State of Palestine: Humanitarian Situation Report – UNICEF update

28 August 2014

Highlights

After 50 days of fighting, an open-ended ceasefire brokered by the Egyptian government and agreed by the armed groups in Gaza, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel entered into force on 26 August. Both parties to the conflict are currently observing the ceasefire.
If the agreement holds, it will have ended the longest, deadliest and most destructive escalation in hostilities in Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967.
Fighting continued up until the final moments before the 19:00 agreed ceasefire
Tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) left emergency shelters and returned home. However, over 108,000 people whose homes were destroyed or severely damaged, will need longer-term shelter solutions.
The mass movement of civilians, children in particular, into areas that were intensively targeted by airstrikes and shelling, raises major concerns about Explosive Remnants of War (ERW).
Despite extensive repairs, electricity outages of 18 hours a day in most areas across Gaza, disrupting provision of essential services, particularly WASH.
Due to the conflict, 500,000 Palestinian children in Gaza were not able to attend the first day of school on 24 August unlike their peers in the West Bank.

Priorities & Messages

Build Back Better! We must seize this opportunity to bring about transformational change in Gaza.
Full lifting of the blockade must be part of any political agreement, in a manner that addresses Israel's legitimate security concerns, otherwise re-building Gaza will be impossible.

Situation Overview

An open-ended ceasefire brokered by the Egyptian government and agreed by the armed groups in Gaza, the Palestinian Authority and Israel entered into force on 26 August, the 50th days of the conflict. However, the terms of the agreement were not officially released.
According to OCHA on 27 August, in addition to a complete cessation of aggression from both sides, the agreement calls for a further opening of the crossings with Israel and Egypt and the transfer of control over the Gaza side of the crossings to the Palestinian Authority; a reinstatement of the six nautical miles fishing limit; and the relaxation of access restrictions into areas up to 100 meters from Gaza's perimeter fence with Israel. Other issues that include Hamas' demands for air and sea ports and Israel's demands to demilitarize militant groups will be discussed in indirect negotiations scheduled to start in one month.
Up until the final moments before the ceasefire took effect on 26 August, the fighting continued with a number of serious incidents taking place that resulted casualties on both sides and major property losses in Gaza. At 13:15 in Beit Lahia in Gaza, two electricity technicians from the Gaza Electricity Distribution Corporation (GEDCO) were killed
when their vehicle was hit by an Israeli air strike. The workers were on their way to repair transmission lines damaged during previous bombardments. A total of 14 electricity, water and waste water technicians employed by local authorities were killed since the beginning of the conflict.
Moments before the ceasefire, at 18:30, also in Beit Lahia, an Israeli air strike targeted and destroyed a five-floor building comprised of ten apartments leaving approximately 60 people homeless. This was the sixth high-rise building to be destroyed since 24 August. Not only does such destruction leave hundreds of people without homes, it also depletes the available stock of housing units available to the long-term homeless.
Tens of thousands of IDPs have left emergency collective shelters since the morning of 27 August after the ceasefire was announced. As of 26 August there were 475,000 IDPs including over 289,000 hosted in 85 designated UNRWA schools, 35,000 in seven government shelters supported by UNRWA, nearly 14,000 registered in 17 government schools managed by the Ministry of Social Affairs, and approximately 141,000 sheltering with host families. As of 27 August, UNRWA reported a significant decrease, with a total of 54,261 IDPs in 78 collective shelters. Although 7 shelters were closed, 9 shelters became operational in Beit Hanoun where the extent of the destruction as resulted in very high numbers of IDPs.
Including the additional deaths prior to the ceasefire, the cumulative death toll among Palestinians since 7 July is at least 2,104 (Protection Cluster, 27 August). This includes 494 children and 253 women. Additionally, approximately 25 Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel have reportedly been killed in Gaza by armed groups since 21 August (not included in the fatality toll).
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, as of 22 August, 10,224 Palestinians, including 3,106 children and 1,970 women and 368 elderly, have been injured. Preliminary estimates indicate that up to 1,000 of the children injured will have a permanent disability. A further 6,000 children will have a parent with a permanent disability as a result of injury. It is also estimated that 1,500 children have been orphaned so far in the conflict and will require sustained support from the child protection and welfare sectors. All of these children, and any other children from families that have experienced death, injury or loss of home since the beginning of the crisis, will require a level of sustained psychosocial support. It is likely that psychosocial support will be needed by more than 373,000 children.

Summary Analysis of Programme response

UNICEF's emergency scaled-up response in Gaza is targeting under five year old children and mothers, children who will attend public schools, and vulnerable households in the most affected communities. Due to the ceasefire announcement, the IDP population is currently very fluid. As the population stabilises, so too will activities that will adapt and transfer to the locations of the conflict affected populations. UNICEF is currently focusing on supporting affected children and families in shelters, host families, and the communities that have been most severely hit.

Water Sanitation and Hygiene

UNICEF has been supporting the Coastal Municipal Water Utility with urgent water network repairs including to water and sewage pipe systems.
In partnership with Ma'an, UNICEF is supporting water tankering for domestic use in Gaza City. So far, 2,993 cubic meters of water reached 20,950 beneficiaries.
UNICEF, in cooperation with the Palestinian Hydrology Group, is also supporting water tankering to provide drinking water. As of 28 August they have delivered 2,109 cubic meters of water for 50,000 individuals.
In partnership with GVC, an NGO, UNICEF has distributed 362 communal tanks in the Middle area of Gaza and 14 water bladders (with Ma'an). In total these water filling stations will provide water to 71,000
WFP and UNICEF distributed eVouchers for water, hygiene products and food to vulnerable families, many of which have lost their homes. 13,000 families (approximately 78,000 people) have been reached through the distribution and discussions are underway to increase coverage to 50,000 families. While the majority of the eVouchers are spent on food, analysis has shown that over 40% of the vouchers' value has been spent on sanitation products showing a clear need for these items by households.
3,000 posters with messages on lice and scabies control, hand washing and proper water treatment have been printed and are being distributed in collective shelters.

Child Health & Nutrition

Hospitals and health facilities are being re-stocked with essential drugs, vaccines and supplies. On Sunday, a UNICEF shipment of 90 tons of essential drugs and medical supplies will enter Gaza.
Vaccinations are underway in Primary Health Centers run by the Ministry of Health and UNRWA. UNICEF is monitoring vaccination coverage through PRCS.
UNICEF is funding Ministry of Health (MoH) Community Health Workers to conduct outreach activities in collective centres. 1,193 men, 1,980 women and 2,037 children participated in awareness sessions on communicable diseases in 19 different collective shelters.
MoH teams visited 19 shelters and 45 homes providing postnatal and neonatal care and advice to 499 mothers and 752 neonates. This agreement with MoH is a long-standing agreement that focused on outreach to people's homes that has been extended to concentrate on reaching IDPs in the collective centres. Two partners, the Near East Council of Churches (NECC) and Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), are supplementing these activities in areas that MoH cannot reach.
Some 3,000 IEC (information Education and communication) posters have been distributed with hygiene messaging and information on safe hand washing and proper water treatment to mitigate against a possible outbreak of communicable diseases. This is also being monitored by NECC and PRCS.

Child Protection

UNICEF is supporting partners to monitor and document all child fatalities. Daily reports are produced on killings, injuries and other grave violation against children including age and location analysis.
Over 12,000 children and adolescent have received psychosocial support. Between 8th July and 19th August, the PCDCR emergency psychosocial teams were able to provide initial psychosocial support to 4,994 children across the Gaza Strip, including 3,658 home visits and 791 hospital visits. PCDCR also distributed 1000 recreational kits to families in cooperation with Save the Children, and implemented a number of open days. 7,035 adolescents and children (48% females) also benefited from basic psychosocial and recreational activities provided by UNICEF partners MA'AN and Tamer in 19 government shelters, 4 community-based organizations and 7 Libraries. The activities are designed to help children and adolescents to better cope with displacement and their experiences during the conflict. UNICEF partners also trained shelter managers on core child protection principles.
Radio spots are aired on radio stations to alert children and their families on the dangers posed by UXOs (up to 1 million people in Gaza have been reached to date). Due to power cuts, UNICEF ensures that all protection partners working in the collective shelters also deliver messaging verbally.
Since 20 July, child protection and psychosocial text messages were sent to 710,000 subscribers of Jawwal in Gaza. The messages include actions that caregiver should take to reduce the vulnerability of children to death and injury, to reduce psychosocial distress and to prevent and respond to child abuse. UNICEF and Jawwal provided a free phone number to call for advice and support (Sawa Helpline 121).
Since 13 July, Sawa Child Protection Helpline has been operating 24/7 with increased capacity to take thirty calls at one time and has been able to provide counselling to 2,812 callers from Gaza. 647 calls were about concerns about the impact of the conflict on children, and 1065 calls were about persistent fear of violence.
Coordination — UNICEF is coordinating the Child Protection Working Group (CPWG), the Mental Health and Psychosocial Working Group and the Working Group on Grave Violations against Children. Fifteen organisations are implementing child protection activities through 23 implementing partners. The CPWG has set up two task forces: 1) to establish a system to identify, refer, and case management/follow vulnerable children and 2) to lead the child protection rapid assessment.
Preparations are ongoing for the provision of psychosocial response in schools to take place at the resumption of the school year in close coordination with Education colleagues.

Education

UNICEF is working closely with partners and the Ministry of Education in planning a comprehensive Back to School programme for children in Gaza:

Prepositioning stationary sets, learning kits, teaching aids, and other supplies;
Procuring school furniture;
Providing school uniforms and shoes for vulnerable primary and secondary school children;
Working with partners and hiring engineers to assess damaged schools in selected areas, in order to proceed with small urgent repairs and support WASH facilities;
Clearing targeted schools from UXOs and cleaning before the academic school year starts;
Supporting teachers in integrating psychosocial support activities for children;
Supporting remedial education for injured children.

Humanitarian leadership and coordination

State of Palestine: Humanitarian Situation Report – UNICEF update

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