OCHA cited Gaza’s Ministry of Health which stressed that oxygen supplies are critically needed to keep emergency, surgical and intensive care services running at hospitals, including Al Shifa and Al Rantisi hospitals in Gaza City. 

“Health partners are engaging with the authorities to bring in generators, spare parts and equipment required to produce oxygen locally in Gaza,” the agency said. 

Shelter and education

Over the weekend, humanitarian partners working in the shelter sector distributed tarpaulins to more than 11,000 families in the north. 

In Khan Younis, some 450 families are receiving sealing-off kits to create short-term shelters, kitchen sets and hygiene kits at the displacement site of Al Mawasi.  

Educational activities also continue to expand, and more than 250,000 children have enrolled in distance learning programmes run by the UN Palestine refugee agency, UNRWA.

Some 95 per cent of school buildings across Gaza were damaged over the past 15 months of hostilities, according to UN partners working in the education sector. Students are currently attending classes in makeshift tents and open spaces, amid winter temperatures.  

West Bank hostilities

OCHA also reported on the situation in the West Bank, where casualties continue to be reported due to the ongoing operations by Israeli forces in Tulkarm and Jenin.          

“These are the most extensive Israeli operations in the West Bank in two decades, causing high casualties and significant displacement, especially in refugee camps,” the agency noted.

Critical infrastructure has also been severely damaged, driving humanitarian needs even higher.

OCHA once again warned that the use of lethal, war-like tactics during these operations raises concerns over the use of force that exceeds law enforcement standards. 

Settler attacks against Palestinians and their properties also continue to be reported across the West Bank. Israeli settlers attacked residents in several villages in Nablus governorate over the weekend – in one instance, setting a house on fire. 

Humanitarians are mobilizing resources to support affected communities, OCHA said.

Averting UNRWA collapse

The head of UNRWA warned on Monday that if the agency collapses it will create a vacuum in the occupied Palestinian territory and send shockwaves through neighbouring countries.

Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini was speaking in Cairo at the Fourth Meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution.

He said Israeli legislation targeting UNRWA’s operations is now being implemented.

Last October, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, adopted two bills banning UNRWA from working in Israeli territory and enforcing a no-contact policy between national authorities and agency representatives. The laws took effect in January.

Threat to peace and stability 

Mr. Lazzarini warned against allowing UNRWA to “implode” due to the Knesset legislation and the suspension of funding by key donors. 

“An environment in which children are deprived of education, and people lack access to basic services, is fertile ground for exploitation and extremism” he said.  “This is a threat to peace and stability in the region and beyond.”

He said that alternatively, UNRWA could progressively conclude its mandate within the framework of a political process like that championed by the Global Alliance.

“The agency would gradually transition its public-like services to empowered and prepared Palestinian institutions. This is the future for which we are preparing,” he said. 

“Mine action partners continue to report casualties due to explosive ordnance, and that is happening sadly on an almost daily basis,” Mr. Dujarric explained in a press briefing on Monday in New York.

Farmers and shepherds are particularly vulnerable. Since January, more than 60 people have been killed and over 90 injured, many while tending to their land or grazing animals. 

Clearance efforts underway 

With hostilities subsiding in some areas, humanitarian partners have been expanding mine action work in newly accessible regions.

Since December, over 1,400 unexploded ordnance items have been safely disposed of, and 138 minefields and contaminated areas identified in Idleb, Aleppo, Hama, Deir-ez-Zor and Lattakia.

On Monday, UN partners visited a farm in Darayya, Rural Damascus, that had been cleared with support from the Syria Humanitarian Fund. This work is critical to enabling farmers to safely return to their land.

Aid and diplomacy continue 

Meanwhile, humanitarian aid operations remain uninterrupted.

Over the weekend, 40 trucks carrying nearly 1,000 metric tonnes of food from the World Food Programme (WFP) crossed from Türkiye into northwest Syria through the Bab Al-Hawa border crossing – assistance sufficient for more than 270,000 people.

UN partners have also increased the import of food and other aid from Jordan since the start of the year.

On the diplomatic front, UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen is set to visit Damascus this week following meetings at the Munich Security Conference. 

There, he stressed the need for an inclusive, Syrian-led political process and urged all parties to uphold their commitments on women’s rights. 

“[The UN] calls on all parties in Syria to uphold their international commitments, respect the rights and dignity of women, and to ensure their full participation in shaping the country’s future,” Mr. Dujarric said.  

This includes ensuring access to education, freedom of movement, political representation and protection from violence and exploitation. 

In an online message on Monday, the WFP said that it “condemns the pillage of its warehouses in Bukavu in South Kivu…the food supplies kept there were meant to provide vital support to the most vulnerable families who now face a growing humanitarian crisis”.

Looters made off with 7,000 tonnes of humanitarian food supplies, the UN agency said, adding that as violence spreads and access to food becomes increasingly difficult, “WFP stands ready to resume essential food aid to the most vulnerable as soon as it is safe to do so”.

The UN agency also urged all parties to the conflict “to respect their obligations vis-à-vis international humanitarian law”, which includes the protection of civilians and humanitarian workers.

The development came as M23 fighters made continuing gains in eastern DRC, after taking control of Goma – capital of North Kivu province – at the end of January. Hostilities have continued in this mineral-rich region for decades amid a proliferation of armed groups, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

Aid routes blocked

In an alert, the top UN aid official in the country, Bruno Lemarquis, warned last Thursday that a shortage of humanitarian routes was threatening the aid operation in the mineral-rich region.

Before the M23’s latest offensive at the beginning of the year, Mr. Lemarquis recalled that the humanitarian situation in South Kivu was already dire.

Roughly 1.65 million people, or just over 20 per cent of the province’s population, had been displaced for a wide range of reasons.

On Saturday, the UN Secretary-General warned of the potential for the conflict to spark a regional war, before calling for “African diplomacy to solve the problem”.

Speaking on the sidelines of the African Union Summit, António Guterres told journalists that it was “time to silence the guns, it’s time for diplomacy and dialogue. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC must be respected.”

MONUSCO, the international UN peacekeeping force in DRC, will continue to provide support, the UN chief continued, although he cautioned that “a peacekeeping force can’t solve the problem because there is no peace to keep”.

He insisted, on the other hand that the conflict “will be solved if there is an effective African unit and African diplomacy to solve the problem”.

Mr. Guterres pointed to the crucial importance of efforts such as the recently held joint summit by the South African Development Community in Tanzania, which resulted in a clear pathway for an immediate ceasefire.