Humanitarian Situation Update #329 | 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 Wednesday. The next Humanitarian Situation Update on the Gaza Strip will be published on 15 or 16 October.

Key Highlights

• Welcoming the ceasefire announcement, the United Nations Secretary-General said that the UN will scale up the delivery of sustained and principled humanitarian relief, urging the unimpeded entry of humanitarian supplies and essential commercial materials.
• Over the past two years, nearly 42,000 Palestinians have suffered life-changing injuries in Gaza, one in four are children and including more than 5,000 amputations, according to the World Health Organization.
• Four aid workers have been killed in the Gaza Strip on average every week so far in 2025 and at least 565 aid workers have been killed since 7 October 2023.
• About 2,400 patients have been medically evacuated from the Gaza Strip so far in 2025. This is an average of less than 10 patients evacuated per day.
• Most people in Gaza reside in inadequate shelters that fail to meet basic emergency standards, leaving them exposed to the winter conditions, the Shelter Cluster reports.

Humanitarian Developments (before the declaration of a ceasefire)

• Over the past week, Israeli forces have continued to carry out heavy bombardment from the air, land and sea across the Gaza Strip, particularly in Gaza governorate. Israeli strikes on residential buildings, tents sheltering internally displaced people (IDPs) and people seeking aid have continued to be reported, alongside reports of controlled detonations. Rocket fire by Palestinian armed groups into Israel was reported on 7 October.
• On 4 October, the Israeli military stated that Gaza city remains a dangerous battlefield that should be vacated, which came three days after announcing that Ar Rashid (coastal) Road will be closed for movement from the southern area to the north, but remained open for movements from Gaza city towards the south. A couple of hundred thousand people are believed to remain in the north, where access to basic services is severely constrained, as numerous humanitarian organizations have been forced to relocate or suspend operations due to displacement orders and heightened insecurity. Access to North Gaza remains severely restricted and protection partners report significant disruption to communication channels across the governorate, hindering efforts to verify information and assess the gravity of the situation for civilians who remain in the area.
• In a statement on 7 October 2025, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres marked two years since 7 October 2023, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of hostages, an end to the hostilities, a permanent ceasefire and a credible political process to prevent further bloodshed. Echoing the Secretary-General’s call for the hostages to be released, Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs underscored the need for all civilians to be protected and for humanitarian aid to flow freely at the needed scale.
• Calling for the rapid and unimpeded entry and passage of humanitarian assistance to be allowed and facilitated across the Gaza Strip, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sub-delegation in Gaza, Sarah Avrillaud, said on 5 October: “For two years, the civilian population has endured death, forced displacement, and the denial of dignity on a devastating level. We have seen humanity hollowed out in Gaza. Thousands of Palestinians have been separated from their families, and many remain missing. The toll of the past two years is visible on the exhausted faces of people trying to make it hour by hour. Remaining essential services cannot adequately meet the needs of civilians. Many people do not have regular access or safe access to water, hygiene facilities or medical services.”
• According to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, between 1 and 8 October, 315 Palestinians were killed, and 1,125 were injured. This brings the casualty toll among Palestinians since 7 October 2023, as reported by MoH, to 67,183 fatalities and 169,841 injuries. According to MoH, the total number includes 720 fatalities who were retroactively added on 4 October 2025 after their identification details were approved by a ministerial committee. MoH further noted that the number of casualties among people trying to access aid supplies has reached 2,613 fatalities and more than 19,164 injuries since 27 May 2025. Moreover, according to MoH in Gaza, as of 7 October, 461 malnutrition-related deaths, including 157 children, were documented since October 2023.
• According to MoH in Gaza, between 7 October 2023 and 7 October 2025, 67,173 Palestinians were killed and 169,780 were injured. MoH’s breakdowns, published on 7 October 2025, indicate that among the fatalities were 20,179 children (30 per cent), 10,427 women (16 per cent), 4,813 elderly people (seven per cent), and 31,754 men (47 per cent). Moreover, according to MoH, injuries include 44,143 children (26 per cent), 23,769 women (14 per cent), 11,885 elderly people (seven per cent), and 89,983 men (53 per cent). Of the children reported killed, 1,029 were under the age of one, and 5,031 were under five years old, the ministry noted.
• According to the Israeli military, between 1 and 8 October, as of noon, there were no Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza. The casualty toll among Israeli soldiers since the beginning of the Israeli ground operation in October 2023 stands at 466 fatalities and 2,956 injuries, according to the Israeli military. According to Israeli forces and official Israeli sources cited in the media, more than 1,666 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed, the majority on 7 October 2023 and its immediate aftermath. As of 8 October 2025, it is estimated that 48 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including hostages who have been declared dead and whose bodies are being withheld.
• The following are key incidents resulting in fatalities across the Gaza Strip over the past week, mainly in Gaza city and Deir al Balah:
  • On 1 October, at about 13:30, six Palestinians, including three females, were reportedly killed and others injured (including children) when a residential block was hit in Ash Shati' (Beach) Camp, in western Gaza city.
  • On 1 October, at about 14:50, four Palestinians, including a woman, her five-month-old infant and her 10-year-old son, were reportedly killed and others injured when a vehicle was struck on Ar Rashid Road in Deir al Balah.
  • On 1 October, at about 14:55, seven Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured when an IDP tent was struck in northwestern Deir al Balah.
  • On 1 October, at about 21:45, nine Palestinians, including seven women and a three-year-old boy, were reportedly killed and others injured when a residential building was hit in eastern Deir Al Balah.
  • On 2 October, at about 10:45, four Palestinians were reportedly killed in a strike on a group of people collecting firewood in Al Bureij Camp, in Deir al Balah.
  • On 2 October, at about 12:45, at least 10 Palestinians were reportedly killed when a community-run kitchen (Tekiyya) was hit in Al Mawasi, in Khan Younis.
  • On 3 October, at about 12:00 noon, at least six Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured in a strike on Al Mughrabi street, south of Gaza city.
  • On 4 October, at about 18:40, the Palestinian Civil Defence (PCD) reported that at least 17 Palestinians, including at least seven children aged between two months and seven years, were reportedly killed and over 40 others were injured when a residential building was hit in At Tuffah in eastern Gaza city, a few of hours earlier. PCD added that the rescue and search operations to locate the missing people were ongoing, noting that more than 15 people were estimated to be under the rubble.
  • On 5 October, at about 12:30, five Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured in a strike near Al Lababidi junction, in northwestern Gaza city.
  • On 5 October, at about 12:45, five Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured in a strike near a restaurant, in western Gaza city.
  • On 6 October, between 9:00 and 10:00, two Palestinians were reportedly killed when fire was opened toward people seeking aid in southern Khan Younis.
  • On 7 October, before noon, one Palestinian was reportedly killed when fire was opened toward people seeking aid in southwestern Khan Younis.
  • On 7 October, at about 9:00, seven Palestinians were reportedly injured when fire was opened towards people seeking aid near a militarized supply site in northwestern Rafah.
• According to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), since October 2023, 252 journalists and media workers have been killed, including 34 female journalists. These include 102 journalists killed in 2023, 91 in 2024, and 59 in 2025. PJS added that over 150 media offices were destroyed. On 3 October 2025, the Secretary-General of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Anthony Bellanger, said: “For 24 long months now, Gaza has become the most dangerous place in the world to practise [sic] our profession. Israel prohibits foreign journalists from entering the territory, so the truth relies exclusively on Palestinian reporters – almost all of whom are members of the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate, affiliated to the IFJ. Too often they work without protection and without refuge for their families.”
• According to PCD, since October 2023, 140 PCD staff have been killed, 355 have been injured, and 31 have been detained, of whom 11 were released. In addition, 14 PCD facilities and over 40 vehicles were destroyed, and their teams have been directly or indirectly hit at least 50 times, PCD reported. During the same period, PCD teams have received over 635,000 emergency calls, including 52,000 that could not be reached due to the lack of fuel or access restrictions, mostly in northern Gaza.
• On 7 October 2025, a security officer working at Al Awda Health and Community Association succumbed to wounds sustained when the hospital’s western gate was hit a week earlier. On 2 October, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that an attack carried out by Israeli forces killed one MSF staff member and seriously injured four others, all wearing MSF vests, while they were waiting to take a bus to the MSF field hospital in Deir al Balah. The killed staff member was an occupational therapist at the MSF clinic in Gaza city and was displaced to Deir al Balah on 13 September. The injured included a physiotherapist, an orthopaedic surgeon, a supply officer, and a finance assistant, one of whom succumbed to his injuries on 5 October and is the third MSF staff member killed in Gaza in less than 20 days, MSF reported. “While hundreds of thousands of people continue to be pushed from north Gaza to the south, for their so-called safety, they continue to be attacked and killed everywhere across the Strip. Nowhere in Gaza is safe. People have been starved and besieged for almost two years,” MSF stated.
• Since 7 October 2023, at least 565 aid workers, including 183 women, have been killed in the Gaza Strip, of whom 557 were Palestinian aid workers and eight were international aid workers. These include 376 UN staff and team members, 131 aid workers with national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), 54 staff and volunteers of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and four ICRC staff. Of the total, 211 were killed in 2023, 185 in 2024, and 169 so far in 2025. On average, about four aid workers have been killed in Gaza every week in 2025.
• As of October 2025, according to data provided by the Israel Prison Service to Hamoked, an Israeli human rights NGO, there are 11,056 Palestinians in Israeli custody, including 1,461 sentenced prisoners, 3,378 remand detainees, 3,544 administrative detainees held without trial, and 2,673 people held as “unlawful combatants.” These figures do not include Palestinians from Gaza who have been detained by the Israeli military since 7 October 2023. According to the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), between 7 October 2023 and 31 August 2025, at least 75 Palestinians, including a 17-year-old child, died in Israeli detention, including 49 from the Gaza Strip, 24 from the West Bank and two Palestinian citizens of Israel.
• Two years into the war, the Gaza Strip has sustained extensive and severe damage to both infrastructure and agricultural land. Based on a preliminary analysis of satellite imagery collected by the UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) on 22–23 September 2025, between 8 July and 23 September 2025, there was a seven-per-cent increase in the number of destroyed, severely or moderately damaged, and possibly damaged structures for a total of 41,221 newly affected structures. During the same period, there was a 16-per-cent increase in the number damaged housing units. The neighbourhoods of Az Zaytoun and At Turukman - Ijdeedeh in Gaza city experienced the largest increases in damage compared with July 2025, with approximately 2,568 newly affected structures in Az Zaytoun and 1,440 in At Turukman - Ijdeedeh. According to UNOSAT, approximately 83 per cent of all structures in Gaza city are damaged. Based on satellite imagery from July 2025, UNOSAT had identified 192,812 affected structures across the Gaza Strip, about 78 per cent of all structures, reported a significant decline in the health and density of 86 per cent of permanent cropland, and estimated that approximately 77 per cent of the total road network was damaged.

Constrained Humanitarian Space and Protection Risks

• The UN and its partners continue to face physical and bureaucratic impediments preventing them from providing lifesaving assistance at scale in the Gaza Strip. Complex authorization and inspection procedures, limited clearance capacity at various crossings, often unpredictable rejection of entry of pre-cleared cargo types, and denials or impediments to humanitarian movements by Israeli authorities hinder operations. The closure of Zikim crossing since 12 September by the Israeli authorities has resulted in the humanitarian community losing direct access to channel aid into northern Gaza. Inside Gaza, humanitarian cargo faces looting – including by armed groups.
• Delays and impediments to humanitarian movements also persist, including for missions between southern and northern Gaza. Between 1 and 6 October, out of 99 attempts to coordinate planned movements with Israeli authorities across the Gaza Strip, 35 were facilitated (about 36 per cent), 16 were impeded (16 per cent), 34 were denied (34 per cent) and 14 had to be withdrawn by the organizers for logistical, operational, or security reasons (14 per cent). Out of 34 denied movements, 27 were to or in northern Gaza and involved fuel transfer to Gaza city and the retrieval of critical life-saving equipment from Rantisi Hospital in Gaza city. Moreover, out of 41 facilitated and impeded but fully accomplished movements, 12 were in or to northern Gaza and involved solar panel installation for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities in Deir al Balah, ambulance deployment to Khan Younis, medical supply distribution in Gaza city, and a mission to evacuate the intensive care unit of Al Helou Hospital in Gaza city. Since the closure of Zikim crossing on 12 September and until 6 October, the denial rate of movements in and to northern Gaza has increased to 55 per cent, up from 11 per cent in the preceding period, between 16 August and 11 September. Overall, out of more than 2,700 planned movements coordinated with Israeli authorities in the first nine months of 2025, 36 per cent were denied.
• On 3 October, the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) announced the resumption of operation of the Israeli Mekorot water pipeline, which supplies Deir al Balah governorate, after more than nine months of shutdown. Following repair works, water flow was restored to Al Maghazi, Al Bureij, An Nuseirat, Deir al Balah, and Az Zawaida, serving about one million people, PWA reported. According to the WASH Cluster, the pipeline is able to provide 12,000 cubic metres of water per day, however due to distribution network damage only an estimated 40 per cent can reach the population. In September, water trucking significantly increased to address growing water needs with the large influx of IDPs from northern Gaza into Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, where partners have established 300 new water delivery points. These developments will help to partially address the immense needs in the Gaza Strip. According to the third household WASH assessment carried out by WASH partners between 17 August and 5 September in Gaza, Deir al Balah and Khan Younis governorates, almost half of the population in the Gaza Strip receive less than the emergency standard of six litres of drinking water per day, about a quarter receive less than the emergency standard of nine litres of domestic water per day, 77 per cent of the population collect water directly from trucks, 62 per cent lack basic water containers, and half report overcrowding at water points. Moreover, in about 15 per cent of households, children are the primary water collectors, raising protection concerns.
• According to the Child Protection (CP) Area of Responsibility (AoR), for two years now, children under the age of 18, about half of the population in the Gaza Strip, continue to be highly affected by the hostilities and extreme levels of deprivation. This has left thousands of children maimed and an entire generation traumatized. From January to September 2025, CP AoR partners have registered and provided case management services to at least 18,000 children with protection concerns, including children without parental care and unaccompanied or separated children (UASC). Thousands more have lost their family members and other figures essential to their emotional well-being and sense of security. Like other people in Gaza, they have endured cyclical shocks of displacement and family separation, and many have been killed in strikes while sheltering in makeshift tents, in their homes or in schools-turned shelters. They have also suffered from overcrowding, poor living conditions, and a lack of access to nutritious food, clean water, hygiene kits and sanitation facilities. A recent community-level survey, conducted in mid-August by Ground Truth Solutions and Arab World for Research and Development, reflects the ongoing erosion of a protective environment for children; about 43 per cent of surveyed people reported sending their children out to work and look for food, an alarming increase compared with 13 per cent in 2024.
• According to the CP AoR, most child-friendly spaces in northern Gaza are now closed or inaccessible, and there are continued reports of family separation and UASC. Since 9 September, CP help desks established along Ar Rashid Road provided vital support to more than 43,000 people, including over 26,000 girls and boys. The response combined immediate needs, such as hot meals and water, psychological first aid, awareness-raising, case management, family tracing and reunification and referrals to specialized care. As of 7 October, only 74 child-friendly spaces remain functional across the Gaza Strip, including 48 in Deir al Balah governorate and 26 in Khan Younis. Meanwhile, 98 child-friendly spaces/child protection service points in Gaza city and North Gaza remain suspended due to ongoing airstrikes and insecurity.
• Interruptions to child protection services continue due to staff displacement, limited mobility, and critical resource shortages, all of which are undermining consistent service delivery – especially for case management and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services. Notwithstanding the ongoing challenges, in September, CP AoR partners reached over 105,000 children (of whom 54 per cent were girls) with essential protection and psychosocial support, despite the deteriorating security situation. A total of 2,762 children received case management services addressing complex protection concerns, including violence, abuse, psychosocial distress, and family separation. Due to mass displacement and movement of people, many children became separated from their families. Through family tracing and reunification, 838 children were reunited with their families in September, while 158 UASC were provided with temporary alternative care. In addition, 4,788 children and their families benefited from emergency cash support to address protection needs (cash-for-protection), while 38,212 children engaged in mental health and MHPSS activities. Another 50,338 caregivers participated in child protection awareness sessions and risk mitigation activities. However, the mass displacement to southern Gaza, particularly in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, has resulted in severe overcrowding, limiting privacy, safety, and access to child-friendly and safe spaces for affected children.
• According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and partners, reported incidents of gender-based violence (GBV) in Gaza city rose by 26 per cent between July and August, with increases across physical, sexual, emotional and economic violence, including sexual exploitation and domestic violence. The UNFPA report highlights that the increase underscores “that the crisis is not only worsening but also becoming more dangerous for those already at greatest risk. The escalation highlights the urgent need for sustained funding, strengthened protection mechanisms, and immediate access to life-saving services to safeguard the rights, safety, and dignity of women and girls.’’ The renewed offensive in Gaza city has contributed to the collapse of referral systems for gender-based violence in the area, leaving women and girls without safe access to life-saving protection and support services.

The Shelter Crisis

• According to the Site Management Cluster (SMC), displacement movements from northern to southern Gaza have slowed significantly, with roughly 6,700 movements recorded on 1 October and less than 200 movements per day recorded by 6 October, down from an average of about 9,000 per day the previous week. Those who remain in Gaza city are either unable to afford the journey or are too vulnerable to move, the World Food Programme (WFP) reports. SMC partners emphasize that this includes people with disabling injuries and those who see no viable shelter options elsewhere. SMC estimates that there are more than 31,000 people taking shelter in 49 informal settlements and collective centres in Gaza city.
• According to the UN Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) spokesperson, James Elder: “The south – the so-called ‘safe zones’ – are also places of death. Al Mawasi, now one of the most densely populated places on earth, is grotesquely overcrowded and stripped of the essentials of survival. Eighty-five per cent of families live within ten meters of open sewage, animal waste, piles of garbage, stagnant water or rodent infestations. Two-thirds have no access to soap. I spoke with dozens of people in Gaza city who all said the same thing: they have no money to move; no space nor tent to move into, and the south too is dangerous.’’
• People across the Gaza Strip are highly vulnerable to the harsh effects of the upcoming winter season, which, according to SARI Global, is “forecast to bring 450–500 mm [millimetres] of rain, strong winds, and coastal surges to an environment where sewage ponds are already overflowing, half a million tons of waste (including hazardous medical waste) lie uncollected, and fragile tents are pitched on bare, flood-prone ground.” With most people in Gaza now residing in a range of inadequate shelter types that fail to meet basic emergency standards, including makeshift tents and partially or heavily damaged buildings, or in the open air, the Shelter Cluster notes that these offer minimal protection and heighten people’s vulnerability to extreme weather events, increasing their exposure to health and safety risks. This is compounded by limited access to sanitation and other basic services; a recent assessment by WASH partners found that only half of households have access to basic private sanitation, while the rest rely on shared or unsafe facilities, and 57 per cent are exposed to sewage and fecal matter within 10 metres of their homes.
• In Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, the SMC has records of at least 904,000 people living in displacement sites, primarily informal sites, amid severe overcrowding and scant sanitation and other services. Many families have also been forced to stay in particularly unsafe and flood-prone areas, such as on the beach. On 7 October, at about 2:00, according to OHCHR, a pregnant woman and a girl were reportedly killed and others injured when sand dunes reportedly collapsed on IDP tents near Al Qarara Port, in northwestern Khan Younis. In northern Gaza, the situation is believed to be even more acute; for example, a humanitarian mission to Gaza city on 1 October reported that multiple displaced families, including pregnant women and children, are sheltering in the parking lot of Al Shifa hospital, with some staying there for over two weeks, without access to any services.
• Multiple displacement waves combined with the blocked entry of shelter items for more than five months between March and the beginning of September, have left the Gaza Strip in a severe shelter crisis, reports the Shelter Cluster. Following authorization by Israeli authorities, between mid-September and as of 6 October 2025, about 16,000 tents, 16,000 tarps, and 75,000 bedding items have been collected through UN coordination from Gaza’s crossings, amounts that fall short of meeting the needs of the 1.5 million people currently in need of shelter assistance. According to the Shelter Cluster, while the cluster pipeline is enough to support 300,000 households, delivery has been restricted by the limited number of partners who received approvals to bring shelter items into Gaza, customs procedures, and the collapse of public order and safety amid scarcity that has resulted in the looting of almost half of the tents that partners were able to collect from crossings through UN coordination.
• With winter approaching, the cluster calls for immediate and consistent approvals and access to enable a life-saving winterization response, including the entry and distribution of shelter materials by humanitarian partners at scale. Heating is another matter compounding the impacts of this upcoming winter, the Shelter Cluster stresses, amid the absence of cooking gas, severe fuel shortages and Israeli authorities’ ban on bringing heaters into Gaza. Last winter, people resorted to coping mechanisms such as using clay ovens, metal stoves, or burning wood, cloth, and even trash to cook and get warm. Lacking safe energy options, people are increasingly likely to resort to these unsafe practices this winter, including to risk their lives to collect unaffordable firewood.

Food Insecurity and Malnutrition

• Food access remains a challenge, although the increase in the amount of food entering Gaza has helped to significantly reduce the percentage of households with a poor food consumption score from 88 per cent in July to 46 per cent in September, according to WFP. Moreover, Food Security Sector (FSS) partners have been able to significantly expand the preparation and delivery of meals in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis; as of 7 October, partners prepared 903,000 meals at 173 kitchens, which is the highest number of daily meals produced by partners in five months, since the end of April. Bakeries in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis also received deliveries of wheat flour from WFP this week and are now operating 22 hours a day, producing about 100,000 bundles (two kilogrammes per bundle) of bread daily. To reach as many families as possible, WFP and partners are distributing bread through community kitchens, shelters, community points, and retailers across different areas. However, production levels are still limited compared to the needs of the population, FSS reports.
• In northern Gaza, where famine was declared two months ago, the situation remains catastrophic. Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been displaced from northern Gaza since mid-August, but to meet the needs of those who remain in the area, partners continue to call for unimpeded access to the north. The area has been virtually cut off from food aid since the closure of the Zikim crossing on 12 September; partners report that only 11 kitchens are functioning, preparing about 53,000 meals a day, while no UN-supported bakeries have operated since April.
• In general, while access to staple foods has improved and price spikes have somewhat eased across the Gaza Strip, people continue to face imbalanced and nutrient-deficient diets, with limited availability of meat, vegetables, fruits and dairy products, WFP notes. As a result, children are “facing extreme and life-threatening food deprivation,” the Nutrition Cluster cautioned, whereby children between six and 23 months are consuming 1.3-1.4 food groups on average compared with the recommended eight food groups. According to the UNICEF, children who consume, at most, two of eight defined food groups are considered to be in severe food poverty and are up to 50 per cent more likely to experience severe forms of malnutrition. The FSS and the Nutrition clusters continue to call for the increased commercial entry of nutritious foods, including fresh produce and items fortified with nutrients.
• Since January 2025, the monthly average of malnutrition screening steadily increased from 33 per cent of all children under five to 73 per in June, before dropping again to 36 per cent in August, according to the Nutrition Cluster. During the same period, 43 per cent of about 50,000 admissions of children into malnutrition management programmes were reported in Gaza governorate; of these 50,000 admissions, 40,000 were cases of moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) and 10,000 were cases of severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Among the severe cases, five per cent (about 500 cases) required inpatient care, the Nutrition Cluster added.
• Screening and detection of malnutrition was severely disrupted during September as partners were forced to suspend or relocate their services from Gaza city due to the Israeli military offensive and forced displacement orders. While there were 44 nutrition sites in Gaza city and 1 in North Gaza as of 1 September, only 36 were still active by 15 September and the number has declined to only seven as of 8 October. During the same period, partners have expanded services in southern Gaza, from 45 to 63 sites in Deir al Balah, and from 40 to 56 in Khan Younis. As of 8 October, five stabilization centres for the admission and treatment of SAM cases with complications are available across the Gaza Strip, including one in Gaza city and four in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis. Mass displacement of people from northern to southern Gaza also put at risk the continuity of treatment for outpatient cases, risking to compromise the recovery of children under treatment. Partners responded to these challenges by increasing the number of service points in the south and using mobile phones and SMS to link individual cases to their nearest treatment sites as they arrive in the south.
• The WFP Blanket Supplementary Feeding Programme (BSFP), which is critical to preventing malnutrition at a large scale, had been suspended since mid-July, but for the first time, collection of medium-quantity, lipid-based nutrition supplements (MQ-LNS) have recently been successful. WFP reported that following two delivery trials on 28 and 30 September, and a third one on 2 October, WFP successfully delivered 157 metric tons of large quantity of lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS-LQ) for treatment and medium quantity of LNS for prevention to Deir al-Balah, using four closed box-trucks via a convoy through Kerem Shalom crossing, with the target of reaching 325,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBW) and children monthly. This first delivery in more than two months will enable partners to restart the BSFP. In the meantime, UNICEF was able to only partially compensate for shortages in September by providing supplements (small-quantity LNS) for almost 30,000 children. According to the Nutrition Cluster, an uninterrupted supply pipeline of both preventative nutrition commodities (LNS, and micronutrient supplements) and treatment (ready-to-eat therapeutic food, therapeutic milks or LNS) are needed to address the needs of about 290,000 children between six and 23 months and 150,000 PWB who are at greatest risk of malnutrition.

Challenges Facing the Health-Care System

• Health service provision in northern Gaza remains extremely limited, with significant gaps in availability and functionality. While eight hospitals, one field hospital and 22 medical points remain partially functional in northern Gaza, they continue to operate amid extreme insecurity and strained resources. Additionally, with the influx of IDPs into southern Gaza, the strain on health services in the area has been overwhelming. According to the Health Cluster, the number of outpatient daily consultations in September has increased by 15 per cent across health facilities in southern Gaza, following large-scale displacement to the south, compared with July 2025.
• On 3 October, the World Health Organization (WHO) transferred three critically ill newborn babies from Al Helou Hospital in Gaza city to Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah to receive life-saving care that could no longer be provided at Al Helou, including for one infant on critical oxygen therapy. According to WHO, a fourth baby, who had been scheduled for transfer, died on the same morning before the mission’s arrival. “Al Aqsa itself is overwhelmed and facing severe shortages of medical supplies, as more people flee south from the north,” noted WHO’s Director-General, calling for the protection of health care and for unhindered access to aid into and across Gaza.
• Health partners have been seeking to expand service provision in southern Gaza. For example, Hamad Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics, originally located in the north, has relocated to Deir al Balah in the south and has re-established prioritized rehabilitation and hearing services. Furthermore, Saint John Hospital, which similarly relocated from the north, has salvaged part of its equipment and began providing primary-level eye care services on 30 September.
• On 5 October, Dr. Ahmed Al Farra, Director of the Children's and Maternity Centre at Nasser Medical Complex, in Khan Younis, described the overwhelming burden on the health system, particularly following the influx of IDPs into southern Gaza, noting that the situation is catastrophic. He said that three newborns are now sharing a single incubator and warned that if even one of the infants has sepsis or a bloodstream infection, it could quickly spread and risk the lives of the other infants.
• On 2 October, WHO released a report highlighting the urgent demand for trauma and rehabilitation-related services in the Gaza Strip. WHO estimates that nearly 42,000 people in the Gaza Strip have sustained potentially life-changing injuries, or 25 per cent of more than 167,000 people who according to MoH have suffered conflict-related injuries as of 24 September 2025. Although age disaggregated data remains limited, the report indicates that about a quarter of those with potentially life-changing injuries are children. Of the total number of life-changing injuries, more than 22,000 are extremity injuries, more than 5,000 are amputations, 3,300 are major burns, over 2,000 are spinal cord injuries, and more than 1,300 are traumatic brain injuries. The report describes a rehabilitation system under immense strain, without sufficient specialized staff, equipment or supplies and unable to deal with the current demands. In the first year of escalation of hostilities, WHO reported that at least 42 physiotherapists and occupational therapists were killed, citing Healthcare Workers Watch, with the current figure unknown. Less than one third of rehabilitation services are providing any services and none are fully functional due to long-standing restrictions imposed by Israel on the entry of essential supplies, including many assistive devices. Protection partners note that the lack of assistive devices (such as wheelchairs, walkers, hearing aids, glasses, crutches, prosthetic limbs, and toilet chairs) can lead to significant loss of independence and can create a cascade of protection concerns including a heightened risk of neglect, exploitation and abuse, reduced access to critical information including on the evolving security situation, and significant barriers to accessing humanitarian aid and essential services. Calling for the immediate strengthening of the rehabilitation system, WHO notes that this requires urgent protection of health care, unhindered access to fuel and supplies, and the removal of Israeli-imposed restrictions on the entry of assistive devices. It warns that failing to “address the gap in rehabilitation services will have devasting consequences for individuals, families, and Gazan society as a whole.”
• Cancer patients in the Gaza Strip continue to face extreme difficulties in accessing adequate care. The only hospital specialized in treating cancer patients in Gaza was the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, which became non-operational in November 2023 after its fuel supply was depleted and it sustained heavy damage. The situation has further deteriorated following the closure in mid-May 2024 of the European Gaza Hospital, which was the main referral centre for oncology patients in the southern governorates. According to the MoH in Gaza, there are over 11,000 cancer patients in the Gaza Strip. According to WHO data, only 564 cancer patients, including 215 men, 207 women and 142 children, were evacuated abroad for medical care since January 2025. Dr. Mohammad Abu Nada, Medical Director at the Gaza Cancer Center, told Al-Mezan Center that over 70 per cent of cancer medications are currently out of stock and that interruptions in treatment worsen patients’ conditions and reduce their chances of recovery.
• On 1 October, the Palestinian Ministry of Health stated that breast cancer accounts for about 30 per cent of all cancers among women in the Gaza Strip, with an incidence rate of 29 cases per 100,000 women. On 1 October, MoH in Gaza stressed that women in Gaza have been deprived of access to early detection protocols and comprehensive programmes for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer for the second consecutive year. MoH added that diagnosed women lack the most basic access to specialized care and medical follow-up due to the destruction of primary health care centres and diagnostic imaging units. For example, a number of women urgently require radiotherapy, which is unavailable inside the Gaza Strip. In addition, MoH highlighted that poor nutrition and lack of access to a balanced diet have had catastrophic consequences for the health of women with cancer.
• Medical evacuation of patients from Gaza remains a pressing issue. According to WHO, more than 7,800 patients from Gaza have been medically evacuated abroad since October 2023, including 2,405 so far in 2025 or an average of less than 10 a day. Yet, about 15,600 patients, including 3,800 children, currently require medical evacuation, the WHO representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) highlighted. Prior to October 2023, between 50 and 100 patients were exiting the Gaza Strip daily for medical treatment, according to WHO. For more patients to be able to be medically evacuated, WHO notes that the following are needed: restoring the medical corridor to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem (the most cost-effective route); securing more receiving-country offers; increasing the use of medical evacuation corridors through Egypt and Jordan; and overcoming security challenges, fuel shortages, closures of crossings and daily exit limits.

Funding

• As of 8 October 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately $1.14 billion out of the $4 billion (28 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 September 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund managed 95 ongoing projects, totalling $57.1 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (87 per cent) and the West Bank (13 per cent). Of these projects, 43 are being implemented by INGOs, 38 by national NGOs and 14 by UN agencies. Notably, 32 out of the 57 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Servicewebpage and the oPt HF webpage.