11 and 24 May, forcing partners to temporarily suspend operations. This has disrupted learning for over 45,000 learners, supported by 967 teachers, as well as children’s access to critical services, including MHPSS, social and emotional learning (SEL), and structured recreational activities designed to help mitigate the effects of repeated trauma endured by children.
• Displacement orders and attacks against schools continue to be reported across Gaza, further hindering partners' ability to reopen or scale up education interventions. At the same time, a severe shortage of essential education supplies is significantly limiting partners’ capacity to respond to growing needs, expand existing TLSs, and increase enrolment. There is an urgent need for critical supplies, such as tents, prefabricated materials and basic stationery, without which establishing new TLSs is nearly impossible.
• Current challenges compound the prolonged interruption of education and lack of access to learning materials for over 19 months, further undermining the quality of learning in already dire conditions. Limited funding and restrictive donor conditionalities continue to constrain the education response in Gaza. Teachers, who remain the most reliable and readily available resource within the education system, are currently operating on a voluntary basis. For many, teaching is not only a vital service but also their primary source of livelihood. Yet, most partners are reporting a lack of necessary funds to provide even minimal compensation or incentives to sustain the engagement of teachers and acknowledge their dedication and resourcefulness in engaging learners, often without any learning materials and in extremely challenging conditions. Cited reasons include donor reluctance to fund teacher incentives. The current teaching workforce is comprised of 80 per cent women and 20 per cent men.

Response

• During the reporting period, Shelter Cluster partners were only able to assist a limited number of the most vulnerable families referred by other clusters and partners. Between 11 and 24 May, approximately 40 families received emergency shelter kits (ESK) and bedding items, and about 370 families received vouchers for clothing.

Challenges

• Insecurity, restrictions on the entry of aid and other supplies, airstrikes on IDP tents and displacement orders are significantly affecting the capacities and response efforts of Shelter Cluster partners. Many staff members have themselves been displaced, critical shelter and non-food stocks have been fully depleted, and access to newly displaced people is increasingly constrained. As a result, several organizations were forced to partially or fully suspend their activities and have been unable to respond to the needs of vulnerable families, including those who have recently been forcibly displaced. Many of the newly displaced families have been unable to carry their belongings while fleeing.
• The inability to bring in shelter items through crossings, the lack of a fully functioning market, and prohibitively expensive shelter items that remain available in limited quantities on the market are further constraining response efforts.
• Most of the shelter items distributed in Gaza, such as tents, have a short lifespan of only three to six months, creating a repetitive cycle of demand for shelter assistance. This is further compounded by repeated waves of forced displacement, often resulting in the loss or abandonment of essential shelter items. As a result, and despite previous aid distributions, unmet shelter needs remain widespread across the Gaza Strip. An estimated 1.1 million people require emergency shelter items, while around 800,000 people are estimated to require household items, according to the most recent assessment by the Shelter Cluster conducted in May.

Response

• Following the Israeli authorities' decision on 18 May to allow a resumption of limited humanitarian aid into Gaza, the Logistics Cluster is coordinating with partners to identify trucks ready for dispatch from Ashdod and other locations inside Israel. The Cluster is also preparing the daily truck manifest draft for submission to Israeli authorities for their final authorization.
• Between 15 and 21 May, the Logistics Cluster launched the Port Said survey to assess the bonded storage needs of partners operating through the Egypt corridor.

Challenges

• The only aid supplies that Israeli authorities are approving for entry into Gaza are exclusively from locations inside Israel to Kerem Shalom crossing, limiting the humanitarian community’s ability to mobilise aid located in the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt, where stockpiles are available. Protests at Ashdod Port disrupted loading and dispatch operations, with humanitarian trucks being obstructed and, in some instances, their tyres slashed, resulting in further delays.
• For the limited number of trucks currently authorised for entry, Israeli authorities are permitting only medical items and certain food and nutrition supplies. Furthermore, only a very limited number of humanitarian organisations have been cleared to move cargo into Gaza.
• The total aid blockade for nearly 80 days on the entry of aid and other essentials has contributed to ever rising insecurity levels inside Gaza, including looting incidents that have affected logistic transport operations. Ongoing restrictions by Israeli authorities on coordinated aid movements, such as the limited number of permitted routes and time windows, further compound the security risks facing logistics convoys and contribute to operational delays. Cargo collection from the Kerem Shalom/Karm Abu Salam crossing platform was delayed by two days due to the lack of approvals from Israeli authorities.
• Israeli authorities have prohibited the storage of humanitarian cargo inside Gaza, except for limited exemptions granted to select food and nutrition actors to store limited quantities. Most of the aid must thus be dispatched directly for distribution, resulting in significant operational challenges.
• Following the expansion of the Israeli-militarised zone on 5 May, two out of three Logistics Cluster warehouses in northern Gaza became inaccessible. Additionally, since the issuance of the 18 May displacement order in Deir al Balah governorate, the Cluster’s common warehouse was evacuated and is no longer accessible, leaving only one common storage facility with limited capacity accessible in the governorate. At present, two out of five Cluster’s warehouses are accessible across Gaza.

Response

• On 20 May, the ETC met with the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) and third-party service providers to discuss options for the technical integration of satellite-based tracking data and security monitoring platforms into the UNDSS Electronic Travel Advisory (eTA) application, which provides location-based security updates to UN personnel. An interim solution was identified, and its implementation is underway.
• For more information on ETC activities, please visit:Palestine: Conflict | Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) (etcluster.org).

Challenges

• Telecommunications and internet services remain limited across Gaza due to the extensive damage to infrastructure caused by intensified hostilities, compounded by the lack of spare parts needed for repair and maintenance. Fuel supplies are on the brink of depletion, with only minimal reserves available to operate generators and other critical systems.
• Almost 80 days of full blockade on the entry of aid and other essentials have hindered the import of critically needed equipment. Combined with insufficient funding, this is severely constraining ETC's ability to deliver services needed to support humanitarian operations and access to life-saving information in Gaza.

Protection against sexual abuse and exploitation (PSEA) remains a cross-cutting priority for all clusters. Aid distribution must be delivered with dignity and respect. Any wrongdoing can be reported through SAWA toll-free number 164. SAWA will assist and provide services free of charge and with the utmost confidentiality.

To promote accountability to affected people, the online Humanitarian Service Directory provides information on aid services, helplines, and key messages, and is available via hyperlink and QR code.

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