• Three babies, all under one month of age, arrived dead at Nasser hospital in Gaza, Palestine, on 25 December 2024.

Since October 2023, the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip has been systematically dismantled. According to OCHA, out of 36 hospitals in Gaza, Palestine, only 17 remained partially functional by early December 2024, with the other 19 closed, while over 1,000 health workers have been killed.

• The lives of newborn babies and other patients are at risk in three hospitals in Gaza, as they run out of fuel.
• The lack of fuel, needed to run generators for electricity, could be catastrophic for those who need machines to stay alive.
• We call on all parties to facilitate the entry of fuel into Gaza and to ensure its safe delivery to medical facilities.

Jerusalem - Nasser hospital, Al-Aqsa hospital and European Gaza hospital, in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, are on the verge of closure due to a lack of fuel

The temporary ceasefire agreement in Gaza, Palestine, is a relief, but it arrives more than 465 days and 46,000 lives too late.  While this temporary cessation of fighting and bombing must be both respected and long-term, this is only the beginning in addressing the immense humanitarian, psychological, and medical needs in Gaza.

While the ceasefire in Gaza has finally been announced, in the past months people across the Strip have continued to suffer from Israeli forces' relentless bombardments. The northern governorate of Gaza in particular has been under siege and subject to horrific bombing and attacks. Meanwhile, almost no humanitarian aid has managed to enter the north and people have been cut off from healthcare as hospitals have also been under siege and subject to incursions. In our clinic in Gaza City, patients who managed to escape the horror recount their experience during the siege.

08 Jan 2025

The Humanitarian Situation Update is issued by OCHA Occupied Palestinian Territory twice a week. The Gaza Strip is covered on Tuesdays and the West Bank on Thursdays. The Gaza Humanitarian Response Update is issued every other Tuesday. Publications issued today are exceptionally published on a Wednesday because Tuesday, 7 January, was an official holiday. The next Humanitarian Situation Update will be issued on 9 January.