OCHA: UN and partners continue to scale up aid in Gaza

21 October 2025

OCHA says that families in the Gaza Strip continue to move towards areas that are newly accessible since the ceasefire, with some seeking shelter in displacement sites that are already overcrowded.

Partners monitoring the flow of people across the Strip report that on Sunday, they recorded nearly 13,800 displacements towards Gaza city and North Gaza, and about 4,100 movements towards the east.

OCHA reports that humanitarian partners on the ground continue to scale up their operations as outlined in the 60-day plan, expanding their presence in areas that were previously inaccessible and increasing assistance to meet growing needs.*

Partners working on food security report that as of Sunday, food parcels were being distributed at over two dozen locations in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, reaching more than 15,000 households there. These food parcels contain various nutritious food items, including rice, lentils, beans, chickpea paste, tomato paste and fortified sunflower oil. Partners are working to expand the number of distribution points to ensure that people can access food closer to where they live.

Also on Sunday, 21 partners prepared and delivered some 944,000 meals through 178 community kitchens. This is an increase of some 286,000 daily meals in about three weeks. Sunday’s total included 69,000 meals from 13 kitchens in the north, as well as 875,000 meals from 165 kitchens in the south and central areas.

Yesterday, the World Health Organization reported that it had dispatched four pallets of medical supplies from its southern warehouse to key health facilities and partners to help ensure the continuity of life-saving health services across the Strip. The supplies included medicines for diabetes and other chronic conditions, treatments for infections and malnutrition, and pain management medication.

On Sunday, another partner working in health delivered reproductive health kits to southern Gaza, providing essential supplies for an estimated 8,300 people. An additional 1,500 postpartum kits were distributed to Al Awda Nuseirat Hospital to support delivery services for the next three months.

Partners providing shelter materials are also doing everything possible to scale up. On Sunday, they distributed 300 tents to vulnerable households in Khan Younis and 14,700 blankets to families in 16 displacement sites across the Al Mawasi area in Khan Younis.

Partners stress that far greater volumes of shelter materials must be allowed into Gaza before the winter season begins. This will require Israeli authorities to authorize more humanitarian organizations to bring in these supplies. So far, only a limited number of UN agencies and partner organizations have such permissions.

Meanwhile, OCHA reports that the UN and its partners continue to collect humanitarian supplies brought in through the UN 2720 mechanism via the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem and Kissufim crossings.

Overall, since the ceasefire came into effect on 10 October – and as of Sunday, 19 October – humanitarian teams have been able to collect 10,638 metric tons of essential supplies from those crossings. This is based on UN 2720’s tracking, and those efforts are ongoing.

The UN and its partners also continue to offload supplies at the available crossings. Between 17 and 19 October, 303 UN and partner trucks with 6,455 pallets of aid were offloaded at the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem and Kissufim crossings, according to the UN 2720 mechanism. More than two thirds of that cargo was food – and about a fifth was water, sanitation and hygiene supplies.