Humanitarian Situation Update #317 | Gaza Strip

The Humanitarian Situation Updates on the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank are both Issued every Wednesday/Thursday. The Gaza Humanitarian Response Update is issued every other Tuesday. The next Humanitarian Situation Update on the Gaza Strip will be published on 3 or 4 September.

Key Highlights

• Famine is now occurring in Gaza governorate and is projected to expand further to Deir al Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September.
• At least 2,000 people seeking aid have been killed in three months, according to records from the UN Human Rights Office.
• Nearly 120,000 displacement movements have been recorded in two months, including about 23,000 in the past week, reports the Site Management Cluster.
• If the Israeli-announced offensive on Gaza city goes ahead, the Gaza Strip could lose half of its hospital bed capacity.
• Acute respiratory infections and acute watery diarrhoea remain the most commonly reported illnesses in the Gaza Strip.
• Humanitarian officials call for the lifting of impediments to large-scale flows of humanitarian and commercial supplies into and throughout the Gaza Strip, including directly to the north and to Gaza city.

Humanitarian Developments

• Over the past week, Israeli forces have carried out heavy bombardment from the air, land and sea across the Gaza Strip, alongside continued ground operations. Reports continue to emerge of demolitions of residential buildings and of strikes on schools, tents, residential buildings, and on people trying to access food supplies. According to records of the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), since the establishment of a militarized distribution system in the Gaza Strip on 27 May and as of 26 August, at least 2,014 people seeking aid – mostly young men and boys – were killed in Gaza – 1,074 near militarized distribution sites and 940 along convoy supply routes.
• In its updated analysis on the Gaza Strip, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) global initiative found with reasonable evidence that famine (IPC Phase 5) is currently occurring in Gaza governorate and projected to expand to Deir al Balah and Khan Younis governorates by the end of September 2025 (see more below). In a statement on 22 August 2025, the UN Secretary-General said that “just when it seems there are no words left to describe the living hell in Gaza, a new one has been added: ‘famine’. This is not a mystery – it is a man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself. Famine is not only about food; it is the deliberate collapse of the systems needed for human survival. People are starving. Children are dying. And those with the duty to act are failing. As the occupying power, Israel has unequivocal obligations under international law – including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population.”
• The Israeli military intensified its operations in North Gaza and Gaza governorates and issued additional displacement orders. Since the beginning of August, six displacement orders have been issued by Israeli forces, including most recently on 26 August when dropped leaflets showed parts of two neighbourhoods of Gaza governorate marked for displacement (Ash Sheikh Radwan and Ad Daraj), part of which had already been included in orders issued over the past three months. Among other civilian infrastructure, the area includes the Ash Sheikh Radwan Pond, three water wells, three wastewater pumping stations, two medical points and one ambulance centre. According to the Site Management Cluster (SMC), nearly 54,000 displacement movements were recorded in July and over 65,000 displacement movements have been recorded since 1 August, including 23,199 over the past week, bringing the total recorded since 18 March to over 833,000 displacement movements. Most displacement flows in August originated from Gaza governorate, followed by North Gaza, and include nearly 18,700 movements reported to have crossed from northern to southern Gaza since 14 August, primarily to Deir al Balah and Khan Younis. A single person may be counted multiple times if displaced more than once.
• According to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, between 20 and 27 August, 475 Palestinians were killed, and 2,169 were injured. This brings the casualty toll among Palestinians since 7 October 2023, as reported by MoH, to 62,895 fatalities and 158,927 injuries. According to MoH, the total number includes 298 fatalities who were retroactively added on 23 August 2025 after their identification details were approved by a ministerial committee. MoH further noted that the number of casualties among people trying to access food supplies has increased to 2,158 fatalities and more than 15,843 injuries since 27 May 2025.
• According to the Israeli military, between 20 and 27 August, as of noon, one Israeli soldier was killed in Gaza. This brings the casualty toll among Israeli soldiers since the beginning of the Israeli ground operation in October 2023 to 455 fatalities and 2,883 injuries, according to the Israeli military. According to Israeli forces and official Israeli sources cited in the media, more than 1,655 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed, the majority on 7 October 2023 and its immediate aftermath. As of 27 August, it is estimated that 50 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including hostages who have been declared dead and whose bodies are being withheld.
• On 25 August, at about 10:00, Nasser Medical Complex in central Khan Younis was hit by two strikes carried out by Israeli forces, killing 22 Palestinians, including two who died of their wounds on 27 August according to MoH. Among the fatalities were one female photojournalist, four male journalists, a Palestinian Civil Defence (PCD) driver, a doctor and three other medical staff. Over 30 people were reportedly injured, including one doctor and one nurse, critically ill patients who were receiving care at the complex, two journalists, one Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedic, and seven PCD officers who got injured live on the news while attempting to rescue the injured and retrieve the fatalities from the first strike. The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the strikes hit the hospital’s main building, which houses the emergency department, inpatient ward and surgical unit, and damaged the emergency staircase. On the same day, at about 16:45, two Palestinians, including a journalist, were reportedly killed and several others injured when tents sheltering internally displaced people (IDPs) were hit, northwest of Khan Younis. Earlier on 23 August, at about 18:00, a Palestinian journalist was reportedly shot and killed while he was covering events near Zikim crossing, in North Gaza.
• The UN Secretary-General condemned the killing of Palestinians in the Israeli strikes that hit Nasser Medical Complex and extended condolences to the families and friends of journalists. He stated that “these latest horrific killings highlight the extreme risks that medical personnel and journalists face as they carry out their vital work amidst this brutal conflict” and called for “a prompt impartial investigation into these killings.”
• On 26 August, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) stated that, since October 2023, 245 journalists and media workers, including 33 female journalists, have been killed, at least 520 have been injured, and 39 have been arrested by Israeli authorities, of whom 22 remain in detention. This is in addition to at least 800 family members of journalists killed in Gaza, PJS said. According to PJS, “more than 800 journalists in Gaza continue to live under conditions of repeated displacement from the north to the south of the Strip, facing severe hardships including lack of safety due to Israeli airstrikes on their tents, the absence of basic living conditions, and the lack of electricity and internet necessary to continue their work.” PJS added that Israeli forces have carried out airstrikes and tank assaults that destroyed 115 media institutions in the Gaza Strip, encompassing all types of media outlets.
• Other key incidents resulting in fatalities over the past week included the following:
  • On 20 August, at about 21:00, six Palestinians were reportedly killed and at least 10 others injured when the vicinity of a school sheltering IDPs was hit in Ash Shati’ (Beach) Camp, in western Gaza city.
  • On 21 August, at about 16:00, at least eight Palestinians were reportedly killed when a residential building was hit in As Sabra, in southern Gaza city.
  • On 22 August, at about 8:30, 12 Palestinians were reportedly killed and dozens injured when a school and surrounding IDP tents were hit in Ash Sheikh Radwan, in northern Gaza city.
  • On 23 August, at about 3:50, 17 Palestinians, including three women and at least five boys and two girls aged between 6 months and 13 years, were reportedly killed when an IDP tent was hit north of Khan Younis.
  • On 24 August, between 18:00 and 19:00, 10 Palestinians were reportedly killed and more than 50 injured while waiting for aid convoys in As Sudaniya area, west of Beit Lahiya.
  • On 26 August, at about 0:15, six Palestinians, including a couple, their three children and a woman, were reportedly killed when an IDP tent was hit in Al Qarara area, north of Khan Younis.
  • On 26 August, at about 3:30, nine Palestinians were reportedly killed when a residential building was hit in As Sabra, in southern Gaza city. Seven of the fatalities, including five females, were recovered while the other two fatalities, including a girl, reportedly remained missing under the rubble.

Impediments to Humanitarian Access

• Delays and impediments of humanitarian movements continue. Recently, fewer humanitarian movements have been denied outright by Israeli authorities. However, missions that are approved still take hours to complete and teams have been compelled to wait on roads that are often dangerous, congested or impassable. Between 20 and 26 August, out of 89 attempts to coordinate planned movements with Israeli authorities across the Gaza Strip, 53 were facilitated (59 per cent), 23 were initially approved but then impeded on the ground (26 per cent), seven (eight per cent) were denied and six (seven per cent) had to be withdrawn by the organizers. Facilitated movements included missions to transfer fuel, collection of medical, nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) supplies, staff movements and rotations. Denied movements included missions aiming to repair water pipe connections and roads and to relocate WASH chemical supplies. Among the 23 impeded missions, five were fully accomplished despite the impediments, including missions to collect supplies from Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings and medically evacuate patients through Kerem Shalom crossing. The remaining 18 missions were partially accomplished. Overall, eight out of the 89 movements involved fuel collection and transfer, 26 involved the collection of other supplies from Gaza’s crossings, 21 were staff movements and rotations, and 34 aimed to support other ongoing humanitarian operations.
• In recent weeks, the number of trucks and fuel tankers entering Gaza through UN coordination have increased. For example, according to the UN2720 mechanism, the UN and its partners have collected more than 27,000 metric tons of food supplies from Gaza’s crossings so far in August, compared with over 13,000 metric tons in July. Moreover, according to the Food Security Sector (FSS), as of 26 August, 453,000 individual meals were prepared daily at 99 community kitchens supported by 19 FSS partners, including about 131,000 meals in the north and 322,000 meals in southern and central Gaza. While reflecting a noticeable increase compared with the 259,000 daily meals prepared in early August, this remains far below the over one million daily meals that partners were able to distribute in April, when stocks from the ceasefire period were still available. Vital medical supplies, including blood units, also continue to be delivered and the World Health Organization (WHO) has re-established its warehouse in Deir Al Balah, enabling the continuation of large-scale support, after it was destroyed in the July 2025 attacks. Limited commercial support has resumed, helping to bring down prices that, nonetheless, remain elevated and largely out of reach for much of the population. In recent days, the entry of animal fodder has also resumed. Describing these important developments, Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, cautioned in a briefing to the Security Council on 27 August that these developments “will neither reverse famine nor stop it in its tracks.” She called on the Council and Member States to immediately work to ensure: an immediate and sustained cessation of hostilities; the release of all hostages, immediately and unconditionally; the protection of civilians and critical infrastructure; the safe, rapid and unimpeded delivery of large-scale, multi-sector humanitarian assistance through all entry points, including the lifting of restrictions on essential items and halting the delays and denials that undermine humanitarian work; and the at-scale restoration of commercial flows, market systems, essential services and local food production.
• Hundreds of thousands of families across the Gaza Strip continue to live in overcrowded, undignified and unsafe conditions in displacement sites, where site density has fallen below 30 square metres per person, according to the Shelter Cluster. While Israeli authorities have recently issued limited approvals for the entry of shelter materials, following five months of no entry of any shelter items, none have yet entered Gaza. Approvals of shelter items appear to be conditional on the entry of items through Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza, the cluster added. Moreover, according to the cluster, five partners have recently reported that their requests for the entry of shelter items have been rejected at the pre-clearance stage, which happens before they can enter Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Meanwhile, already, 1.4 million people are estimated to require basic emergency shelter – needs that are expected to drastically increase due to ongoing bombardments and Israeli military calls on people in northern Gaza, including Gaza city, to evacuate and move southward. Shelter Cluster partners warned that humanitarian aid must not be used to facilitate or legitimize mass displacement.
• On 21 August, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that the lack of equipment and sufficient fuel to repair and operate damaged water pipes and desalination plants is making it impossible for people in Gaza to get enough water and leading to an increase in disease. Since June 2024, for every 10 import requests of items for water desalination, MSF has had only one approved by Israeli authorities, and the organization’s efforts to deliver nine new treatment units to Gaza have faced continued denials for months. According to MSF, the reliance on water trucking, coming from desalination plants, means that people do not always know when or where their next glass of drinking water will come from. In addition, the expansion of military activities and bombardments have disrupted service provision, with MSF forced to stop providing water at least at 137 distribution points so far in 2025. In terms of repairing damage incurred by water infrastructure, MSF noted that there is currently reliance on improvised repairing techniques in reachable locations, such as locally sourcing spare parts or using parts from one generator or broken sites to fix another.

Famine Confirmed in Gaza Governorate

• On 22 August, the IPC confirmed that famine is currently occurring in Gaza governorate and is projected to expand to Deir al Balah and Khan Younis governorates. Conditions in North Gaza are estimated to be as severe – or worse – than in Gaza city. However, limited data prevented an IPC classification, highlighting the urgent need for access to assess and assist. Rafah was not analyzed, given indications that it is largely depopulated. Analyzing a population of 1.98 million people in Gaza, Deir al Balah and Khan Younis governorates, the IPC projected that, by the end of September 2025, more than 640,000 people will face catastrophic levels of food insecurity – classified as IPC Phase 5 – across the Gaza Strip. An additional 1.14 million people in the Gaza Strip will be in emergency (IPC Phase 4), and a further 198,000 people in crisis (IPC Phase 3) conditions. Through June 2026, at least 132,000 children under five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition – double the IPC estimate from May 2025. This includes over 41,000 severe cases of children at heightened risk of death, up from 14,100 cases estimated in May. Nearly 55,500 malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women will also require urgent nutrition response by mid-2025, triple the IPC estimate of 17,000 in May.
• Presenting the findings, the Famine Review Committee (FRC), made two main recommendations to senior decision makers and resource partners: to “act without delay to put in place an immediate humanitarian response at a large enough scale to prevent further deepening of suffering and avoidable mortality from this entirely man-made catastrophe,” noting that partial and temporary relaxations of restrictions have been repeatedly implemented in response to previous reviews and alerts, only for restrictions to be reapplied; and to “exert maximum pressure to achieve a ceasefire… to allow for restoration of essential, lifesaving services at the scale required” to reverse famine conditions.
• Following the issuance of the IPC report confirming famine in Gaza governorate, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, stated: “It is a famine within a few hundred metres of food, in a fertile land. It is a famine that hits the most vulnerable first. Each with a name, each with a story. That strips people of dignity before it strips them of life. That forces a parent to choose which child to feed. That forces people to risk their lives to seek food. It is a famine that we repeatedly warned of. But that the international media has not been allowed in to cover. To bear witness. … It is a famine on all of our watch. … It is a predictable and a preventable famine.”
• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and WHO underscored that famine must be stopped at all costs, noting that famine warnings have been clear for months and that they have consistently highlighted “the extreme urgency for an immediate and full-scale humanitarian response given the escalating hunger-related deaths, rapidly worsening levels of acute malnutrition and plummeting levels of food consumption, with hundreds of thousands of people going days without anything to eat.” The agencies also expressed grave concern about the threat of an intensified military offensive in Gaza city, where famine conditions already exist. They added that whereas aid supplies entering Gaza increased slightly since July, they “remained vastly insufficient, inconsistent and inaccessible compared to the need.” Warning that there is no time to lose, WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: “The world has waited too long, watching tragic and unnecessary deaths mount from this man-made famine. Widespread malnutrition means that even common and usually mild diseases like diarrhoea are becoming fatal, especially for children. The health system, run by hungry and exhausted health workers, cannot cope. Gaza must be urgently supplied with food and medicines to save lives and begin the process of reversing malnutrition.”
• In a statement, the UN Human Rights Chief, Volker Türk, attributed the famine confirmed in Gaza governorate by the IPC to actions taken by the Israeli government: “It has unlawfully restricted the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance and other goods necessary for the survival of the civilian population in the Gaza strip. We have already seen deaths from starvation and malnutrition across the strip. The Israeli military has destroyed critical civilian infrastructure and almost all agricultural land, banned fishing, and forcibly displaced the population – all drivers of this famine.” Recalling that it is a war crime to use starvation as a method of warfare, the Human Rights Chief said that the “Israeli authorities must take immediate steps to end the famine in the Gaza governorate and prevent further loss of life across the Gaza strip.”
• For pregnant and breastfeeding women and their newborns in Gaza, famine is “a possible death sentence,” the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) stated. “For mothers in Gaza, it means being forced to give birth while malnourished, exhausted and at heightened risk of death. It means their babies are born too small, too weak or too early to survive. It means mothers unable to breastfeed because they, too, are starving. And it forces mothers to make the impossible choice between which of their children to feed, and which must be left to perish,” UNFPA added. The consequences are all too visible, according to UNFPA, with one in five babies born prematurely or underweight and one in seven newborns in need of emergency neonatal care because of severe complications. UNFPA added that the children who survive will be marked by lasting scars, including stunting, developmental delays, weakened immunity, and increased risk of chronic disease in adulthood. Famine today will shape the health prospects of Palestinians for generations, UNFPA emphasized.
• According to Save the Children, 61 per cent of pregnant women and new mothers screened at its two primary health-care clinics in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah in the first two weeks of August were found to be malnourished, nearly seven times higher than the nine per cent recorded in the first two weeks of March, before aid and goods were almost entirely cut off. It added that cases of acute malnutrition among children under five seen at its two clinics have surged tenfold in four months. While Save the Children has been unable to get any of its own aid into Gaza since 2 March, doctors at its two clinics are seeing about 100 patients per day, double the recommended caseload, carrying out malnutrition screenings and medical interventions, and providing supplements, high calorie biscuits and pastes to malnourished children and mothers.
• According to MoH in Gaza, as of 27 August, 313 malnutrition-related deaths, including 119 children, were documented since October 2023. This includes 248 deaths since 1 July 2025, of whom 58 were children, and 10 people who died in the past 24 hours.

Challenges Facing the Health System

• Hospitals across Gaza continue to face extreme challenges that are hampering their ability to provide adequate health care to patients across Gaza. According to WHO, Al-Shifa and Al-Ahli hospitals, in Gaza city, are operating at nearly 300 per cent over capacity, with a constant influx of complex trauma injuries. Al-Ahli and Patient Friends Association hospitals lie close to displacement areas and risk becoming nonfunctional if not protected, WHO warned. During his visit to Al-Shifa hospital, Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the OPT, said that Al-Shifa hospital was turned to “one massive trauma ward,” with trauma patients all over the hospital, including floors, stairs and even in the new maternal and child health department. According to WHO, the total hospital bed capacity in the Gaza Strip is currently at 2,085 beds, including 1,547 inpatient beds, 68 intensive care units (ICUs), and 92 incubators, and the 11 hospitals still partially functional in Gaza city represent 49 per cent (1,022) of total hospital beds, 47 per cent (722) of inpatient beds, and 51 per cent (35) of all ICU beds in the Gaza Strip. In other words, if the Israeli-announced offensive on Gaza city goes ahead, the Gaza Strip could lose half of its hospital bed capacity.
• Infectious diseases in Gaza continue to spread, threatening public health. According to WHO, this is driven by overcrowding, poor WASH conditions, and malnutrition-related weakened immunity. Acute respiratory infections and acute watery diarrhea remain the most frequently reported conditions, accounting for 58 per cent and 41 per cent of all reported illnesses, respectively, between 3 and 9 August. In addition, the Health Cluster reported that between 1 and 22 August, a total of 115 cases of meningitis were reported across the Strip, bringing the total number of cases since May to 1,043. The number of suspected Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) cases has also increased to 94, with about 25 per cent requiring ICU treatment and 10 associated deaths reported. GBS treatment options, such as plasmapheresis (plasma exchange) filters and intravenous immunoglobulin, remain out of stock, with efforts to replenish supplies ongoing.
• On 20 August, the World Health Organization (WHO) supported a large-scale medical evacuation of critically injured and sick patients to the UAE. This included 63 patients, including 37 children, along with 92 companions. In a second evacuation this week, on 27 August, WHO evacuated 19 patients, including 18 children, along with 62 companions from Gaza to Jordan. According to WHO, more than 15,800 critical patients in Gaza remain in urgent need of specialized medical care that they cannot receive in Gaza. WHO calls on more countries to step forward to accept patients, and for the restoration of medical evacuations to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
• According to Dr. Ahmad Al-Farra, Head of the Paediatric Department at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, the health situation in southern Gaza has reached a catastrophic level, with significantly more hospitals needed to accommodate the growing number of children suffering from malnutrition. He noted that just a few months ago, Nasser Complex allocated only eight beds for the treatment of malnutrition cases, while 25 children are currently admitted. Some are lying on the floor due to the lack of available beds, with most in critical condition. Dr. Al-Farra indicated that the hospital’s malnutrition clinic, operating only two days a week, is receiving 10 times the previous caseload.
• On 24 August, the head of the Nutrition Department at Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, Dr. Mohammed Kuhail, said that the hospital is currently treating over 800 cases of malnutrition. He highlighted the risks facing post-operative patients and that pregnant and breastfeeding women are suffering from anaemia and severe deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals, increasing the risk of premature birth and low birth weight. In addition, elderly patients, as well as those with kidney failure and stroke, require special dietary regimens that are currently unavailable. He further emphasized that the absence of animal protein, fresh vegetables, and fruits is exacerbating the health crisis, while reliance on canned food is insufficient and delays recovery.

Funding

• As of 26 August 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$950 million out of the $4 billion (23 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 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 July 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund managed 111 ongoing projects, totalling $65.2 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (87 per cent) and the West Bank (13 per cent). Of these projects, 54 are being implemented by INGOs, 43 by national NGOs and 14 by UN agencies. Notably, 39 out of the 68 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.