OCHA: Deadly hostilities continue in Gaza as fuel, other critical supplies run low

 

24 June 2025

OCHA warns that amid ongoing hostilities in Gaza, people continue to be killed or injured. This includes reports of people coming under fire near non-UN militarized distribution sites or on routes designated by the Israeli authorities for the UN to collect trucks carrying aid.

Yesterday, a mission to access fuel stored in Rafah was successfully accomplished. That fuel is being allocated to run critical services in the south, thereby buying some time. However, unless more fuel is allowed into Gaza, these lifelines will very quickly shut down.

Fuel is essential to produce, treat and distribute water to more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza. UNICEF warns that “if the current more than 100-day blockade on fuel coming into Gaza does not end, children will begin to die of thirst.” Last week, the agency reported that the number of children admitted for treatment of acute malnutrition surged nearly 50 per cent in May compared with April. This underscores the urgent need for domestic water, as the systems that produce it collapse.

Israeli authorities must allow the delivery of fuel, in sufficient quantities, into and throughout Gaza, including to the north. If these life-saving operations shut down, more people will die.

Meanwhile, caregivers warn that children in Gaza are experiencing mounting psychological stress. This is driven by the deteriorating conditions, including lack of food. Last week in several displacement sites in Gaza city, Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, the UN and its partners provided more than 1,000 children with sessions to help them manage their fears and other difficult emotions. They also provided more than 2,000 caregivers with mental health support services.

The World Health Organization (WHO) sounded the alarm today over the mental health emergency that Gaza is facing. Across the Strip, WHO has trained hundreds of front-line humanitarian workers in psychological first aid to support people and promote a sense of safety among the population.

Today, the Israeli military issued another displacement order in three neighbourhoods in Jabalya, in the north. At least 30,000 people are assessed to be in those areas. OCHA notes that most of Gaza remains under displacement orders.

With no shelter supplies allowed into the Strip and many existing shelters requiring urgent repairs, partners in Khan Younis are working creatively to recycle wooden pallets received as part of food shipments to rehabilitate and maintain temporary sites. OCHA notes that, just like fuel, shelter materials have been banned for over 16 weeks – at a time when hundreds of thousands of people have been newly displaced.

Yesterday, the UN and its partners attempted to coordinate 14 humanitarian movements inside Gaza, but six were denied outright. These included the trucking of fuel and water as well as the retrieval of bodies and broken trucks. Humanitarians were able to carry out some health and nutrition activities and remove solid waste.


2025-06-30T10:26:40-04:00

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