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. Exceptionally, this week's Humanitarian Situation Update is issued on a Friday covering Gaza. The next Humanitarian Situation Update will be issued on 8 April.

Sanitation conditions across the Gaza Strip remain alarming and are likely exacerbating public health risks, reports the WASH Cluster. For example, three makeshift displacement sites in Al Mawasi are currently reporting an infestation of fleas and mites, causing rashes and other health issues. With a high level of population mobility, severe overcrowding, restricted access to basic services, and a limited ability to improve sanitation conditions – such as implementing vector control measures, bringing in the needed supply of chemicals or making available the 15,000 sanitation units currently stalled at the border – the risk of infestation and disease spread remain high. Already in January 2025, according to the most recent assessment by the WASH cluster, roughly half of assessed households (46 per cent) relied on facilities classified as limited, unimproved, or equivalent to open defecation, and nearly half reported experiencing excreta or sewage release due to flooding (46 per cent) as well as due to sewage overflow (41 per cent), and collapse of sanitation facilities (17 per cent) within 10 metres of their homes. Moreover, assessed households reported exposure to various environmental health threats within 10 metres of their shelters, including rodents and pests (78 per cent), stagnant water (46 per cent), piles of solid waste (42 per cent), and sewage (26 per cent). Meanwhile, the WASH Cluster estimates that 15,000 latrine units are stalled at the border, enough for approximately 300,000 people.

On 27 March, remaining UNRWA international staff left the Gaza Strip. Due to the implementation of the ban from the State of Israel on UNRWA via the Knesset bill, international UNRWA staff are now banned from entering the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, UNRWA’s Palestinian local staff in Gaza continue to provide services and assistance in Gaza to people who need it most. The agency remains one of the largest service providers in Gaza, providing a range of nutrition, health, education, water and sanitation services. Between 7 October 2023 and 16 March 2025, UNRWA provided over 7.9 million medical consultations across the Gaza Strip, accounting for over half of people reached with health services since 7 October 2023.

On 27 March, WHO supported the medical evacuation of 81 patients from Gaza via Kerem Shalom crossing for treatment in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), along with 107 companions. A day earlier, with the support of WHO and partners, patients were transferred from northern to southern Gaza so they could join the evacuation to the UAE, according to WHO. No medical evacuations were reported between 20 and 26 March. Between 1 February and 27 March, 1,805 patients, including 632 children, were evacuated along with 2,713 companions to receive specialized care outside Gaza. According to WHO, about 11,000 to 13,000 people, including more than 4,500 children, remain in urgent need of medical evacuation.

• Since 18 March, the Israeli military issued 13 displacement orders, placing about 126.6 square kilometres, or 35 per cent of the Gaza Strip, under active displacement orders. In addition to this area, the Israeli authorities have requested the UN to coordinate movements to the “no-go” zone along Gaza’s perimeter and through the Israeli-controlled Wadi Gaza area between southern and northern Gaza. Together, these areas comprise 65 per cent of the Gaza Strip. Between 25 March and 3 April, seven displacement orders were issued by the Israeli military, directing residents to leave immediately to known shelters, as follows:
  • On 26 March, two displacement orders were issued for areas in Gaza governorate, covering 10.3 square kilometres in seven neighbourhoods. Facilities within the areas slated for displacement include one hospital, two primary health centres (PHCs), one medical point, at least eight functional school structures, and ten temporary learning spaces (TLS), affecting over 10,000 learners.
  • On 29 March, a displacement order was issued for Abasan, Al Qarara and Bani Suhaila in eastern Khan Younis, covering approximately 9.6 square kilometres in seven neighbourhoods.
  • On 31 March, a displacement order was issued for 22 neighbourhoods in Rafah and Khan Younis governorates, including 97 per cent of Rafah governorate, spanning 64 square kilometres. Facilities within this area include at least nine community kitchens, which have been relocated to Khan Younis, two field hospitals, four PHCs, and seven medical points. Between 31 March and 1 April, an estimated 90,000-100,000 people were displaced from Rafah, and are now scattered in Khan Younis city, Mawasi Khan Younis and Deir al Balah.
  • On 1 April, a displacement order was issued for parts of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun in North Gaza covering approximately 5.9 square kilometres in seven neighbourhoods. These include 16,185 people at 39 displacement sites. Other facilities within the area slated for evacuation include two functioning health service points.
  • On 2 April, a displacement order was issued for parts of Jabalya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun in North Gaza covering approximately 5.5 square kilometres in seven neighbourhoods. These include more than 21,000 people sheltering at 34 displacement sites.
  • On 3 April, a displacement order was issued for parts of Gaza governorate, covering approximately 9.4 square kilometres in four neighbourhoods. These include more than 2,800 people sheltering at seven displacement sites.
• The shelter situation in the Gaza Strip has worsened due to recurrent displacement orders, severe destruction and the lack of resources. With no aid or other critical supplies entering Gaza for the past month and with limited movement between northern and southern Gaza, shelter and non-food stocks have reached critically low levels, particularly in central and southern Gaza. Since the breakdown of the ceasefire, shelter partners have mainly focused on completing ongoing distributions and responding to urgent referrals from other clusters. In an online briefing with aid groups about the situation in Gaza, the Humanitarian Access Manager at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) stated: “We're seeing the shelter response approaching a complete standstill because we have almost nothing left to distribute despite still seeing these massive forced transfers happening every day, sometimes multiple times a day." He added: “More than a million people remain in dire need of tents in Gaza and 700,000 more require very basic items like plastic sheets and ropes to reinforce their currently inadequate makeshift shelters and the damaged buildings in which they're in … We were in a situation where as many as 10 people at a time are trying to fit inside a single tent, people sheltering in the corridors of crowded school buildings and in the shadows of collapsed buildings as people try to put absolutely anything between themselves and the sky at night. … Most concerningly, many people, with no alternative shelter, are staying in structurally unsound and damaged buildings, where incidents of buildings collapsing on top of men, women, and children continue to be recorded.” Moreover, the operational capacity of Shelter Cluster partners has been significantly affected as local staff have experienced displacement, loss of internet or office access, and in some cases, the loss of their homes.

• As of 27 March 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$175.3 million out of the $4.07 billion (4.3 per cent) requested to meet the most critical humanitarian needs of three million out of 3.3 million people identified as requiring assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025, under the 2025 Flash Appeal for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Nearly 88 per cent of the requested funds are for humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 12 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during March 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF) managed 110 ongoing projects, totalling $67.6 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (89 per cent) and the West Bank (11 per cent). Of these projects, 56 are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 42 by national NGOs and 12 by UN agencies. Notably, 43 out of the 68 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service webpage and the oPt HF webpage.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.