600K displaced Palestinians take refuge in 150 UNRWA shelters in Gaza

CAIRO – 25 October 2023: The UNRWA indicated in the 13th situation report on Gaza Strip crisis, released Tuesday, that 600,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) had been sheltering in 150 UNRWA facilities.  

Ninety-three shelters are accommodating 430,000 IDPs in the Middle areas, and the South's Khan Younis, and Rafah, recording an increase of 10,000 in just 24 hours.

On October 21-23, three convoys, consisting of a total of 54 trucks, carrying humanitarian aid entered the Strip delivering food, drinking water, and medicines. The agency stressed the need for fuel saying it would run out of it within the following two days.

The UNRWA indicated in its Saturday situation report that it had lost contact with 160,000 IDPs, who were sheltering in 57 UNRWA schools in the northern area of Gaza, on October 12 when the Israeli authorities issued an evacuation order. 

The UNRWA has not established any new camps in Gaza Strip during the crisis so as it still has just eight. Yet, it distributed 80 tents at Khan Younis Training Center, where 17,000 IDPs are sheltering, to reduce crowdedness.

The UNRWA also indicated in its Saturday situation report that 17 of its workers had been killed since October 7, and that 15 others had been injured.

With regard to UNRWA facilities affected by Israeli strikes, an UNRWA school in Khan Younis was hit, which incurred the killing of three internally-displaced people (IDPs), the injury of 55, and a minor damage in the building.

Another located in Nuseirat Camp in the Middle Area sustained a collateral damage because of a nearby strike. As a consequence, one person got killed, while eight IDPs and two UNRWA workers were injured.

In total, at least 36 UNRWA installations in Gaza have been impacted since the war began.