UN and partners work to scale up humanitarian response in Gaza

14 October 2025

OCHA says that since the ceasefire plan came into effect, the UN and its humanitarian partners have been able to move more freely across parts of Gaza from which Israeli forces have withdrawn, without coordination with Israeli authorities. This improved access has allowed partners to scale up the response to the most urgent needs.

Briefing the press remotely from Gaza, OCHA Spokesperson Olga Cherevko told journalists that aid workers have wasted no time, with thousands of tons of humanitarian aid and other supplies having entered the Strip over the past three days.

Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that within 24 hours of the ceasefire, an emergency medical team was deployed to Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza city, and eight trucks carrying medical supplies entered the Strip, including insulin, lab supplies and essential medicine.

WHO teams also reached the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis to retrieve cancer and other life-saving medications, as well as intensive care unit equipment – including incubators, ventilators and patient monitors – and transferred them to Nasser Hospital, also in Khan Younis.

The UN and its humanitarian partners have also installed a solar panel for a desalination unit in Deir al Balah, as well as new telecommunications hardware to improve connectivity for affected people and humanitarian operations. Efforts to clear debris from roads, particularly those leading to crossing points, are also underway.

Since yesterday, the Israeli authorities facilitated four UN-led missions to collect medical, health and shelter supplies from the Kerem Shalom and Kissufim crossings.

The UN and its partners are also assessing people’s needs in areas that had previously been inaccessible so that they can adjust their response efforts.

Today, an OCHA team visited one of these areas, the Al Kateeba neighbourhood in Khan Younis. They reported extensive destruction, with large amounts of rubble visible throughout. Partners have begun clearing main roads to facilitate movement and humanitarian access within the area.

Before October 2023, about 17,000 people lived in Al Kateeba. Community members expressed their eagerness to re-establish makeshift shelters near their damaged homes. Residents told OCHA’s team that clearing roads, leveling land, restoring water access and receiving shelter support are essential first steps to enable people’s safe return and recovery.

The UN and its partners will continue scaling up operations under their 60-day response plan to reach as many people as possible with life-saving assistance.

Much more can be done, and for this to happen, the humanitarian community needs more crossings to open, as well as the sustained entry of fuel and cooking gas; security guarantees for convoys; basic infrastructure to be restored; protection of humanitarian workers; the facilitation of NGO access, including through ensuring they are not de-registered; and the rapid injection of funding to support humanitarian operations*.