2025 UNRWA Occupied Palestinian Territory Flash Appeal Progress Report (1 January – 30 June 2025)

3 December 2025

Operational Context/Summary:

In Gaza, renewed hostilities, the further destruction of civilian infrastructure and severe restrictions on humanitarian aid and access exacerbated already catastrophic conditions for the population. A fragile ceasefire between 19 January and 18 March 2025 provided only brief respite. During this period, and amid the renewed hostilities that followed, an 11-week Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid, imposed from 2 March to 18 May, cut off all supplies. The blockade severed Gaza’s remaining lifelines, including fuel, food and medical aid, and pushed critical health, water and sanitation systems to the brink of collapse.

By mid-May, the entire population again faced famine risk amid acute food insecurity. The Israeli-backed militarised aid-distribution scheme, launched on 27 May and bypassing the UN, further endangered civilians in severe deprivation; over 400 people were killed while attempting to access food at these sites within the first month of the scheme’s operation. Meanwhile, near-universal dependence on external food assistance persisted.

Gazans continued to endure a mounting human toll and the near-collapse of essential services and infrastructure. Between 7 October 2023 and 30 June 2025, more than 56,600 people were killed, mostly children, women, and the elderly. Already widespread damage to civilian infrastructure grew, with approximately 9 out of 10 homes, health facilities, schools, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) assets damaged or destroyed.

Over 90 per cent of Gaza’s population (some 1.9 million people) continued to endure forced displacement, many multiple times, as Israeli evacuation orders and attacks on civilian areas persisted. The entire population continued to grapple with prolonged trauma, with more than a million children estimated to be in need of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) and at least 17,000 unaccompanied or separated from their families. In-person education remained suspended, leaving over 658,000 children, nearly half of whom had been enrolled in UNRWA schools prior to the conflict, without access to formal learning for a second consecutive academic year.

In parallel to broader access restrictions that impeded the work of the humanitarian community, legislation adopted by the Israeli Knesset in October 2024, and enforced from late January 2025, sought to prohibit UNRWA’s operations in areas Israel considers its sovereign territory and to bar any contact between Israeli officials and the Agency. Since 2 March, no UNRWA aid has been permitted to enter Gaza directly, and from January to the end of the reporting period, Israel did not issue any visas or permits for Agency international personnel. Despite this, UNRWA’s interventions were maintained through the work of thousands of Palestinian personnel, supported by international colleagues operating from outside the territory.

In the West Bank, the humanitarian and protection situation worsened dramatically. On 21 January 2025, the Israeli forces launched operation ‘Iron Wall’, a major militarised operation in the northern West Bank, which resulted in the longest and most extensive displacement crisis since 1967. By late May, 43 per cent of Jenin, 35 per cent of Nur Shams and 14 per cent of Tulkarm Palestine refugee camps were damaged or destroyed, based on a United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) assessment, forcibly displacing up to 40,000 persons from their homes. Of the 155 Palestinians killed in the West Bank during Israeli forces’ operations, 28 were children and one third were killed in Palestine refugee camps. At least 926 Palestinian structures were demolished, destroyed or confiscated by the Israeli authorities. This figure excludes nearly all demolitions that occurred in the context of operation ‘Iron Wall’, as access to the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams camps was completely restricted, preventing UNRWA and partners from undertaking damage assessments. Even within these reporting constraints, a 15 per cent increase in Israeli forces’ operations and a 39 per cent rise in the verified destruction of civilian objects, such as residential and commercial buildings, was recorded in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2024. These operations also led to frequent disruptions to UNRWA’s essential services, including health care and education.

Israeli settler violence persisted, with 740 settler attacks impacting more than 200 Palestinian communities, injuring 340 Palestinians, killing one and causing widespread property damage. The month of June witnessed the highest number of settler-inflicted injuries on Palestinians in two decades, averaging three per day. Meanwhile, persistent Israeli movement and access restrictions deepened existing socioeconomic vulnerabilities and hindered the work of humanitarian actors, including UNRWA. The aforementioned Israeli legislation enforced from late January 2025 led to the closure of several installations, including all six UNRWA schools in East Jerusalem, where 783 students lost access to in-person learning and completed their school year through remote learning.

Nevertheless, the Agency continued to deliver life-saving and essential services in the oPt despite the severe and deliberate constraints placed on it. In Gaza, UNRWA remained the provider of primary health care, accounting for around 40 per cent of all consultations; it reached over half the population with WASH services and operated the largest network of static shelters hosting tens of thousands of displaced people, with hundreds of thousands more living in their vicinity. The Agency ensured continuity of learning activities for almost half of Gaza’s schoolchildren and remained the primary provider of psychosocial support (PSS). In the West Bank, UNRWA remained the linchpin in coordinating and delivering the humanitarian effort addressing the large-scale displacement in the North.

The Agency’s response in the face of these unprecedented challenges underscores its indispensable role in the humanitarian landscapes of Gaza and the West Bank.