State of Palestine Humanitarian Situation Report – UNICEF update

Highlights

Hostilities continued at a lower level of intensity since the ceasefire expired at 8am on 8 August, leading to fatalities, property destruction and movement of IDPs back to shelters across the Gaza Strip. There are 425,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in emergency shelters or with host families.
A new 72-hr ceasefire began on 11 August at midnight and is currently being observed by both sides. Egyptian-brokered talks are on-going.
The cumulative death toll of Palestinians is 1,948 including 457 children. The number of child deaths has surpassed the combined total of the previous two military operations, Cast Lead and Pillar of Defense. As rescue teams continue to retrieve bodies from the rubble, numbers of deaths are expected to rise.
Approximately 16,735 housing units in Gaza have been destroyed or rendered uninhabitable leaving 100,400 people homeless and in need of mid to long-term shelter solutions.
Households receive only three to six hours of electricity per day and 900,000 people remain without or very limited access to water.
Thousands of explosive remnants of war (ERW5) pose a major threat to children, farmers, IDPs returning home, technicians and humanitarian workers.
Over 4,500 children were born during the month of July in Gaza. There are serious concerns in terms of postnatal care during this this period of severely limited power, access to medical services, hygiene, essential drugs, etc.

Humanitarian Priorities

A lasting ceasefire is essential to allow populations to return home, repair power and WASH infrastructure and to assess and respond to the needs of the displaced population.

Additional fuel supply is needed to operate backup generators at essential facilities, including water, sanitation and health for longer hours.

The humanitarian response needs to scale up. Urgent need for water, additional shelters, food, hygiene materials and NFIs.

Situation Overview

In the absence of a sustained ceasefire, the number of IDPs returning to designated emergency collective shelters has again increased. Currently, 236,897 people are sheltering in 90 UNRWA schools with another 38,994 in government schools and other public buildings. Over 150,000 people are thought to be displaced living with other families across the Gaza Strip.
On 10 August, a staff member of the Al-Mezan Centre for Human rights was killed and 2 municipal water
maintenance workers were seriously injured when they came under fire from an Israeli drone while they worked to repair the water network in Beit Hanoun, North Gaza. Such incidents seriously hamper repairs to essential infrastructure because municipal workers, NGO staff, etc. are exposed to extreme danger in the course of trying to do their jobs. In Gaza there is very little trust in ceasefires and humanitarian pauses.
A multi-sector rapid needs assessment led by OCHA was to take place over 4 days starting 10 August. However, the lack of clarity around the on-going ceasefire talks and the resumption of violence is hampering humanitarian movements around the Gaza Strip. It is hoped that the assessment will begin on 13 August.
The World Food Programme and UNRWA began an exceptional blanket food distribution on 11 August to cover families in need in both collective shelters and in the community from 12 UNRWA distribution centers in Gaza.
Although 8 out of 10 electrical feeder lines from Israel have been repaired, only 20% of demand is currently met. Families receive only 3-6 hours of power per day. Water supply to roughly 50% of the population has been restored but only enough to provide several hours of water once every 5 days. The other 50% receives no or very little water and the hygiene situation, particularly in collective centers continues to be a major concern.
At least 373,000 children require direct and specialised psychosocial support on account of having experienced death, injury or loss of home since hostilities began on 8 July. Children are showing increasing symptoms of distress including fearfulness, bed wetting, clinging to parents and nightmares. There is an urgent need to strengthen preventative measures to protect women and children against violence and sexual abuse while they are displaced.
After an initial assessment, the Ministry of Education reported that 22 schools were completely destroyed and another 119 seriously damaged. Prior to the conflict, 80% of schools were already double-shifted and overcrowded. It is planned that school should start on time on 24 August but that lessons will take place in alternative locations and the first 2 weeks will concentrate on the psychosocial wellbeing of both students and teachers.
Over the past 4 days, clashes between Palestinians and Israeli Security Forces (ISF) in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus and Ramallah continued. On 10 August a Palestinian boy was shot dead by ISF during clashes in Al Fawwar Camp in Hebron. During an ISF operation in Qabalan a Palestinian was killed during an exchange of fire. The situation across the West Bank and East Jerusalem remains tense.

Summary Analysis of Programme response

UNICEF's emergency response in Gaza is focusing on supporting conflict-affected populations inside collective shelters and in host communities. In East Jerusalem and the West Bank, UNICEF's support will expand with a focus on families affected by recent violence and hostilities.

WASH

Through a joint WFP-UNICEF programme, vouchers for water, hygiene products and food are distributed to vulnerable families, many of which have lost their homes. 8,000 families (approximately 40,000 people) were reached through the distribution. UNICEF provided funds to increase coverage to 10,000 families.
In partnership with Ma'an, UNICEF is supporting water tankering for domestic use, which will benefit 15,000 families in Gaza City for one month. So far MA'AN has provided 200 cubic meters of water.
UNICEF, in cooperation with PHG, is also supporting water tankering to provide drinking water for 4,000 families for one month. As of 10 August they had delivered 70 cubic meters of water and 90 communal tanks in the Middle area of Gaza.
The Coastal Municipal Water Utility (CMWU) is carrying out critical repairs across Gaza with $350,000 of emergency funding from UNICEF. Technical teams have restored the pipeline from the Rafah Waste Water Treatment Plant to the sea, and stopped the seeping of partially treated water into ground water wells. There are ongoing repairs to the damaged sanitation system in Beit Lahia. In total CMWU has repaired 1100m of water pipes and 740m of waste water pipes across the Gaza Strip.
Procurement of additional supplies for future distributions is on-going, including 3,000 hygiene kits for adults, 2,000 kits for babies, and 1,000 additional jerry cans.
Posters with messages on lice and scabies control, hand washing and proper water treatment have been printed, with 1,000 posters on each topic for distribution in collective shelters.

Health & Nutrition

UNICEF provided essential vaccines to continue routine immunization. Vaccinations are underway in Primary Health Centers run by the Ministry of Health and UNRWA. UNICEF is monitoring vaccination coverage through PRCS.
UNICEF is coordinating provision of Maternal Child Health services at Primary Health Centres with MOH and UNRWA.
Essential drugs for children and medical consumables will arrive in the coming days.
UNICEF is cooperating with WHO, MOH and UNRWA to raise awareness on the importance of breastfeeding and monitor breast milk substitute donations.
UNICEF, WHO, UNRWA and MOH coordinate the monitoring of communicable diseases and outbreaks.
Efforts are underway with local partners to ensure provision of post natal care especially at shelters.
Coordination with and technical advice to UNRWA and WFP on provision of food to displaced children aged 6 months to 2 years is on-going in collective shelters.

Child Protection

UNICEF is supporting partners to verify all child fatalities. Daily reports are produced on killings, injuries and other grave violations against children including age and location analysis.
Emergency psychosocial teams (PCDCR) supported by UNICEF provided initial psychosocial support to 3,230 displaced people including 2,431 children, across the Gaza Strip.
42 staff and volunteers working in the government collective shelters have received a 3 hour briefing on core child protection principles to assist with their management of the shelters. The formation of child/adolescent friendly areas in shelters is also in process.
Since 4 August, child protection and psychosocial text messages were sent to 320,000 subscribers of Jawwal in Gaza. The messages include actions that caregivers 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). However, due to the current lack of electricity in Gaza, this messaging will now be integrated into the activities of other partners rather than relying on the mobile phone network.
Since 8 July 2014, Sawa has been able to provide counselling to 1,751 callers from Gaza (North Gaza 97; Gaza City 1089; Middle Area 44; Khan Younis 177; Rafah 319; and 25 undocumented). 411 calls were about concerns about the impact of the conflict on children, and 608 calls were about persistent fears of violence. Between 8 and 11 August 2014, Sawa has been able to provide counselling to 100 callers from Gaza.
2,637 adolescents and children have so far benefited from basic psychosocial and recreational activities provided by UNICEF partners MA'AN and Tamer in 12 government shelters. 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 to help with maintaining a proactive environment inside government shelters.

Humanitarian leadership and coordination

UNICEF leads the Child Protection Working Group and affiliated groups for mental health and psychosocial (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.

State of Palestine Humanitarian Situation Report – UNICEF update

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