State of Palestine: Humanitarian Situation Report – UNICEF overview

Highlights

In Gaza, Eid al-Adha holiday started on Saturday. Eid is normally celebrated with time off from school and work to enjoy food and gift giving; this year it came in the aftermath of the conflict.
With UNICEF support, all 130,000 children in grades 1-9 in MoEHE schools have received school bags and stationery sets and all schools have been supplied with teaching aids and recreational kits.
A female died of wounds sustained in the 50 day conflict.
A number of security incidents were reported this week but the ceasefire continues to hold.
The Fatah-Hamas reconciliation government convened its first-ever cabinet session on 9 October in the Gaza Strip.
The number of Internally Displaced Persons in collective shelters is currently 59,059, similar to last week's number.
65,429 vials of inactivated polio vaccine have arrived in Israel and are awaiting customs clearance. This is in addition to previous UNICEF shipments that have entered Gaza. Essential drugs supplied by UNICEF in two shipments since the onset of the hostilities are benefitting around 136,120 patients.

Situation Overview

Eid al-Adha, the latter of the two Eid holidays, began on Saturday. The holiday is meant to be a joyous time. Customs include taking time off from school and work, spending time with family, giving and receiving gifts and eating traditional foods. This year, it brings difficult memories for Gaza's children. The first Eid holiday, Eid al-Fitr, fell during the 50 days of conflict in July and August. This holiday is celebrated in the aftermath of a conflict with poverty and food insecurity on the rise, as livelihoods suffer in the wake of the widespread destruction.
36 % of Gaza's livestock is lost and 41% of its annual agricultural production. This has a profound impact on families who are dependent on livestock or agriculture as their sources of nutrition and income. The already poor and vulnerable herding communities were deeply affected by the war.
As assessments of people's homes continues, it appears that the original estimate of 60,000 damaged homes was considerably under-estimated, including the 18,000 homes that were estimated to be completely destroyed and no longer habitable. These families will need long-term support to rebuild their lives but with winter fast approaching solutions to their immediate problems cannot wait. It is estimated that the number of IDPs in shelters will increase significantly with colder weather and threats of flooding. It is urgent to prepare for the impact of winter on children. UNICEF is scaling up its response but still has a funding gap of $33.7 million.
At least 267 schools (90 UNRWA and 187 government schools) were damaged during the conflict, of which 26 schools (government schools) were severely damaged; two completely destroyed; 122 schools were partially damaged, requiring significant repairs and the remainder suffered light to medium damage. Repairs are urgent before winter hits Gaza.
As a result of the conflict, 15 of the 32 hospitals were damaged by airstrikes or shelling and since the ceasefire, 6 hospitals were destroyed. Of the 97 primary healthcare clinics in Gaza, 43 were damaged and 30 remain closed. Child mortality and morbidity can rise due to the scale of destruction in the context of colder weather and floods. The immediate strengthening of the health care system is crucial.
Airstrike related damages to water carrier lines, sewer pressure pipelines and water wells have further exacerbated the already overloaded water and sanitation system in Gaza. The situation is worsened by power outages. It is estimated that only half of the sewage pumping and waste water treatment systems are operating, with a large parts of the halted services in Northern Gaza, Gaza City and Rafah. Faced with water shortages, people often resort to unsafe sources, placing their health at great risk. The lack of sanitation facilities means that waste is left out in the open where it can breed disease. Dysentery and other waterborne diseases pose a particularly grave risk to children.
At least 373,000 children will require direct and specialized psychosocial support and 450,000 children are at risk from Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) and Unexploded Ordinances (UXO).
This week, a female died of wounds sustained during the 50 day conflict.
A number of security incidents were reported this week. IDF fired at the border area in Khuza'a, east of Khan Yunis. Test firing of a rocket at the sea from Deir Al-Balah was reported. IDF fired warning shots at Palestinian boats west of Beit Lahia and west of Gaza City. Explosions took place on 8 October at the French Cultural Centre in Gaza City which are under investigation.
The number of Internally Displaced Persons in collective shelters has not changed much between weeks. Currently 59,059 people are staying in 19 shelters, 18 UNRWA schools and 1 Government school.
The Fatah-Hamas reconciliation government convened its first-ever cabinet session on 9 October in the Gaza Strip.

Summary Analysis of Programme response

UNICEF's emergency scaled-up response in Gaza is targeting children who attend public schools, under five year old children and mothers, and vulnerable households in the most affected communities. UNICEF is currently focusing on supporting affected children and families in shelters, host families, and the communities that have been most severely hit. To respond to the urgent needs of the population, UNICEF has brought in significant additional international surge staff for programme response and cluster coordination.

UNICEF's emergency response complements the response of other UN agencies

In the education sector UNICEF focuses on activities in government schools that complement the work in UNRWA schools, by reaching a different child population. In the health sector, UNICEF works in partnership with WHO and UNFPA, complementing their contributions based on UNICEF's long-term experience in child health and nutrition. Ministry of Health teams supported by UNICEF work in collaboration with UNRWA teams in collective shelters, focusing on non-refugee IDPs. In the WASH sector, UNICEF targets the whole population, both refugee and non-refugee. In Child Protection UNICEF, in cooperation with OHCHR, provided support to UNWRA to strengthen violence prevention and response mechanism in UNWRA shelters.

Education

UNICEF has now distributed school bags and stationary sets to all 130,000 children in grades 1-9 in 395 MoEHE schools. Teaching aid kits were delivered to all 395 MoEHE schools to enable teachers to work in a more conducive teaching and learning environment. Each kit includes 35 items, including chalk, markers, rulers, scissors, notebooks and etc. The schools also received 623 recreational kits to enable the schools to implement recreational activities with the school children in the first week of the new academic year and on an ongoing basis. 28 early childhood development (ECD) kits were distributed to schools that have preschool classes reaching at least 250 children.
2,397 new adolescents benefitted from recreational and stress relief activities this week, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 6,582 adolescents in 118 schools all over Gaza strip. The activities are provided by MA'AN, TAMER and Al Nayzak in coordination with MoEHE.
UNICEF is organizing the provision of school uniforms and shoes to the most vulnerable children through the joint WFP-UNICEF e-voucher programme. So far, funding has been secured for 15,000 sets of school uniforms and shoes.

Child Protection

693 new adolescents were reached by UNICEF partners MA'AN, TAMER and Al Nayzak, bringing the total number of adolescents and children benefitting from basic recreational activities, including stress relief and self-expression activities, to 23,571. The activities took place in 19 government shelters, 17 community-based organizations and 7 Libraries reaching more adolescents to help them better cope with their experiences of the conflict.
An inter-agency Child Protection Rapid Assessment (CPRA) is being carried out by the Gaza Child Protection Working Group led by UNICEF. The assessment will produce an overview of the key child protection risks and vulnerabilities as well as community capacities at this stage of the emergency response. The aim of the assessment is to identify the most urgent child protection needs and priority responses. The assessment scope includes child labour, unaccompanied and separated children, violence against children, dangers in children's physical environment, psychosocial distress, excluded children and access to information, and sexual violence. The assessment findings are expected to be released by 15 October 2014.
Verification of grave violations against children, including killing and injuring, attacks against schools and hospitals and denial of humanitarian access, is ongoing to document the impact of the July-August 2014 conflict on children.
Data related to child protection effectively collected and disseminated, in coordination with Child Protection Working Group members.

Water Sanitation and Hygiene

Distribution of 2,995 adult hygiene kits and 2,000 baby hygiene kits is currently being done by Ministry of Social Affairs. GVC is distributing 1,000 Jerry cans. Previously 1,478 adult and 1,000 baby hygiene kits as well as 4,850 jerry cans were distributed. Family hygiene kits were distributed to 1,000 families whose homes had been partially or fully damaged in East Khan Younis.
CMWU is continuing urgent repairs of water and sewage pipe systems. 1100 meters of water network and 740 meters of sewage system pipes have been installed. It is estimated that the repairs will serve roughly around 900,000 people, refugees and non-refugees.

Child Health & Nutrition

UNICEF is funding Ministry of Health (MoH) Community Health Workers to conduct outreach activities in collective shelters. This week, 656 people participated in awareness sessions on communicable diseases in collective shelters and with host families. To date, 1,483 men, 6,697 women and 3,308 children have benefitted from the activities.
Breastfeeding awareness-raising was conducted for 629 mothers in the reporting period, as a result 9,259 mothers and their children in shelters and with host families have benefitted in total. This outreach is also carried out o by UNICEF-funded MoH Community Health Workers.
MoH teams continued to make home visits to provide postnatal and neonatal care and advice to mothers and their neonates. 1,753 mothers have been reached in total, 173 this week. This agreement with MoH is a long-standing one that has been scaled-up to respond to current needs.
65,429 vials of inactivated polio vaccine have arrived in Israel and are awaiting custom clearance. This is part of UNICEF's commitment to ensure that hospitals and health facilities are frequently re-stocked with essential drugs, vaccines and supplies. Essential drugs supplied by UNICEF since the onset of the hostilities are benefitting around 136,120 patients.

Humanitarian leadership and coordination

UNICEF leads the Child Protection Working Group and affiliated groups for mental health and psychosocial sevices (MHPSS), and for monitoring and reporting of grave violations against children (MRM). These groups have been merged to maximise coordination of child protection responses during the emergency.
UNICEF continues to lead the WASH cluster and co-lead the Education cluster with Save the Children, both in Gaza and at the national level, with dedicated staff capacity.
Emergency Operations Centres (EOC) have been established in Gaza and Ramallah.

State of Palestine: Humanitarian Situation Report – UNICEF overview

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