Emergency Appeal for Gaza

UN Resolution 2803 was approved by the Security Council on November 17th. This established a loose and often ambiguous peace process for Gaza, quite unlike any previous Security Council resolution. 

While the situation on the ground has improved since then, the dramatic improvement with the free flowing of aid into Gaza envisaged by the ceasefire has not been realised, and there has not been a marked improvement in the quality of life for the people in Gaza. The Ministry of Health reported on December 3rd, that since the ceasefire on November 17th, 360 Palestinians have been killed and 922 were injured, bringing total figures since October 2023 to 70,117 fatalities and 170,999 injuries, including 20,000 children. There are continued bombing raids on the west side of the ‘yellow line’ which cuts Gaza in half and marks Israeli control. This area has continued to expand and displace people, while Israel continues to blow up residential areas in those territories that it controls. 

While there has been an improvement in healthcare provision and the creation of new health hubs in Gaza City there are still acute shortages.There are still shortages of food and plans to ‘winterise’ Gaza are at risk as so much of the housing stock has been destroyed (81% of all buildings have been destroyed or damaged - UNOCHA) and Israel’s ongoing refusal to allow most tents and even blankets to enter Gaza is exasperating a desperate situation.  

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International said on November 27th: “The ceasefire risks creating a dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal. But while Israeli authorities and forces have reduced the scale of their attacks and allowed limited amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the world must not be fooled. Israel’s genocide is not over.”

Just before the ceasefire was announced, we provided assistance with the costs of relocating families from Gaza City with cash grants for 150 families who were forced to leave the city.  

We have also provided food parcels for 500 families, 7,500 hot meals for children and young families, formula milk and maternal nutritional support for 1,000 women, complete winter clothing packs (coats, boots, night and day clothes, gloves, hats) for 600 children, and also 1,100 family blankets (the children’s clothing and blankets have been particularly hard to source, but are vital as winter approaches). 

We have also provided support for a programme entitled She is Capable, providing bread ovens, training and start up packs to 25 women who are sole breadwinners for their family (family size at least 10 dependents/children), to establish microbakeries. 

We are in the process of supporting the opening of a new tent school in Gaza to complement the tent schools that we have supported throughout 2025, and we have committed to supporting all of these for the current academic year (ends September 2026). We hope that some form of coordinated education provision will be able to resume then - however 93% of schools are destroyed or need major rehabilitation work. 

UNICEF estimates that 1 million children in Gaza are acutely traumatised. We have been working with our partner DSPR to provide psychosocial care and play provision to children and their mothers throughout the conflict. This has been delivered from two locations in Gaza City and what is now their main site (a converted wedding venue) in Central Gaza. Their specialised team of trauma therapists and support workers are now finally able to resume their more in-depth work to address childhood trauma now that the limited ceasefire is holding. 

There is an urgent need for further support, but also for Israel to allow all emergency supplies to enter freely, to stop bombing Gaza and to start to withdraw from the 50% of Gaza that is under their complete control.