UNRWA Situation Report #108 on the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem

UNRWA is working to verify the details of incidents reportedly affecting UNRWA premises. Further information will be provided once it becomes available.

Seven incidents have been reported impacting UNRWA installations and internally displaced people (IDPs) sheltering there. While verification of details and casualty figures remain ongoing, initial reports indicate:

• On 13 May 2024, the ISF reportedly entered a health centre in Gaza City and demolished an external wall, the pharmacy and the medicine  store . Additionally, the IDPs sheltering in the health centre were reportedly forced by the ISF to evacuate. According to information available to UNRWA, in the week prior to the incident, nearly 2,300 IDPs were sheltering in the health centre; however, since 11 May 2024, IDPs started to flee to West Gaza due to increased ISF military operations and heavy bombardments in the area.
• On 14 May 2024, six IDPs were reportedly killed and an unconfirmed number of IDPs were reportedly injured when two stores located inside a school in Nuseirat camp, in Middle Area, were directly struck causing a fire in the school.
• On 14 May 2024, an UNRWA contracted personnel working as a guard was injured by shrapnel that fell inside a school in Nuseirat camp, in the Middle Area, when the adjacent school was struck. The guard was transferred to hospital where he received  medical treatment and was later discharged.
• On 14 May 2024, the ISF reportedly entered an UNRWA   school in Beit Lahia, North Gaza, and set it on fire, forcing  IDPs to evacuate out of the shelter. IDPs were ordered to evacuate to west of Gaza city.
• On 14 May 2024,  11 IDPs were killed and 25 others were injured when a health centre in Gaza city was directly hit . The health centre sustained severe damage including the complete destruction of the guard rooms, the large generator's room and its fuel tank, the electrical generators, the water tanks and the solar panels. At the time of the incident, six IDPs families (about 50 IDPs) were still sheltering in the health centre and they were forced to evacuate to west Gaza City.
• On 16 May 2024, two IDPs were killed and four were injured when a school in Nuseirat camp, in the middle area, was hit by two air strikes at the same time. As a result of the strikes, the canteen   and the storeroom sustained significant damage and a fire broke out. Approximately 11,500 IDPs were reportedly sheltering in the school at the time of the incident. Two people living near the school were also reportedly killed due to the strike that hit the storeroom.
• On 17 May 2024, an ISF unmanned aerial vehicle shot four bullets towards a school in Maghazi camp in the Middle area. No injury was reported and approximately 1,200 IDPs were reportedly sheltering in the school at the time of the incident.
• 382* incidents impacting UNRWA premises and the people inside them have been reported since the beginning of the war (some with multiple incidents impacting the same location), including at least 53 incidents of military use and/or interference at UNRWA premises. 172 different UNRWA installations have been impacted.  
• UNRWA estimates that in total at least 449* IDPs sheltering in UNRWA shelters have been killed and at least a further 1,472* injured since the start of the war. UNRWA is still verifying the number of casualties caused by incidents that impacted its installations, and notes that these figures do not include some reported casualties where the number of injuries could not be determined. 

 *numbers are subject to change once further verifications have been conducted.

Health 

• UNRWA health centres in the last ten days have not received any medical supplies due to Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossing closure/disruptions.  This affects the stock of medicines, mainly general items such as antibiotics for children and anti-epileptic drugs. Certain laboratory and dental items and vaccines are out of stock. 
• As of 19 May, 96 medical points and seven (out of 24[1]) UNRWA health centres were operational. These health centres provide primary health care, including outpatient services, non-communicable disease care, medications, vaccination, antenatal and postnatal health care and dressing for injured patients. 
• Since 11 May, four medical points in the North area were closed due to the security situation, UNRWA continued to adapt to the fluid situation and set up an additional medical point in Gaza Training College on 16 May. 
• Nearly 667 healthcare staff continue to work in operational health centres. On 19 May, they provided 9,505 medical consultations.
• UNRWA conducted another 6,154 medical consultations through 281 staff at the shelters, including at the newly established medical points in al-Mawasi area to serve an influx of displaced persons from Khan Younis.
• As of 19 May, UNRWA provided mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services in the Middle and Khan Younis areas with teams of psychiatrists and supervisors to assist special cases referred from health centres and shelters. UNRWA teams responded to 527 cases. UNRWA teams responded to cases in health centres and medical points through individual consultations, awareness sessions and support for cases of gender-based violence. UNRWA teams provided medical care for 372 post-natal and pregnant women at high risk. 
• In early January, UNRWA received vaccines from UNICEF for its health centres. Eleven different types of vaccines were received (refrigerated and freezer storage). From January – 12 May nearly 100,000 children  were vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella, hepatitis, tuberculosis and other diseases in UNRWA health centres.

• With the support of more than 300 counsellors, UNRWA continues to provide life-saving psychosocial support services in Gaza, including psychosocial first aid, individual and group counselling, fatigue management sessions, recreational activities, Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) as well as protection case assistance. targeting children , youth and adults, 
•  Since the onset of the conflict, it is estimated that 620,000 IDPs including over 370,000 children have benefited from a total of 177,390 PSS sessions/activities. During the period 10 – 16  May 2024, a total of 28,837 IDPs ,including 18,306 children, benefited from these services. Specifically,  counselors addressed 1,796 individual consultations and provided 646 group awareness sessions benefiting 5,362 adults. Additionally, they conducted 660 recreational activities engaging 13,005 children. Counsellors also provided 511 EORE sessions to 5,073 adults and 5,301 children and contributed to supporting 96 protection cases.

 Food Security

• As of 29 April, UNRWA continued to distribute flour outside of shelters in the southern governorates. To date, a total of 380,225 families (nearly 1.9 million people) have been reached, of whom 322,060 families have received two rounds of flour and another 189,182 families have received three rounds.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

Due to the security situation, in combination with challenges to internet connectivity, we have been unable to provide any additional updates since Sitrep 67.