Country: occupied Palestinian territory Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Please refer to the attached file. The Humanitarian Situation Updates on the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank are both Issued every Wednesday/Thursday. The Gaza Humanitarian Response Update is issued every other Tuesday. The next Humanitarian Situation Update on the Gaza Strip will be published on 6 or 7 August.Key HighlightsThe Gaza Strip is on the brink of famine, UN agencies warn, based on the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification alert findings.In the first two weeks of July, 96 per cent of surveyed households experienced moderate to high levels of water insecurity, a three per cent increase compared with June.Israeli authorities announced daily, ten-hour tactical pauses in military activity in areas of Al Mawasi, Deir al Balah and Gaza city, among other steps to increase the scale of humanitarian aid entering Gaza.The Israeli authorities connected the Southern Gaza Desalination Plant to the power grid, enabling it to operate at full capacity.As airdrops resume, the Protection Cluster warns that this modality could kill or injure civilians and is insufficient in scale to meet the extensive needs inside Gaza, among other concerns.Medical evacuations are declining; nearly two-thirds of patients evacuated from Gaza for urgent treatment abroad exited prior to the closure of Rafah crossing in May 2024.Humanitarian DevelopmentsOver the past week, Israeli forces have continued to carry out heavy bombardment from the air, land and sea across the Gaza Strip, alongside continued ground operations. Rocket fire by Palestinian armed groups into Israel and fighting with Israeli forces have also taken place. Since 20 July, no new displacement orders have been issued by Israeli authorities. On 27 July, the Israeli authorities informed humanitarian organizations that they have rescinded the displacement order issued on 20 July for an area of Deir al Balah that had served as a hub for humanitarian operations, including offices, guesthouses, medical facilities, warehouses and other critical infrastructure. Across the Gaza Strip, the number of displaced people has increased by over 5,000 between 22 and 29 July, reaching more than 767,800 people since 18 March, according to the Site Management Cluster (SMC); these figures may count the same person more than once if they have been displaced multiple times. Based on available information, about 80 per cent of newly recorded movements originated from or took place within Khan Younis governorate, SMC reported.According to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, between 23 and 30 July, 640 Palestinians were killed, and 3,224 were injured. Between 7 October 2023 and 30 July 2025, the MoH in Gaza reported that at least 60,138 Palestinians were killed, and 146,269 Palestinians were injured. This includes 8,970 people killed and 34,228 injured since the re-escalation of hostilities on 18 March 2025, according to MoH. The Ministry said that the cumulative figure, since October 2023, includes 279 fatalities who were retroactively added on 24 July 2025 after their identification details were consolidated and approved by a ministerial committee. The MoH further noted that the number of casualties among people trying to access food supplies has increased to 1,239 fatalities and more than 8,152 injuries since 27 May 2025.Between 23 and 30 July, three Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza, according to the Israeli military. Between 7 October 2023 and 30 July 2025, according to Israeli forces and official Israeli sources cited in the media, more than 1,654 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed, the majority on 7 October 2023 and its immediate aftermath. This includes 454 soldiers killed, in addition to 2,864 soldiers injured, in Gaza or along the border in Israel since the beginning of the ground operation in October 2023. As of 30 July, it is estimated that 50 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including hostages who have been declared dead and whose bodies are being withheld.On 29 July, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Global Initiative issued an alert, noting that the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip, amid widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease, mass displacement, severely restricted humanitarian access, and the collapse of essential services, including health care. The latest data indicate that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza city (see alert for threshold definitions). Data remotely collected in July 2025 using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) confirm that food consumption across the Gaza Strip has worsened dramatically, reaching its lowest level since October 2023; in July, 81 percent of households reported poor food consumption (up from 33 percent in April) and 24 percent of households are experiencing very severe hunger (up from four per cent in April), crossing the famine threshold for food consumption. Moreover, acute malnutrition rates doubled in Khan Younis and increased by 70 per cent in Deir al Balah between May and July and, in Gaza city, the Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rate soared from 4.4 per cent in May to an alarming 16.5 per cent in the first half of July, thereby reaching the Famine threshold for acute malnutrition. The situation in North Gaza governorate, which faces similar challenges, cannot be verified due to the lack of data. The alert highlighted that nearly nine out of ten households have resorted to extremely severe coping mechanisms to feed themselves, such as taking significant safety risks to obtain food, and scavenging from the garbage.“The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Alert confirms what we have feared: Gaza is on the brink of famine. The facts are in – and they are undeniable,” said the UN Secretary-General. He added that “Palestinians in Gaza are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. This is not a warning. It is a reality unfolding before our eyes. The trickle of aid must become an ocean. Food, water, medicine and fuel must flow in waves and without obstruction. This nightmare must end.”On 29 July, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response, Ross Smith, called for immediate action, noting that tactical pauses (see below) are welcome, but that the volume of humanitarian assistance remains insufficient, including food, nutrition and health supplies, water and sanitation support, and everything needed “to alleviate the really desperate levels that we are seeing both from this IPC alert but also on our television screens every day,” he added.On 24 July, MoH in Gaza stated that it has documented a total 113 malnutrition-related deaths, including 81 children and 32 adults; these included four deaths in 2023, 50 in 2024 and 59 in 2025. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 27 July, 74 malnutrition-related deaths were documented in 2025, including 63 in July. As of 30 July, malnutrition-related deaths surged to 154, including 89 children, according to MoH, of whom seven died in hospitals in the preceding 24 hours.The Israeli military announced that as of 27 July, “a local tactical pause in military activity will take place for humanitarian purposes from 10:00 to 20:00” in areas of Al Mawasi, Deir al Balah and Gaza city “to increase the scale of humanitarian aid entering Gaza.” Other announced steps include daily airdrop operations, each carrying seven pallets of flour, sugar and canned food, reconnecting the power line from Israel to the southern Gaza desalination plant, lifting customs barriers on food, medicine and fuel from Egypt, and the designation of secure routes for UN humanitarian convoys. Welcoming these steps as progress toward staving off famine and a catastrophic health crisis, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, stressed that sustained action entails faster clearances, multiple daily trips to collect aid cargo, safe routes that avoid crowded areas, and no more attacks on people gathering for food. He further noted that ultimately what is needed is a permanent ceasefire.On 28 July, the Protection Cluster in the OPT welcomed the establishment of humanitarian corridors and tactical pauses, but cautioned that airdropped aid poses the risk of harm to civilians, referencing reports that airdropped aid during the night on 27 July landed on tents, injuring people, and on damaged buildings where people trying to reach aid faced the risk of bodily harm by explosive ordnance. The Cluster added that airdrops “result in inequitable distribution and exclusion of vulnerable groups most in need…include high risk of diversion, undermine humanitarian principles, compromise dignity of the affected population, are insufficient in scale to meet the extensive needs inside Gaza, and risk deflecting from legal obligations of Israel to facilitate meaningful humanitarian access.”Between 23 and 29 July, out of 92 attempts to coordinate planned aid movements with Israeli authorities across the Gaza Strip, nearly 16 per cent were denied. An additional 26 per cent were initially accepted but faced impediments, including blocks or delays on the ground potentially resulting in missions being aborted or partially accomplished. Another 47 per cent were fully facilitated, and the remaining 11 per cent had to be withdrawn by the organizers for logistical, operational, or security reasons. All these include 47 attempts to coordinate aid movements in or to northern Gaza, of which 46.8 per cent (22) were facilitated, 23.4 per cent (11) were denied, 23.4 per cent (11) faced impediments, and 6.4 per cent (three) were withdrawn. In southern Gaza, out of 45 attempts, 47 per cent (21) were facilitated, nine per cent (four) were denied, 29 per cent (13) faced impediments and 15 per cent (seven) were withdrawn.According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 7 October 2023 and 17 July 2025, 7,460 patients including 5,160 children were evacuated from Gaza for medical treatment abroad. Sixty-six per cent of the total (4,947 patients including 4,034 children) were evacuated through the Rafah crossing with Egypt prior to its closure on 7 May 2024. Following that, 459 patients were evacuated via Kerem Shalom crossing between 8 May 2024 and 18 January 2025, 1,702 patients including 606 children were evacuated during the ceasefire between 19 January and 17 March 2025, and only 352 patients including 249 children were evacuated abroad between 18 March and 16 July. Trauma and oncology are the top medical conditions among those evacuated. Most patients were referred to Egypt (3,995), United Arab Emirates (1,387) and Qatar (970).Overcrowding in shelters, lack of privacy, and increasing levels of food insecurity continue to elevate the risk of gender-based violence (GBV) for women and girls amid serious disruptions to service continuity. In southern Gaza, the situation is especially dire since there is no longer a safe shelter for GBV survivors, following the issuance of a displacement order on 20 July that forced the relocation of services to Gaza city, and most staff addressing GBV have themselves been displaced who, like the rest of the population, have been suffering from hunger, insecurity and poor living conditions that have constrained their capacity to provide support. So far in July, partners addressing GBV provided 3,017 women with individual counselling to promote well-being and recovery, and 332 GBV survivors with cash assistance, compared with 2,221 women who received counselling and 409 GBV survivors who received cash assistance in June.Strikes Resulting in CasualtiesKey casualty incidents, including in strikes on people sheltering in schools, tents and residential buildings, include the following:On 23 July, a journalist was reportedly killed along with her husband, four children and three other people when a residential building was hit southwest of Gaza city.On 24 July, a photojournalist was reportedly killed along with another two men and two boys when a tent for internally displaced people (IDPs) was hit in central Gaza city.On 25 July, at about 12:30, five Palestinian males were reportedly killed and others injured when a school sheltering IDPs was hit in Al Rimal neighbourhood in central Gaza city.On 26 July, at about 23:00, six Palestinians, including two women, were reportedly killed and others, including children, injured when an apartment was hit west of Gaza city.On 27 July, at about 10:30, five Palestinians, including a woman and her four children, were reportedly killed when an apartment in a residential building was hit in Al Rimal neighbourhood in Gaza city.On 26 July, at about 14:30, eight Palestinians, including at least one female, were reportedly killed when a tent was hit in an IDP site in southwestern Khan Younis.On 27 July, at about 02:00, seven Palestinians, including at least three children, were reportedly killed and others injured when an IDP tent was hit in Asda’a area, in northwestern Khan Younis.On 28 July, at about 0:10, at least 20 Palestinians, including at least nine females, were reportedly killed and 25 others injured when a residential building was hit in Al Mawasi area in Khan Younis. Several casualties were reported among IDPs living in tents near the building.On 28 July, at about 0:40, at least 15 Palestinians were reportedly killed when a residential building was hit and destroyed in western Khan Younis.During the night of 28-29 July, at least 29 Palestinians from three families, including 12 children and 14 women (of whom two were pregnant), were reportedly killed when residential buildings were hit in the New Camp area north of An Nuseirat, in Deir al Balah.On 29 July, at about 10:00, five Palestinians, including a man and his four children were reportedly killed when an IDP tent was hit in Al Mawasi, in western Khan Younis.Key incidents of casualties among people trying to access food supplies include the following:On 24 July, at about 15:15, at least 14 Palestinians, including at least one female, were reportedly killed when fire was opened towards Palestinians who gathered near the militarized distribution point in southwestern Khan Younis.On 24 July, the Red Cross Field Hospital received 17 wounded women, with two women declared dead on arrival, after a militarized distribution point in Rafah was announced open for women. Those responsive among the injured said they had been trying to access the distribution site.On 25 July, at about 20:00, 20 Palestinians were reportedly killed and more than 300 others injured when fire was opened towards Palestinians waiting for a humanitarian aid convoy in the Zikim area, in North Gaza.On 26 July, at about 19:30, 10 Palestinians were reportedly killed and dozens of others injured when fire was opened on Palestinians waiting for a humanitarian aid convoy in North Gaza.On 26 July, at about 17:45, 12 Palestinian males were reportedly killed when they and other Palestinians waiting for a humanitarian aid convoy were hit in southeastern Khan Younis.On 28 July, at about 19:30, 10 Palestinians, including children, were reportedly killed and several others injured while waiting for humanitarian aid convoys in As Sudaniya area, southwest of Beit Lahiya in North Gaza.On 28 July, at about 15:30, at least 28 Palestinian males were reportedly killed and several others injured when fire was opened towards people waiting for a humanitarian food convoy in the Morag area, in Khan Younis.On 28 July, according to Al Awda Health and Community Association, their hospital in An Nuseirat, in Deir al Balah, received seven fatalities and 22 injured people due to strikes on people near the militarized distribution point on Salah ad Din Street, south of Wadi Gaza.On 29 July, at about 11:23, at least 13 people were reportedly killed and at least 105 others injured in strikes on people waiting near the Wadi Gaza militarized distribution point.On 29 July, between 12:00 and 17:30, at least eight Palestinians were reportedly killed and 126 others injured due to open fire and heavy artillery shelling at people waiting for humanitarian food convoys in the Zikim crossing area, northwest of Beit Lahiya, in North Gaza.Continued Plummeting of Nutrition and Food Security IndicatorsBased on the findings of the IPC Alert, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), WFP and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that time is running out to mount a full-scale humanitarian response in Gaza, with more than 500,000 people enduring famine-like conditions, the remaining population facing emergency levels of hunger, and fewer than 15 per cent of essential nutrition treatment services currently functional. As of July 2025, over 320,000 children, the entire population under five years of age in the Gaza Strip, are at risk of acute malnutrition, with thousands suffering from severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form of undernutrition. The agencies added that acute malnutrition and reports of starvation-related deaths – the third core famine indicator – are increasingly common but collecting robust data under current circumstances in Gaza remains very difficult. “Gaza is now on the brink of a full-scale famine. People are starving not because food is unavailable, but because access is blocked, local agrifood systems have collapsed, and families can no longer sustain even the most basic livelihoods,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu. “Emaciated children and babies are dying from malnutrition in Gaza,” said UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell, adding that immediate, safe and unhindered humanitarian access across Gaza is needed to scale up the delivery of life-saving food, nutrition, water and medicine.The Nutrition Cluster reported that adults’ prioritization of feeding children over themselves, which have, along with supplementary feeding programmes, mitigated a rise in acute malnutrition prior to April, is no longer sufficient in maintaining children’s dietary diversity and nutritional status. While children’s dairy consumption has been steadily declining since January, the April-June period saw a sharp decline from 31 per cent in April to 18 per cent in May and nine per cent in June. Micronutrient deficiencies are likely rising rapidly alongside acute malnutrition, with dire impacts on children’s health, development, and risk of mortality. Between 1 and 15 July, 5,550 children under five years of age have been admitted for the treatment of acute malnutrition, of whom 998 were severely malnourished, compared with 6,500 children in June of whom 1,200 were severely malnourished, according to the Nutrition Cluster. These include 2,724 cases in Gaza city, compared with 2,400 in all of June.UN Women stated that one million “women and girls in Gaza are facing mass starvation, violence and abuse. Malnutrition is soaring and essential services have long collapsed, forcing women and girls to adopt increasingly dangerous survival strategies.” “Women and girls in Gaza are facing the impossible choice of starving to death at their shelters or venturing out in search of food and water at the extreme risk of being killed. Their children are starving to death before their eyes. This is horrific, unconscionable and unacceptable. It is inhumane,” said UN Women’s Executive Director, Sima Bahous. Women in Gaza are reportedly boiling discarded food scraps to feed their children, and risk being killed when searching for food and water. Some women are also enduring pregnancies without food, and high-risk deliveries without water or medical care, UN Women said.On 28 July, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) likewise warned of a deepening malnutrition emergency in Gaza, noting that a medical point operated by their local partner, Ard El Insan, in Deir al Balah reported that 44 per cent of screened pregnant and breastfeeding mothers suffered from severe malnutrition and urgently needed to be referred for medical treatment, up from 35 per cent in May. The medical point, which provided essential care and nutrition services to some 200 malnourished women and children, was forced to shut down on 20 July following the issuance of a displacement order by the Israeli authorities. According to MAP, infants remain the most vulnerable due to a critical shortage of baby formula, with no suitable alternatives currently available. MAP’s Deputy Director of Programmes in south Gaza said that malnutrition-related deaths are increasing not only among children but also the elderly. The parents of two siblings with severe malnutrition signs told a MAP’s Community Health Worker who gave them ready-to-use therapeutic food that “on their luckiest day, they survive on just dry bread and tea.”Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) also reported an increasing number of malnourished patients at its clinics. Across screenings at MSF facilities last week, 25 per cent of children aged 6 months to 5 years old and pregnant or breastfeeding women were malnourished. At the MSF clinic in Gaza city, the number of people enrolled to receive malnutrition treatment has quadrupled since 18 May, while rates of severe malnutrition in children under five have tripled in the last two weeks alone. “We are now enrolling 25 new patients every single day [to receive] malnutrition [treatment]. We see the exhaustion and the hunger in our own colleagues,” said a project coordinator at the MSF clinic in Gaza city. MSF added that it treated dozens of patients from flour convoy routes, highlighting that one day, at Sheikh Radwan clinic in Gaza city, MSF and MoH medical teams treated 122 people with gunshot wounds who had been fired on while waiting for flour. An additional 46 people were dead on arrival.Similarly, Save the Children reported that the number of children under five years of age with acute malnutrition at its Gaza clinics surged 10-fold in four months. Of the 3,533 children Save the Children screened for malnutrition during the first half of July, 259 were admitted for treatment (seven per cent), compared with 28 (one per cent) in March. Additionally, more than four in 10 pregnant and breastfeeding women – 43 per cent - screened at Save the Children’s clinics so far in July were found to be malnourished, almost three times as many as in March (16 per cent).Access to WaterOn 26 July, the Israeli authorities reconnected the Southern Gaza Desalination Plant to the electricity grid, significantly boosting its capacity to produce safe drinking water – from 2,500 cubic metres per day (previously sustained by generators) to its full operational capacity of 18,000 cubic metres per day. This output has the potential to serve up to one million people with drinking water at a rate of six litres per person per day, when complemented by domestic water for other uses. However, the WASH Cluster has emphasized that this progress is dependent on several critical factors related to water distribution: the availability of fuel and spare parts for water trucks, the operation and construction of filling stations, the establishment of water distribution points, and the feasibility of expanding the water distribution network. Following the reconnection, the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility has begun upgrading and maintaining the carrier line that delivers desalinated water from the Plant to improve water distribution and service delivery.The WASH Cluster conducted the monthly Light-Touch Monitoring (LTM) survey between 7 and 12 July to monitor the evolution of perceived WASH needs, identify key barriers to accessing WASH services, and evaluate the availability and affordability of essential WASH items. The findings reveal that 96 per cent of surveyed households experienced moderate to high levels of water insecurity in early July, up from 93 per cent in June, only four per cent have no or limited water insecurity, and 90 per cent reported a worsened drinking water availability. The change was particularly significant in Gaza and North Gaza governorates, where 85 per cent and 100 per cent, respectively, of key informants reported a deterioration in water access for most people in their community in the first two weeks of July; this is attributed to more severe fuel shortages in northern Gaza due to operational challenges in transporting fuel from the south, the inaccessibility of key wells and valves, and the inflows of IDPs who are relocating faster than WASH interventions can adapt. Hygiene access is similarly deteriorating, with 40 per cent of households lacking soap and 97 per cent of key informants reporting barriers to accessing hygiene items due to high costs and insufficient distributions. In addition, 50 per cent of key informants reported worsened access to toilets and 75 per cent of households reported facing access barriers, mainly because facilities were not clean or functional.FundingAs of 29 July 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$852 million out of the $4 billion (21 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 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 June 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund managed 122 ongoing projects, totalling $70.1 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (87 per cent) and the West Bank (13 per cent). Of these projects, 58 are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 48 by national NGOs and 16 by UN agencies. Notably, 42 out of the 74 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.* Asterisks indicate that a figure, sentence, or section has been rectified, added, or retracted after the initial publication of this update.