About 80 percent of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced during Israel’s nearly year-long offensive.continue to survive in dire conditions, crammed into worn-out tents and damaged structures with limited food, water and other necessities,” OCHA reported, following inter-agency assessments in Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis.
Flooding in or near displacement sites and medical care points is forecast to increase as winter weather arrives, increasing the risk of disease spread.
Aid restrictions remain in place
“Nearly 90 percent of coordinated humanitarian movements between North and South Gaza in September have been denied or obstructed so far” continued OCHA.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Friday that 103 Palestinians were killed between September 22 and 26, bringing the death toll to at least 41,534 since the offensive began in response to the October 7 Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel.
OCHA reported that no Israeli soldiers were killed during operations between September 23 and Friday, according to the Israeli military. A total of 346 soldiers have been killed in Gaza or along the Israeli border since the start of the ground war.
The Security Council meets later on Friday in New York for a briefing on the latest humanitarian situation in Gaza. Follow our live coverage here on UN News from just before 3pm local time.
The oppression of the West Bank
UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told the regular afternoon briefing in New York that according to OCHA, in the occupied West Bank, the number of obstacles restricting the freedom of movement of Palestinians has increased by more than 20 percent since June last year.
“The cumulative impact of the obstruction of movements has been devastating, further entrenching fragmentation in the West Bankdisrupting access to livelihoods and services for thousands of Palestinians, which has exacerbated the already difficult conditions in which many live,” he said. (added)
The violence continues and between September 17 and 23, eleven Palestinians, including two children, were killed in the West Bank.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between October 7, 2023 and July 30 this year, “527 attacks were reported, including obstruction of access, use of force, detention and militarized searches of healthcare facilities in the region,” Mr. Dujarric said.