WHO Gaza emergency situation reports: Issue 65

07 October 2025

WHO Response:

Gaza Strip

A. Essential Health Service Delivery

• Between 11 and 28 September, WHO delivered 72 trucks (1424 pallets) to its warehouses and dispatched 582 pallets – 217 to MoH and 365 to partners – ensuring continued supply for health operations.
• Since October 2023, WHO has supplied 51 partners in 32 facilities with medicines and equipment, enabling over 22 million treatments and surgeries, including 7.3 million since hostilities resumed on 18 March 2025 (data as of 28 September 2025).
• WHO supported to expand the bed capacity of critical health facilities, for accommodating the increasing influx of casualties. This included 20 beds at Shifa Hospital, 30 at Ahli Arab Hospital, 30 at Al-Aqsa, 40 at International Medical Corps FH, 40 at Al-Zawaida FH, in addition to 135 beds and 4 intensive care unit beds at Nasser Medical Complex.
• WHO dispatched four mechanical ventilators and five operation theatre surgical lights to Nasser medical Complex.
• Three tents, along with 14 beds and full furniture, were delivered to the PRCS Al-Amal Hospital to expand the provision of inpatient rehabilitation services.
• WHO distributed 465 wheelchairs, including 235 pediatric wheelchairs, to MoH, MAP-UK, MSF-France,
  MSF-Belgium, IMC, UK-Med, UNRWA, and PRCS, to support rehabilitation services.
• Two cohorts of a total of 29 physiotherapists benefited from a two-day training on rehabilitation in emergencies and rehabilitation in limb reconstruction. Participants will undergo an on-the-job training to boost their capacity and enhance quality of care.
• The WHO-led Rehabilitation Task Force launched an online distribution tracker for assistive products, with over 1,700 donation entries, to facilitate the distribution of allocation of the limited available assistive products.
• WHO, in collaboration with MOH, initiated the second round of mapping of laboratory services, to identify current capacities and determine priority support interventions.
• Assessment visits were carried out to the laboratories of UK-Med FH, PRCS FH, Nasser Medical Complex and the Central Blood Bank Society Mobile Unit, to identify gaps, assess support needs, and discuss potential expansion plans for laboratory services.
• An assessment visit to the oncology department at Nasser Medical Complex showed shortages in around 75% of anticancer medications, requiring urgent replenishment of critical medicines, including anticancer drugs, analgesics, and histopathology reagents.
• Guidelines on screening and management of malnutrition in children 5 to 18 years old have been finalized and are in the process of endorsement by the Nutrition Cluster.
• WHO continues its support of the coordination and referral of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and child protection (CP) survivors among the focal points in health facilities, through a series of training and via an established WhatsApp group. Ten GBV & CP cases were managed by health partners and provided with essential medication, assistive products and shelter
• A training was conducted for six EMT members on Prevention of Sexual Exploitation Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH), GBV, Psychological First Aid, self-care, and communication skills. The session aimed to strengthen their capacity to respond effectively and maintain wellbeing during emergencies.
• A readiness assessment session was held with the PSEAH focal points of WHO partner organizations, including MDM-France, UK-MED, PMRS, War Child, and MedGlobal, to discuss safeguarding policies in place, membership in the PSEA Interagency Network, available feedback and complaints mechanisms, and investigation procedures for SEA-related cases. Particular emphasis was placed on strengthening PSEAH capacity among both humanitarian personnel and affected populations, including the implementation of mandatory PRSEAH training for all staff.
• Material on patient rights and SEA messaging was developed, to be disseminated to Health Cluster partners.
• WHO and UNFPA jointly revised the National Protocol of Health Response to GBV, including Clinical Management of Rape.
• Six rounds of training on antenatal and postnatal care guidelines were conducted for a total of 149 healthcare workers.

B. Public Health Intelligence, Early Warning, Communicable Disease Prevention/Control

• The EWARS daily reporting form was updated to include three common skin diseases: suspect chickenpox, ectoparasitic infections, and impetigo.
• Joint effort to integrate physiotherapy-related minimum data sets for Guillain-Barré Syndrome cases into the EWARS, to enhance the system’s capacity to monitor functional outcomes and rehabilitation needs.
• Four training sessions on reportable diseases and EWARS were conducted, targeting 33 health care workers from six health facilities, to strengthen disease surveillance and early detection capacities.
• The EWARS Unified Disease Surveillance Dashboard for The Gaza Strip was launched, presenting data on priority reported communicable diseases and unusual events reported by participating health facilities in the Gaza Strip via the EWARS mobile system.
• Between 13 and 28 September, 158 water samples were tested: 73% were non-compliant with chlorine standards, 15% positive for fecal coliforms, and 4% for E. coli.
• WHO distributed over 15 135 kilograms of domestic black waste bags of various sizes to healthcare facilities, to strengthen waste management.

C. Health Emergency Coordination

• As the Cluster Lead Agency for Health, WHO coordinates 87 Health Cluster partners in Gaza. Gaza Health Cluster partners provide essential lifesaving essential services. From 1 January until 28 September 2025, health partners have provided an average of 393 900 weekly consultations.
• The Health Cluster, in coordination with partners, has developed an operational preparedness plan covering scenarios from ongoing displacement to a potential ceasefire, to ensure the needs of affected populations are met.
• The WHO-led EMT Coordination Cell reported that by the end of Week 38, a total of 22 operational partner organizations (including 2 national and 20 international partners) were deployed across the Gaza Strip, deploying 31 EMTs and delivering surgical, emergency, and NCD services. Since the onset of the emergency and as of 25 September 2025, the EMTs have collectively provided more than 3.5 million consultations, 50 900 surgeries, and 179 200 trauma cases treated.

D. Early Recovery, Reconstruction & Rehabilitation of Health Infrastructure

• Despite shortages in local construction material, efforts are ongoing to rehabilitate European Gaza Hospital and improve WASH facilities at Nasser Medical Complex.

West Bank

• A training on vaccine preventive diseases (VPD) was completed for a total of 132 UNRWA health care workers, from Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron and Nablus, Jenin, and Tulkarem.
• A training on Notification, Verification and Introduction to 717 Tool has started in Ramallah, targeting health workers from MoH (at both PHC & hospital levels), UNRWA, private sector, NGOs and INGOs, to identify notification and verification pathway.
• A meeting of the Zoonotic Diseases Committee was held to develop a multisectoral strategy and to control and contain stray dogs and address the associated threat of rabies transmission.
• WHO provided 200 Community Trauma Bags and a training limb mannequin, to support the implementation of the Community Emergency Response Trainings with PMRS.
  ▪ A comprehensive document to enhance the functionality and harmonization of six breast diagnostic units in the West Bank was developed and discussed with relevant MOH technical units and is awaiting final endorsement by MOH.
• As part of the World Patient Safety Day event on 17 September, WHO supported a series of presentations on ‘Safe Care for Every Newborn and Every Child’ in Ramallah, with160 medical staff in attendance.
• A joint workshop organized by WHO with the participation of over 80 Ministry of Health (MoH) personnel was conducted to review the Essential Health Services Package. During the workshop, the draft of the WHO Service Package Delivery and Implementation (SPDI) Tool was updated to better align with the health sector priorities. Discussions also focused on the integration of essential medicines and laboratory services within the package.
• WHO is supporting a comprehensive review of the governance of the outside medical referrals (OMR), considering that OMR constitutes 40% of MOH expenditure.

WHO Recommendations:

• Immediate ceasefire.
• Ensure immediate and sustainable humanitarian access into Gaza and northern West Bank for fuel, water, food, medicines and other necessary supplies.
• Expand humanitarian corridors and ensure safe passage to allow delivery of humanitarian aid and personnel within Gaza and the West Bank.
• Active protection of civilians and health care, preserving the function of remaining health facilities.
• Scale up medical evacuation for all patients in need, without distinction of any kind. Ensure timely referral of over 15 600 critical patients who need medical evacuation out of Gaza.