oPt Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF) – annual report 2017

The Humanitarian Fund of the occupied Palestinian territory continues to be a valuable tool to leverage the leadership of the Humanitarian Coordinator and activate the humanitarian architecture to meet needs, in close collaboration with the Fund’s donors locally. With support from the OCHA oPt Country Office, this relatively small Fund has been to ensure the greatest benefit to the largest number of beneficiaries in need.

Success story published as part of the Humanitarian Fund report for 2017: The escalation of hostilities in Gaza in 2014 had significant consequences for local agriculture, where loss of productive land and assets, coupled with a lack of financial capacity to cover production costs, led Gaza’s agricultural sector to decline by 31per cent from 2014. Since 2017, the ongoing electricity crisis, combined with increased lack of access to quality water resources, further weakened the agricultural sector in the Gaza Strip, exacerbating farmers’ vulnerabilities.

Success story published as part of the Humanitarian Fund report for 2017. The health sector in the Gaza Strip is severely affected by the ongoing Israeli blockade, exacerbated by the chronic energy crisis that deteriorated in 2017, in the context of the internal Palestinian political divide. At times, hospitals have faced partial or full closure due to the lack of fuel to operate back-up generators. There is also a chronic shortage of essential and lifesaving drugs and medical disposables in Gaza’s hospitals, where care for new-born babies, particularly those in need of intensive care, is challenged by scarce medicines and supplies, and a lack of qualified health workers.