United Nations in Palestine

The UN and its partners in Palestine are working towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: 17 interconnected Goals which address the major development challenges faced by people in Palestine and around the world. These are the goals the UN is working on in Palestine:

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01 July 2026

Despite record $100 million shortfall, Palestine relief agency still ‘a critical platform’ for Gaza recovery

The UN agency serving 5.9 million Palestine refugees, UNRWA, continues to strive to deliver on its mandate while facing an unprecedented $100 million budget shortfall, a gap it hopes to narrow during Tuesday’s pledging conference at UN Headquarters.Operating primarily on voluntary donations since its inception in the late 1940s, UNRWA continues to provide lifesaving and essential services in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, from school programmes to polio vaccines, with the UN chief calling it a “lifeline” to Palestinians.However, UN Secretary-General António Guterres raised sharp concerns on Tuesday about the agency’s cash shortfall, which he said “has grave implications for the entire region”.“UNRWA is a stabilising force in an age of instability, registering, protecting and assisting highly vulnerable populations and countering the hopelessness that can fuel insecurity,” he said.Nominal ceasefireA pendulum of pledges followed the October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel that left 1,200 dead and 250 taken hostage, with subsequent Israeli strikes that turned much of Gaza into rubble, displaced 80 per cent of the population and killed at least 70,000 people, according to local authorities.Since 2023, attacks on UNRWA have left some 390 staff dead and UN property bombed, striking such critical services as schools and hospitals alongside disinformation drives, with allegations in early 2024 that some agency staff were complicit in attacks on Israel.While the allegations were independently investigated and nations, except the United States, have thawed their frozen funding alongside growing private donations, a $100 million gap remains.Unkept pledging promisesEvery year, Member States gather to pledge their support for the agency, but what is promised is not always what arrives, making it challenging to operate and has forced the agency to cut back on what it is mandated to deliver.For example, in 2025, pledges reached $878 million, but UNRWA received only $839 million, a pattern also seen in 2024.“They cannot keep going like this without urgent backing and financial support from Member States,” Mr. Guterres said, adding that the liquidity crisis also jeopardises UNWRA’s ability to implement its mandate, given by the General Assembly and renewed six months ago with overwhelming Member State support.UN chief appalled by smear campaignsAppalled by continued efforts to marginalise or tarnish UNRWA’s critical work with diplomatic roadblocks and smear campaigns, the UN Secretary-General said “UNRWA has taken decisive steps to ensure its house is in order.” That included already implementing more than 40 recommendations from the 2024 independent Colonna report, he said.“I’m counting on you to keep speaking up for the agency,” he said, urging them to also pledge support for UNRWA’s essential work.‘Critical platform for recovery’ At the same time, the work of UNRWA remains unchanged, even though funding shortfalls have meant reduced service delivery and other cost-saving measures. Indeed, needs have grown since the war and amid the recovery, where most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents remain in shelters and tents facing food insecurity and a dearth of essential services.Today, with the stuttering ceasefire in Gaza stretching to eight months, nearly 1.7 million people still depend on UNRWA, which operates like a civil service, said Christian Saunders, the agency’s acting Commissioner-General.“UNRWA is a critical platform for recovery, institutional stability and lasting peace,” he said, underscoring that its capacities are “vital” for:Implementing Security Council resolution 2803 (2025) that recognised the Hamas-Israel ceasefire in Gaza and the [President Donald] Trump Declaration for Enduring Peace and ProsperityEfforts of President Trump’s Board of PeaceThe international committee for the administration of GazaAmong UN’s first aid agenciesEstablished by the General Assembly in 1948, UNRWA was never meant to be permanent, but hinged on the notion of the creation of a Palestinian State alongside Israel.Nearly eight decades later, the UN agency continues to provide such lifechanging services as access to clean water, education, healthcare and hope, the UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock told Member States gathered at the pledging conference.“A Palestinian State means that UNRWA is no longer needed,” she said. “Until that day comes, let us never stop working for the two-State solution and let us never stop supporting UNRWA.”

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30 June 2026

UN official reports concerning developments in West Bank, Gaza

Ramiz Alakbarov, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, reiterated the Secretary-General’s strong condemnation of the relentless expansion and acceleration of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.“These developments further entrench the unlawful Israeli occupation and threaten the viability of a fully independent, contiguous and sovereign Palestinian State,” he said, stressing that all Israeli settlements and related infrastructure have “no legal validity”, constitute a flagrant violation of international law, and must cease immediately. Turning attention to the ceasefire announced eight months ago in Gaza, he said that the strip still faces profound uncertainty and immense human suffering.“I condemn the continued killing and injury of civilians in Gaza, including women and children,” he said. He also expressed particular concern over recent increasing calls for a resumption of widespread hostilities in Gaza. “This would be disastrous for the Palestinian people of Gaza, for Israelis and for the entire region,” he said. Despite the ceasefire announced eight months ago, humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip remain bleakwith 70 per cent of the population lacking dignified housing, sanitation systems destroyed and Israel still blocking much of the food and medical aid required to meet Palestinian residents’ “immense” needs, a senior UN official told the Security Council.Gaza still faces profound uncertainty and immense human suffering,” said Ramiz Alakbarov, who serves as Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator.Mr. Alakbarov briefed the 15-member Council alongside two civil society experts, delivering a quarterly update on the implementation of resolution 2334 (2016) — a landmark text which declared that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory were illegal under international law.However, he also focused much of his briefing on the implementation of resolution 2803 (2025), through which the Council endorsed the United States-facilitated Comprehensive Peace Plan in Gaza in October 2025 and authorized the deployment of an international stabilization force.“The legitimate needs, concerns and aspirations of the people of Gaza must be addressed through the full implementation of [that resolution],” stressed the Deputy Special Coordinator. Instead, the situations in both Gaza and the West Bank have remained volatile. Israeli air strikes and military operations have continued across Gaza, resulting in further fatalities and bringing the total killed since the ceasefire to over 1,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.Meanwhile, he said, Israeli forces continue to expand their territorial control, now holding approximately 70 per cent of the Strip. “This encroachment of areas under Israeli control is reducing the space available to civilians,” he said. “Palestinians in Gaza are concentrated in increasingly limited areas, living amid insecurity and violence.”Needs in Gaza ImmenseNoting improvements in the humanitarian situation in Gaza since the signing of the ceasefire, he said the share of households going to bed hungry dropped from 92 per cent to 36 per cent. More humanitarian access has been granted. “But […] the needs in Gaza remain immense,” he stressed, warning that 70 per cent of the population still lacks dignified shelter and sanitation conditions are alarming.Turning to the West Bank, where the situation continues to deteriorate, he said Israeli military activity continued in Jenin, displacing Palestinians. He voiced concern over escalating violence in the West Bank, adding: “I am appalled at the numerous instances in which officials glorified violence and engaged in dangerous provocations, incitement and inflammatory language.”Outlining several important developments on the political front — including a recent Palestinian Authority decree committing to holding presidential elections in 2027 — he strongly condemned Israel’s plan to establish military facilities at the Sheikh Jarrah compound of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), in East Jerusalem, and urged it to rescind that decision.

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22 June 2026

Gaza: Sneeze and you might get shot, warns UNICEF in alert on child killings

Aid agencies issued a new alert for Gaza, where 265 Palestinian children have been killed since a ceasefire was announced in October 2025.“During a period supposedly defined by restraint and protection, a child has been killed, on average, every single day for more than eight months,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder. “That is an absurd and devastating figure.”Killed while playingBriefing journalists in Geneva via video from Amman, the UNICEF aid veteran noted that the children “were not killed in a warzone” but rather in their homes, schools while playing football or fishing. “They were shot, they were bombed, they were struck by quadcopters” operated by the Israeli military, Mr. Elder continued.The child fatalities are included among the nearly 1,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza and more than 3,100 injured since the ceasefire began, according to the enclave’s health authorities. “You sneeze near the Orange Line and you may well get shot,” Mr. Elder maintained, referring to the “continual creeping” of Israel’s so-called “Yellow Line” and “Orange Line” boundaries of occupation. ‘Utter lack of accountability’The uncertainty of these moving boundaries and “an utter lack of accountability” are the reason for such a high number of killings, with the Israeli forces responsible for “the vast, vast majority – 90 per cent plus”, the UNICEF spokesperson said.The UN and partners have repeatedly warned that the conflict has had a catastrophic humanitarian impact since war erupted in October 2023, in response to Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel. According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), no hospital is fully operational in Gaza, while UNICEF warns that water remains a daily uncertainty for 1.1 million children.“I talk to mothers who have children screaming because they don't have the clean water to wash [their skin]. Imagine a parent unable to fix that night after night,” Mr. Elder said. “The scale of human suffering in Gaza being inflicted upon Gaza and enabled by others on Palestinian children, it's almost beyond comparison in our lifetime.”Today, nearly 1.9 million people have been displaced in Gaza, many repeatedly, while more than 1.2 million have lost their homes. In an update to the Security Council on Thursday, UN emergency relief chief Tom Fletcher reported that Israeli denial rates for aid missions into Gaza had dropped from 31 per cent before the ceasefire to 11 per cent today. Nonetheless, Palestinians in Gaza remain “deprived of the basics that you would all demand for your own families: safety, shelter, clean water, healthcare, education”, he stressed.Mr. Elder echoed that dire assessment, explaining that although some fuel is reaching generators still in working order, the Israeli authorities are not allowing spare parts into the enclave to fix broken machines, nor the oil needed to keep engines running smoothly. “This is the environment my colleagues on the ground work in, keeping children breathing without a semblance of dignity,” he said.Other major problems continue to go unresolved in Gaza caused by delays and denials of aid deliveries, not least the massive amount of solid waste still piling up, said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.“We've all heard the stories about the rats, the insects, and so on and so forth, that this causes. So, there is an opportunity, there is a possibility to get rid of all that, but we are not getting the access to it,” he told journalists in Geneva.

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04 June 2026

Gaza’s public servants systematically targeted in Israeli strikes

including the enclave’s police force which is crucial to peace and reconstruction efforts, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Wednesday.Outlining “repeated attacks” and “routine targeting” of law enforcement personnel in Gaza, OHCHR said that they have been killed while directing traffic and patrolling streets and crowded markets.This “systematic targeting” of key public institutions and workers has caused a collapse of civic and public order since Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel sparked the war in Gaza on 7 October 2023, maintained Mayy El Sheikh, OHCHR spokesperson in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Obligations ignored“Israel as the occupying power actually has the obligation under international law to ensure civic and public order for Palestinians who live under the occupation… targeting them, unless they are directly participating in attacks or hostilities, would amount to war crimes,” she insisted.Since January 2026, OHCHR has recorded at least 12 attacks against police, killing more than 53 civilians including 35 police personnel, five boys, and one woman. Four attacks were recorded in May alone, killing 12 police workers.The UN office noted that the pattern of attacks raised concerns that Israeli forces apply “no distinction” between police personnel and fighters belonging to armed groups in Gaza.“Nearly eight months have passed since the announcement of a ceasefire, and there is no end in sight for the killings, the turmoil, and the misery,” said Ajith Sunghay, Head of OHCHR in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.The alleged incidents include:23 May – Israeli strike on a police checkpoint in Al Tawam, Gaza City, killing at least five police officers and two others, including a boy. 24 April 2026 – Israeli drone strike on a police vehicle in Al Mawasi camp, west of Khan Younis, killing four police workers and four civilians, including a boy of nine. 31 January 2026 – Israeli airstrike on Ash Sheikh Radwan Police Station, Gaza City, killing 11 people, including five police officers and a boy.The alert comes as Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe continues. Today, more than 1.9 million Palestinians of the 2.4 million total living in the enclave have been uprooted by the war, many of them multiple times. At least 1.2 million of them have lost their homes, according to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.‘Suspended in a nightmare’For many, the notional ceasefire between Hamas fighters and the Israeli military has not brought safety. Displacement orders continue to be issued “and Israeli forces in Gaza continue to destroy whatever is left of the built environment as well”, OHCHR’s Ms. El Sheikh told UN News.“Gaza remains suspended in a nightmare that is difficult to reconcile with the existence of a ceasefire,” she maintained. “Palestinians in Gaza are living on a small fraction of the land, and they are encircled from all sides by Israeli ground forces that continue to push further into Palestinian communities and contract the space that is available to civilians.”

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21 April 2026

Gaza: Human development set back 77 years as recovery costs rise to $71 billion

with $71.4 billion needed over the next decade for recovery and reconstruction.That’s according to the final Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA), jointly conducted with the UN-partnered World Bank.The assessment says $26.3 billion will be needed in the first 18 months to restore essential services, rebuild critical infrastructure and support economic recovery.Since full-scale war erupted in Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel in October 2023, the physical damage in the Strip is estimated at $35.2 billion, with a further $22.7 billion in economic and social losses.Entire sectors have been devastated, including housing, health, education, commerce, and agriculture. Over 371,888 housing units have been destroyed or damaged, more than 50 per cent of hospitals are non-functional, and nearly all schools have been destroyed or damaged. The economy has contracted by 84 per cent.Devastating human toll The impact on the lives of Gazans is just as devastating: more than 60 per cent of the population having lost their homes and 1.9 million people displaced, often multiple times. Women, children, persons with disabilities, and those with pre-existing vulnerabilities bear the greatest burden.Over two years of conflict has resulted in more than 71,000 Palestinian fatalities and over 171,000 injured, according to local authorities, with many still missing under the rubble. Framework for reconstructionThe report provides the foundation for early recovery planning and reconstruction, stressing it must must run in parallel with humanitarian action to ensure an effective transition from emergency relief toward reconstruction at scale in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank.The assessment is framed in line with Security Council adopted resolution 2803 (2025) of the US-backed Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, which welcomed establishment of the Board of Peace led by President Trump as a transitional administration to set the framework for redevelopment and authorised the mechanism to set up a temporary International Stabilisation Force (ISF). The EU and UN emphasise that recovery and reconstruction should be Palestinian-led and should support the transition of governance to the Palestinian Authority, while advancing a durable political settlement based on the two-State solution.Planning and implementation should be inclusive, transparent, and accountable, with particular attention to the needs of women, children, elderly, and persons with disabilities.Conditions neededThe assessment recognises that a set of enabling conditions are essential for recovery, reconstruction, and implementation of the broader political framework:A sustained ceasefire and adequate securityUnimpeded humanitarian access and immediate restoration of essential servicesFree movement of people, goods, and reconstruction materials, within and between Gaza and the West Bank, and a functional, transparent financial systemClear, accountable governance, including defined mandates and establishment of conditions for the transitional administrative bodies in coordination with the Palestinian Authority (PA)A credible pathway for the PA’s future governance across the entire Occupied Palestinian territory, including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, is essentialDebris clearance, explosive ordnance management, and resolution of housing, land, and property rights are prerequisites for reconstruction.The international community must mobilise resources in a targeted, sequenced, coordinated mannerAll obstacles to the deployment of expertise and equipment must be removed rapidly

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01 June 2026

Borrowed boots, borrowed joy: Football thrives in Gaza camps

for the thousands living in overcrowded tents, schools or damaged buildings in the shattered Occupied Palestinian Territory of Gaza.In the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis, where tents stretch across the sand and snaking queues form for water and food, Asaad Al-Azzabi prepares for a match a world away from what he once knew.Before the war, Mr. Al-Azzabi played for Al-Tajammu Club in Rafah, where he and his teammates had access to pitches, training halls, coaches and equipment. Borrowed bootsNow, he’s lucky if he can find boots to play in. “Sometimes I borrow a pair from a friend or patch them up with tape,” he says.His home is now a tent in Al-Rahma Camp, a shelter for people displaced from Rafah, where access to clean water and sanitation services is scarce. He lives alone, after his wife left for Jordan with their son, who has cancer, to seek treatment.According to UN data, around 1.7 million people are living in around 1,600 displacement sites across the Gaza Strip, most of them in temporary or informal locations. Most residents rely on water brought in by truck and are forced to cope with restrictions on the entry of equipment, fuel and repair materials.Amid the struggle to meet basic needs, Mr. Al-Azzabi is preparing for the match with nearby Sheikh Al-Eid Camp. He explains the game plan to his players by drawing on the sand, before the team sets off on foot toward a pitch located among the tents of displaced people. The match appears to be more than a sporting activity – it is a respite from the daily hardships of life in the camps. Children and young men gather around the sandy pitch, applauding players, some of whom arrived after spending hours standing in queues for food, water or battery charging.Something out of nothingReferee Alaa Abu Taha, a referee with the Palestinian Football Association and a displaced resident of Rafah, says football has become the “only outlet” for many people in Gaza.“With the most limited resources, we try to play. Now there is no sports infrastructure. The pitch we are standing on now was originally prepared for basketball and volleyball, but our people create everything out of nothing,” he says.Gaza’s sports sector has suffered widespread destruction since the outbreak of the war. According to the Palestinian Football Association, hundreds of athletes have been killed, including many footballers, while hundreds of sports facilities have been damaged or destroyed, including pitches, club headquarters and training halls. In Al-Mawasi these losses have not prevented players from organising a championship between displacement camps. The big matchThe match kicks off in front of a small crowd of displaced spectators, with Mr. Al-Azzabi taking part in boots held together by plastic tape. At the end of the match, Al-Rahma Camp defeats Sheikh Al-Eid Camp 2–1.After the final whistle, young men from the camp lift him and his teammates onto their shoulders, while children and young people celebrate among the tents. For a few brief moments, the sound of displacement recedes from the scene, and football emerges as a rare space for joy.“Under these difficult circumstances, to be able to come out and play a match like this is a very good thing,” says Mr. Al-Azzabi. “Congratulations to our camp. I dedicate this championship to my wife and son in Jordan, and I wish my son a speedy recovery.”For him, the game is more than a sporting victory. It is a message to his distant family and an attempt to preserve what remains of his life as a former player, chasing the ball as if it were the last thing connecting him to who he was before the war.

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01 June 2026

Gaza: 26 killed over Eid holiday, UN rights investigators report

The information was provided by its monitors in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) who condemned the increase in Israeli attacks as families prepared to observe Eid al-Adha. They said 12 Palestinians were killed in three airstrikes on 26 May, while a teenage girl died of injuries sustained in a strike the previous day that also killed a woman and a young girl, initial reports indicated.One airstrike killed four men in a camp in Middle Gaza, reportedly after they resisted attempts to search their homes by armed gangs allegedly supported by the Israeli military. Two other men were killed when a strike hit a car in Khan Younis.The third airstrike, against an apartment in Gaza City, killed a newly appointed commander of the Hamas Al Qassam Brigades, his wife and three children, as well as a woman passerby.Ten people allegedly affiliated with Al Qassam Brigades were reportedly killed in a strike on 27 May.Death, displacement and deprivation The office noted that Israeli forces have killed 922 Palestinians in attacks since the announcement of the ceasefire in October, bringing the overall death toll since the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks to nearly 73,000, according to local authorities. At least 32 children and eight women have been killed in attacks since the truce. Meanwhile, Palestinians are still being deprived of adequate shelter, essential medicines, food and other necessities as the blockade on Gaza continues, it said. Nearly the entire population remains displaced and concentrated “into a progressively narrower strip of land”, with multiple displacement orders issued in recent days. Dire conditions, ‘unthinkable’ attacks The rights investigators also addressed the announcement on Thursday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has directed Israeli forces to expand their deployment to cover 70 per cent of Gaza’s territory. They said the continued contraction of areas available to civilians raises questions around access to humanitarian assistance and finding safety. Ajith Sunghay, head of the human rights office in the OPT, said its concern over the commission of war crimes in Gaza has not stopped. “It is difficult enough to navigate life in chronic displacement in the ruins of Gaza, under blockade, and after Israeli attacks virtually destroyed every essential system: healthcare, education, food production, law enforcement and civil order,” he said. “Continuing military attacks on a population living under these conditions is unthinkable.” Airstrike near aid facilities Separately, UN aid coordination office OCHA said that an airstrike on Thursday hit a residential area near five humanitarian facilities in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza. No casualties were reported. The development followed an order from the Israeli military to shelter in place shortly before the strike. OCHA continues to call for the opening of more crossings into Gaza for humanitarian aid and commercial supplies to be let in as only one, Kerem Shalom, remains operational. Humanitarian partners provided mental health and psychosocial support, as well as other protection, to more than 10,000 people between 11-17 May.     These services – including recreational activities, art and drama sessions, counselling and parenting support – were provided in shelters, camps, schools and displacement sites.   “Partners reiterate that to continue these services – particularly for children and adolescents – fuel, safe spaces, staff and other basic resources are needed,” OCHA said.

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25 May 2026

Displaced in Gaza: From home comforts to the shattering horror of war

Umm Ahmad sat down to speak to UN News about her life in Gaza before the war and what it has become now. Dire conditions in Gaza marked by continuing violence, rodent infestations and the spread of infectious disease, are being made worse by blockages preventing essential medical supplies from entering the enclave.‘I feel like I’m in prison’ Umm Ahmad lives with her family in a camp in western Gaza City, where she arrived after a journey of displacement that forced the family to move four times – after being displaced from Jabalia in the north.“This tent broke our backs; we can't even stand up in it. I feel like I'm in prison,” she says, entering her flimsy makeshift home.Pointing to a bag of bread hanging at the entrance to the tent, she told our correspondent: “We hang food so that it is away from mice. Mice and rodents sleep among us in the tent. This is more difficult suffering than the war itself.”Water scarcity In a narrow corridor between the tents, Umm Ahmad stands in front of a small counter on which a bowl of soap and water has been placed for washing dishes and cups. Due to scarcity, families rely on storing water manually in plastic containers in quantities that do not meet daily needs.“There is very little water, when it is available we can clean it. The possibilities are limited, as you can see, and the situation is disgusting. This is the life in tents.”UN partners on the ground report that access to water remains a major challenge, with three out of four families relying on truck deliveries. Humanitarian partners are delivering around 24,000 cubic metres of water this way every day through approximately 2,000 distribution points. However, those deliveries depend on generators and machinery that are at risk of breaking down due to shortages of maintenance and repair supplies. Humanitarian organisations continue to stress that essential supplies must urgently be allowed into Gaza to prevent the collapse of critical equipment.Life turned to rubbleSitting on a small plastic barrel, Umm Ahmad recalls the spacious home and the life she once had: "We used to live in a five-storey house equipped with all the necessities of life, with apartments for our children to get married in, but it was destroyed by the war.“We had everything, we were living in luxury and suddenly our lives were turned upside down and we are living in tents. This is our fourth displacement; we have been on the streets for three years now."More than two-and-a-half years after Hamas attacked communities in southern Israel leading to a massive counter-offensive, the cloth tents scattered across Gaza are no longer merely temporary shelters for displaced people, but have become a prolonged daily reality for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.‘Life of humiliation’Overcome with frustration and sadness, she tells our correspondent: "No matter what I tell you, I can't describe what life is like in tents. In the winter, the tent was flooded with rain every day and the wind blew it. We re-erected it, and we couldn't dry our clothes or mattresses. “In the summer, the suffering is even more severe due to mice, other rodents and insects. It's a life of humiliation; I can't take it anymore.”When our reporter asked her about privacy in the tents, Umm Ahmad said, “There is no privacy. We all crowd together in the tent. Now two of my sons are getting married, we are trying to pitch two tents for them, but the space is not enough. You can't imagine what we're experiencing. Bathrooms and sanitation are another matter.”The health situation in the enclave is devastating. 22 attacks on healthcare have been reported in Gaza this year and barely half of the hospitals are partially functional, while not a single hospital can be considered fully operational.Umm Ahmad smiled only when her two grandchildren approached her and she began to comfort them. Where once there was space and plenty, life in the camp is a constant struggle to secure even the most basic necessities.

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22 May 2026

Gaza risks ‘permanent’ state of limbo if transition plan stalls, Security Council hears

As Gaza’s fragile ceasefire frays and humanitarian conditions deteriorate, a senior UN envoy warned the Security Council on Thursday that delays in implementing the Council-backed transition plan for the enclave will only increase suffering and undermine recovery.Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said the situation across the Occupied Palestinian Territory was becoming “increasingly precarious”, with mounting violence in both Gaza and the West Bank.“In Gaza, delays in the implementation of resolution 2803, alongside daily violence and a continuing humanitarian crisis, have replaced the early momentum following the ceasefire,” he said.The resolution adopted last November endorsed the US peace plan to end the conflict, authorising the Board of Peace transitional authority and backing an International Stabilization Force, paving the way for Israeli withdrawal.Read more about the resolution here.While negotiations on the next phase of the October ceasefire continue, Mr. Alakbarov warned against any return to full-scale fighting.“The people of Gaza cannot take more war,” he said. “This scenario must be avoided at all costs.”Dire needs continueHumanitarian conditions in Gaza remain severe. Nearly a million people across the enclave still need urgent shelter assistance, while most of the population remains displaced. Major funding and operational constraints still frustrate the aid effort, including delays at checkpoints, damaged roads and restrictions on critical supplies entering the territory.The UN-coordinated 2026 Flash Appeal, which seeks more than $4 billion to support nearly three million people across Gaza and the West Bank, is only around 13 per cent funded.‘No recovery’ yetNickolay Mladenov, the Board’s High Representative for Gaza – and Special Coordinator for the UN in the region until the end of 2020 – told ambassadors that while the ceasefire had significantly reduced violence and improved aid access, “there is no recovery” yet in Gaza.“Around 80 per cent of the buildings in Gaza are damaged or destroyed,” he said. “More than a million people have no permanent shelter. They are living, this morning, in tents and in the broken shells of buildings.”Plan based on ‘reciprocity’He said the proposed roadmap for implementing the transition plan was based on “reciprocity” – with each step by one side triggering obligations by the other – and stressed that Hamas and all armed groups must eventually be disarmed under Palestinian authority.“No Palestinian armed group will be required to transfer weapons to Israel,” he said. “They pass to the NCAG,” referring to the proposed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.The roadmap also envisions a phased Israeli withdrawal tied to verified progress on decommissioning weapons and deployment of the stabilization force.Mr. Mladenov warned that failure to move forward risked entrenching a divided and devastated Gaza.“The risk is that the deteriorating status quo becomes permanent,” he said. “Another generation of children growing up in tents, in fear, with despair as the most rational thing for them to feel.”Attacks and West Bank land grabs intensify Alongside the crisis in Gaza, Mr. Alakbarov warned of worsening violence and settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.He said Israeli planning authorities had recently advanced plans for more than 2,200 new settlement housing units, while attacks by settlers against Palestinian communities had intensified sharply this year.“Some 220 Palestinian communities have faced attacks,” he said, adding that the violence was increasingly displacing entire communities.The envoy also noted the recent Israeli government plans concerning the UNRWA compound in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, following an earlier seizure of the site.“The Secretary-General strongly condemned this decision,” he said.Ceasefire ‘yet to bring safety’The Council also heard an account from Rami Hijjo of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, who described the daily struggle for survival inside Gaza amid continued bombardment, displacement and severe shortages.“I stand before you today as a civilian and a humanitarian worker who lives in Gaza,” he said. “The ceasefire has yet to bring safety.”Mr. Hijjo described repeated displacement, collapsing health services and mounting risks faced by humanitarian workers, including the killing of Palestinian Red Crescent medics earlier this year.“No amount of creativity can fully overcome the occupational, systematic and deliberate restrictions designed to make life unbearable for all civilians and all those trying to help them,” he told ambassadors.A crucial opportunityDespite the bleak assessments, Mr. Alakbarov insisted the current ceasefire framework still represented the best opportunity to prevent renewed large-scale war and begin rebuilding Gaza.He warned that without urgent progress on making resolution 2803 a reality, the situation would only grow more dire. He called for “collective responsibility” to prevail with Israeli and Palestinian leaders returning to the path of a two-State solution.

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21 May 2026

Guterres condemns Israeli move to militarise seized compound in occupied East Jerusalem

UN Secretary-General António Guterres strongly condemned Israel’s decision to establish military facilities at a seized UNRWA compound in occupied East Jerusalem, calling the move “wholly unacceptable”.In a statement issued by his spokesperson, the Secretary-General said the decision to use the Sheikh Jarrah compound of the UN agency assisting Palestine refugees for military purposes represented “a breach of the inviolability of United Nations premises” and undermined the agency’s mandate in the occupied Palestinian territory.“The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli authorities’ decision to establish military facilities at the UNRWA Sheikh Jarrah compound in East Jerusalem,” seized in January, the statement said.“Such actions, as affirmed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), are unlawful. The State of Israel is not entitled to exercise sovereign powers in any part of the occupied Palestinian territory and is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence...as rapidly as possible.”Mr. Guterres also stressed that “UNRWA is an integral part of the United Nations” and that the compound “remains United Nations premises.”The Secretary-General urged Israel to immediately reverse course and hand the compound back to the UN.Situation in GazaMeanwhile in Gaza, the UN relief coordination office OCHA warned that continued Israeli strikes were hitting residential areas and makeshift shelters housing displaced families.On Monday, an airstrike struck Jabalya Camp in northern Gaza, damaging tents and tarpaulins sheltering around 30 families. Humanitarian teams are assessing needs and working to provide emergency assistance.“We reiterate that civilians and civilian facilities must be protected at all times,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters at the regular noon briefing in New York.Access challengesAid agencies also reported persistent obstacles to humanitarian movements in areas where Israeli authorities require prior coordination.According to OCHA, one humanitarian convoy was delayed for about an hour at an Israeli holding point, while another mission transporting refrigerated supplies had to be cancelled due to delays reaching the Kerem Shalom crossing.A separate mission was abandoned after the designated route was found impassable.“These constraints have made it challenging for aid groups to provide assistance and essential supplies to people,” Mr. Dujarric said.Aid effortsDespite the challenges, humanitarian partners continue to scale up assistance.The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has brought around 2,500 more durable temporary housing units into Gaza since January, with more than half already installed for use as homes, clinics and classrooms.The UN estimates that some 900,000 people across Gaza urgently require shelter assistance and durable housing solutions.Agencies and partners are also supporting the daily production of around 130,000 bread bundles distributed for free through shelters and community centres and sold at subsidized prices at some 170 shops across the enclave.

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Press Release

12 June 2026

Israeli violence is subjecting Palestinian children to catastrophic levels of harm: killed, maimed, displaced, and living in perpetual insecurity

Sam is one of 241 children killed by Israeli security forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank since 7 October 2023, as verified by the UN Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OHCHR OPT). This is in addition to over 21,000 children who have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza in the same period, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, with killings continuing after the announcement of a ceasefire in October 2025.Since the ceasefire announcement, the Palestinian Ministry of Health has reported the killing of 981 Palestinians in Israeli attacks in Gaza. OHCHR OPT has so far verified the killing of 574 Palestinians during this period, including 183 children, five of whom were infants under the age of one.On 4 February 2026, Israeli forces opened fire on an encampment for displaced people in Al Tuffah, Gaza City, killing five Palestinians, including two women and two baby girls: 5-month-old Mira Al Khabbaz and Watein Al Khabbaz, born less than a week before.Forty-eight of the 183 verified child fatalities after the ceasefire announcement were victims of incidents in which only children were killed, raising concerns about Israeli forces directly targeting Palestinian children. Fifteen women have also been killed in incidents in which only women, or only women and children, were killed.On 29 October 2025, an Israeli airstrike hit a tent housing displaced people in Al Mawasi, Khan Younis, and killed three Palestinians: two brothers aged eight and 11, and their 15-year-old sister. On 31 January 2026, an Israeli strike hit a residential building in western Gaza City, killing two women aged 60 and 23, and three sisters aged five, seven and nine. On 2 February 2026, Israeli Naval Forces killed one Palestinian, a 2-year-old boy, in his tent on the coast of Al Mawasi, Khan Younis.In the West Bank, the 241 verified child fatalities represent nearly one in five of the 1,103 Palestinian victims killed by Israeli security forces and settlers since 7 October 2023.In March 2026, three months before the shooting that killed 7-month-old Sam in Hebron, a similar attack in Tammun, south of Tubas, killed four family members in their car. At the time, Israeli security forces opened fire on a Palestinian vehicle, killing a father, Ali Bani Odeh, a mother, Wa’ad Bani Odeh, and their 5- and 6-year-old sons, Mohammad and Othman. Two children survived the shooting, aged eight and 11, but later reported that they were assaulted by Israeli security forces when they left the car. Most of the children killed in the West Bank are teenage boys, 213 out of 241. In many cases, subsequent statements by Israeli authorities accuse the children of having engaged in stone-throwing as a justification. In all OHCHR OPT-verified killings of minors involved in confrontations with Israeli security forces, our assessment is that none posed an imminent threat to life —the only legal justification for the use of lethal force in the occupied West Bank under international law. Where less harmful means were available, such lethal force may constitute an arbitrary deprivation of life and, in the context of occupation, may amount to willful killing, a war crime.On 20 December 2025, a member of Israeli security forces hiding behind a wall shot and killed 16-year-old Rayan Abu Mulla in Qabatiya, south of Jenin, on his way home. An official Israeli statement claimed Rayan was throwing stones. However, according to witnesses and CCTV footage, he was walking empty-handed. Israeli security forces also prevented ambulances from assisting Rayan. They then took his body away and refused to hand it over for burial.OHCHR OPT’s analysis demonstrates a pattern of Israeli security forces preventing medical assistance to injured Palestinians and withholding bodies, including those of children. Children are civilians and have special protections under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The routine assault on their right to life, safety, and liberty in the Occupied Palestinian Territory at this massive scale points to war crimes.“From newborns to teenagers, Palestinian children have not been spared extraordinary levels of Israeli violence. The pattern, at a minimum, shows a dangerous scale of dehumanisation and disregard for Palestinian lives,” said Ajith Sunghay, Head of UN Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “Palestinian children must be able to grow up in safety, with the same rights and protections as children anywhere else in the world. Surviving childhood should never be this difficult.”

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Press Release

25 May 2026

OHCHR oPt: Israel must halt forcible displacement of Khan Al Ahmar and settlement expansion in E1

Situated east of Jerusalem, Khan Al Ahmar is a Bedouin community and home to hundreds of Palestinians. On Tuesday, 19 May, the Israeli Minister of Finance and Additional Minister within the Ministry of Defence, Bezalel Smotrich, directed the Israeli Civil Administration to evict the Khan Al Ahmar community “as soon as possible”. This order puts the community at imminent risk of forcible transfer — a war crime.Last year, Israeli authorities approved plans for 3,401 settlement units in the E1 area that would connect the Israeli settlement of Maaleh Adumim to occupied East Jerusalem. The planned construction would replace 18 Palestinian communities, including Khan Al Ahmar, with Israeli settlers. It would further disrupt the territorial continuity of the occupied West Bank, consolidate Israeli annexation, and severely impair a viable, contiguous Palestinian state. Statements by Israeli officials link the settlement project in the E1 area to the thwarting of Palestinian statehood. This includes, in September 2025, the Israeli Prime Minister telling the press during a ceremony related to the E1 settlement project: “There will be no Palestinian state. This place is ours.”The families of Khan Al Ahmar are mostly refugees, originally displaced from areas inside present-day Israel. For nearly two decades, Israeli authorities have consistently denied the community building permits and then issued orders to demolish their homes on the basis of the absence of such permits. Members of the community have spent years challenging the demolition orders in Israeli courts. Sustained international advocacy efforts have thus far prevented the community’s forcible transfer.“There is no legal ambiguity about this: Israel’s forcible transfer of Palestinians is unlawful; settlements are unlawful; and Israel must cease all settlement activities, evacuate all settlements, and end its unlawful presence in the Palestinian territory in line with the conclusions of the International Court of Justice,” said Ajith Sunghay, Head of UN Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.“Instead, Israel is engaged in what appears to be relentless ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and an unprecedented expansion of its settlement enterprise. If Israel continues to be allowed to alter facts on the ground with impunity, there will soon be nothing left to salvage.”

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Press Release

24 April 2026

Child and man killed near school in Al Mughayyir as settler militarisation intensifies

In Deir Dibwan, settlers entered the village and clashed with residents with an armed settler shooting and killing 25-year-old Odeh Awawdeh. Israeli security forces raided the town and closed its entrances during the incident, detaining 30 Palestinian men who were later released. According to Israeli media reports, Israeli security forces also held several settlers for questioning following the incident.Settlers also attacked Al Mughayyir around noon on Tuesday and opened fire towards the boys’ school west of the village. Residents of Al Mughayyir circulated a video showing the shooting of the child while sheltering with others just outside his school as gunshots are heard from a distance. Eyewitnesses told OHCHR OPT that one of two armed settlers in partial uniform was shooting at the school, with four masked members of Israeli security forces in full uniform present at the scene.The Israeli military issued a statement claiming that the incident occurred when a car carrying “civilians including a reservist soldier” stopped when stones were allegedly hurled. The statement said the reservist exited the vehicle and shot at suspects. According to Israeli media, the reservist was later suspended and an investigation was initiated. At least nine Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of 2026 by settlers later identified by the Israeli military as reservist soldiers.This convergence of settler and soldier is the result of measures taken by the Israeli authorities to intensify the militarisation of the settler movement since 7 October 2023, including the enlistment and arming of thousands of settlers as reservists in regional battalions known as Hagmar. These measures also include arming and empowering settlements’ emergency response squads known as Kitat Konenut, and the relaxation of gun licensing requirements for Israelis, including settlers.Across the West Bank, Palestinians are reporting attacks by men who are clearly known to them as settlers, but who are dressed in full or partial military uniform and are often carrying state-issued assault rifles and military gear. Palestinian survivors of such attacks describe their attackers as “settlers in uniform.”Settler attacks on Palestinian communities are often carried out with the active support and participation of uniformed Israeli security forces, even when there is no ambiguity that the perpetrators are settlers.Since 7 October 2023, 1,088 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank, including 238 children. This includes 34 by settlers, 1,040 by Israeli security forces, and 14 Palestinians whose killings cannot be definitively attributed because Israeli security forces and settlers were attacking and shooting together.No Israeli soldier has served a single day in prison for killing a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank since at least 2017. The only recorded conviction was in 2020 for which the sentence was three months of military service and three months of suspended jail time.Settlers’ impunity is equally systematic. According to the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din, 93.6% of all investigations of settler violence in the occupied West Bank between 2005 and 2025 were closed without indictments, and only 3% led to partial or full convictions with lenient sentences.“Israeli policies have erased whatever line that ever existed between settler and state violence. And the systematic impunity for killing Palestinians is the backbone of this non-stop horror,” said Ajith Sunghay, head of OHCHR OPT. “The international community must insist on meaningful accountability for the perpetrators of all unlawful killings in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to stop the bloodshed.”

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Press Release

20 April 2026

Final Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment estimates $71.4 billion for recovery and reconstruction

According to the assessment, recovery and reconstruction needs in Gaza are estimated at $ 71.4 billion over the next decade, including $ 26.3 billion required in the first eighteen months to restore essential services, rebuild critical infrastructure, and support economic recovery. Physical infrastructure damages are estimated at $ 35.2 billion, with economic and social losses amounting to $ 22.7 billion. The report finds that the hardest-hit sectors include housing, health, education, commerce, and agriculture. Over 371,888 housing units have been destroyed or damaged, more than 50 % of hospitals are non-functional, nearly all schools destroyed or damaged, and the economy has contracted by 84% in Gaza.The report highlights catastrophic impact on human development across Gaza, which is estimated to have been set back by 77 years. Around 1.9 million people have been displaced, often multiple times, and more than 60% of the population has lost their homes. The report also notes that women, children, persons with disabilities, and those with pre-existing vulnerabilities bear the greatest burden.The RDNA provides the analytical foundation for early recovery planning and reconstruction, in line with UN Security Council resolutions, including UNSCR 2803. Given the immense scale of need, recovery efforts must run in parallel with humanitarian action, ensuring an effective and well-sequenced transition from emergency relief toward reconstruction at scale — one that encompasses both the Gaza Strip and West Bank.The European Union and the United Nations emphasise that recovery and reconstruction should be Palestinian-led and incorporate building-back-better and building-forward-better approaches that actively support the transition of governance to the Palestinian Authority in line with UNSCR 2803 and the Comprehensive Plan, as well as advance a durable political settlement based on the two-state solution. Planning and implementation should be inclusive, transparent, and accountable, and should pay particular attention to the needs of women, children, elderly, and persons with disabilities. The European Union and the United Nations equally recognise that a set of enabling conditions must be met for UNSCR 2803 to be implemented effectively on the ground. Without them, neither recovery nor reconstruction can succeed. A sustained ceasefire and adequate security are minimum conditions. Unimpeded humanitarian access and immediate restoration of essential services must underpin recovery. Free movement of people, goods, and reconstruction materials, within and between Gaza and the West Bank, and a functional, transparent financial system are critical. Clear, accountable governance, including the definition of mandates and establishment of conditions for the transitional administrative bodies under UNSCR 2803 to fulfill their role, in coordination with the Palestinian Authority, and a credible pathway for the Palestinian Authority’s future governance across the entire Occupied Palestinian territory, including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, is essential. Debris clearance, explosive ordnance management, and protection of housing, land, and property rights are prerequisites for reconstruction. The international community must mobilise resources in a targeted, sequenced, coordinated manner and all obstacles to the deployment of expertise and equipment must be removed rapidly.The European Union and the United Nations are unequivocal that progress on Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction, the implementation of UNSCR 2803, and the realisation of a two-state solution are not parallel tracks, but inherently interconnected. The European Union and the United Nations underline that UNSCR 2803 cannot be implemented and the Comprehensive Plan cannot fully succeed without both: the physical and institutional rebuilding of Gaza, and a clear pathway to Palestinian statehood across the occupied Palestinian territory. Palestinians deserve a future grounded in dignity and the fulfillment of their right to self-determination. The international community must rise to that responsibility — and the European Union and the United Nations commit to doing so, in support of the Palestinian people and of a just and lasting peace in the region. Alexandre Stutzmann Ramiz AlakbarovHead of Delegation Deputy Special Coordinator forEuropean Union Representative the Middle East Peace Process,to the West Bank and Gaza Strip UN Resident Coordinator, and Humanitarian Coordinator

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Press Release

02 April 2026

Sawasya JP through UN Women launches a new study on the economic cost of violence against women in Palestine

The study provides the first comprehensive national analysis of the economic impact of violence against women in Palestine, demonstrating that gender-based violence is not only a grave violation of human rights but also places a significant economic burden on individuals, families, institutions and the national economy.According to the study, the overall annual economic cost of violence against women in Palestine is estimated at approximately NIS 297.45 million (USD 86.47 million). This includes costs borne by individuals and households, as well as the cost of inaction, such as lost productivity, unpaid care work and out-of-pocket expenditure. It also includes costs incurred by institutions and service providers responding to violence and delivering services.The findings highlight that violence against women has impacts beyond the immediate harm experienced by survivors. The economic burden includes lost income, reduced productivity, increased health and legal costs, and significant unpaid care work, all of which affect households, communities and the broader economy. The research also underscores the scale of violence experienced by women. Data from the 2019 Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics survey indicates that indicates that many women experience various forms of violence, including psychological, physical, sexual and economic violence within and outside the household. By translating these impacts into economic terms, the study provides critical evidence to support policy reform, strengthen prevention efforts, and guide investment in services for survivors.Produced by UN Women under the Sawasya III Joint Programme, a joint initiative implemented with United Nations Development Programme and UNICEF, the study provides evidence-based insights to inform policies, programmes and budgeting processes aimed at preventing violence against women and strengthening survivor-centred services.“This study demonstrates that violence against women carries profound economic consequences for families, communities and institutions. By quantifying these costs, we hope to strengthen evidence-based policymaking and support national efforts to invest in prevention, protection and access to justice for women and girls. Through the Sawasya programme, we remain committed to supporting institutions and partners in translating this evidence into concrete reforms and stronger services for survivors.” Hanan Kamar, Rule of Law and Protection Specialist at UN Women, Sawasya III Joint ProgrammeThrough the Sawasya programme, the findings of this study will contribute to strengthening policy dialogue and national reform efforts to improve laws, policies, and institutional responses to gender-based violence.The evidence will support decision-makers, including legislators, government counterparts, justice sector actors, and service providers—in advancing evidence-based reforms, particularly in relation to the Family Protection Bill, and in shaping more responsive legal and policy frameworks.It will also enhance understanding of the broader social and economic impacts of violence against women, informing more effective planning, resource allocation, and survivor-centred prevention and response services.By highlighting the significant economic costs of violence, the study also provides a strong evidence base to advocate for sustained investment in prevention, protection and access to justice, reinforcing that addressing violence against women is not only a human rights obligation but also a critical social and economic priority.Speaking during the event, representatives emphasized that investing in prevention, protection and access to justice is essential not only to safeguard women’s rights but also to strengthen social and economic resilience in Palestine.The launch took place during the online closing event of the International Women’s Day campaign “We Survive, We Lead,” which highlights the leadership and resilience of Palestinian women across communities and institutions. The campaign underscores that Palestinian women continue to sustain essential services, mobilize support networks and advocate for dignity, justice and equal rights despite ongoing challenges.The event also featured high-level participation, including Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, Deputy Special Coordinator, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, and H.E Mona Al Khalili, the Minister of Women’s Affairs, as well as H.E Ambassador Tarja Kangaskorte, Representative Office of Finland. It also featured representatives from United Nations agencies, government institutions, diplomatic missions and women-led organizations to reflect on progress and renew commitments to advancing gender equality and ending violence against women.By shedding light on the economic dimensions of violence against women, the study aims to support policymakers, institutions and civil society in strengthening coordinated responses, improving service provision and investing in prevention strategies that protect the rights and wellbeing of women and girls across Palestine.

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