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. The next Humanitarian Situation Update for the West Bank will be issued on 27 March. Exceptionally, the next Humanitarian Situation Update on Gaza and the Gaza Humanitarian Response Update will be issued on Thursday 3 April.

Also on 23 March , in response to an Israeli strike on Al Hashasheen neighbourhood, in Rafah, PRCS reported that one of its ambulances heading to the area to evacuate the wounded came under fire from Israeli forces, and the crew were injured. In response, three additional ambulances were dispatched to evacuate the wounded, including the injured PRCS team. However, Israeli forces besieged the area, leading to the loss of communication with PRCS teams. On the evening of 23 March, Israeli forces released one PRCS team member after severely assaulting him, according to PRCS. On 24 March, PCD said that six members of its rescue team went to Al Hashasheen area in Rafah on the morning of 23 March, upon receiving distress calls from people following the Israeli incursion. PCD reported that its team members have not returned since and communication with them has been lost. On 25 March, PRCS stated that “for the third consecutive day, the fate of nine Palestine Red Crescent ambulance crew members remains unknown after they were besieged,” adding that Israeli forces had targeted the teams. PCRS further said that Israeli authorities continued to reject “coordination attempts by international organizations to facilitate the rescue team’s access to the site.” PRCS expressed concern for the safety of its teams and said it held the Israeli authorities responsible for their fate.

The Food Security Sector (FSS) reports that cooking gas remains available only in extremely limited quantities at exorbitant prices. This is limiting food preparation by families and increasing their reliance on community kitchens, FSS added. A surge in demand for bread has also been observed in recent days given the soaring prices of fuel and wheat flour. Amid dwindling supplies, widespread insecurity and critical supply shortages, FSS partners are working to maximize the production of cooked meals across Gaza and increasing bread production at bakeries that remain operational. Between 18 and 24 March, about ten kitchens have been closed across Gaza, due to hostilities and energy shortages. As of 25 March, 18 FSS-supported bakeries are operational and approximately 740,000 cooked meals prepared in about 170 kitchens are being distributed daily, compared with over 820,000 meals in about 180 kitchens prior to the latest escalation of hostilities. To maximize capacity and respond to the needs to new IDPs, partners have increased bread production by more than 20 per cent, from 160,000 to 193,000 bundles per day and are working to utilize the remaining cooked meal stock in the Strip to scale up meal provision by at least 200,000 additional meals per day in the coming two weeks. However, the remaining flour stock can only sustain this increased production for a limited time period.

Since the latest escalation of hostilities, Nutrition cluster partners have continued screening children for malnutrition and have distributed ready-to-use complementary food to more than 7,000 infants and young children. However, the closure of 21 outpatient malnutrition treatment sites, due to insecurity or because they were located within areas placed under displacement orders, has disrupted life-saving assistance for roughly over 350 acutely malnourished children who were receiving treatment at these sites, and hindered the detection and treatment of new cases. In comparison, in the first two weeks of March, partners screened over 29,000 children under five years old across Gaza and identified over 750 children with acute malnutrition, including 85 with severe acute malnutrition. Meanwhile, the SMART survey, which was scheduled to be launched last week has been suspended. With the depletion of food supplies and deterioration of water and sanitation conditions situation, there is high concern of increased malnutrition, warns the Nutrition Cluster.

Since the breakdown of the ceasefire and the escalation of hostilities on 18 March, the conditions for women and girls in Gaza have grown increasingly dire, UNFPA warns. The Beit Hanoun Women and Girls’ Safe Space (WGSS) has been forced to close due to displacement orders, while several WGSS services across the Gaza Strip have been suspended, with efforts now focused solely on urgent case management. The risk of gender-based violence (GBV) has escalated amid mass displacement, inadequate shelters, and the collapse of basic protection systems, leaving women and girls increasingly vulnerable to violence, abuse, and exploitation. Worsening living conditions – characterized by poverty, overcrowding, limited privacy, poor sanitation, and continuous exposure to violence and insecurity – are creating significant barriers for women and girls to seek help and access critical protection services. Recently, partners addressing GBV suspended the distribution of dignity kits for a week due to the volatile security situation but have resumed limited distributions where conditions allow. Yet, hygiene supplies – on the local market and as aid stocks – are rapidly running out.

Since the escalation of hostilities on 18 March, Israeli forces have expanded the areas within Gaza where they require humanitarian organizations to coordinate their movements with them in advance. Between 18 and 24 March, out of 49 planned aid movements across the Gaza Strip that were coordinated with the Israeli authorities, 82 per cent (40) were denied, four per cent (two) were impeded, and 14 per cent (seven) were facilitated. Out of 26 planned humanitarian assistance missions in northern Gaza that were coordinated with the Israeli authorities, only four were facilitated and 22 were denied. These include 10 aid missions that needed to pass through the Israeli controlled Wadi Gaza area between southern and northern Gaza; of these, four were facilitated by the Israeli authorities through Al Rashid Road while six movements were denied. No humanitarian movements crossed between northern and southern Gaza via Salah Ad Din Road since the redeployment of Israeli forces in this area. In southern Gaza, out of the 23 planned humanitarian assistance missions, only three were facilitated, 22 were denied and two were impeded.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

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