Gaza and West Bank Response Log | October 2023

On 30 October, significant Israeli ground operations within Gaza continued for the fourth consecutive day, alongside intense bombardments…For the second consecutive day, the vicinities of two hospitals in Gaza City and northern Gaza have reportedly been bombarded, resulting in damage. All 13 hospitals that are still operational in these areas have received repeated Israeli evacuation orders in recent days. Thousands of patients and medical staff, as well as about 117,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), are staying in these facilities. For more details on the situation, read the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 24th Flash Update.

Today, Anera’s Gaza team distributed fish-based hot meals, feeding 15,000 people in Khan Younis UN shelters and 15,000 in Rafah UN shelters. The team distributed food parcels today to UN shelters in Rafah, with enough food for 30,000 meals. And, finally, they distributed 1,500 fresh produce baskets, with 500 going to the middle area, 500 to Rafah, and 500 to Khan Younis. The produce provides enough food for 66,000 meals.

The crisis continues to intensify, along with the Israeli ground, air and naval assault. Resources across Gaza are disappearing and starvation is becoming a serious concern. Unless the situation changes dramatically, the efforts of Anera and other organizations can scarcely begin to address the food needs. People are becoming more desperate and agitated and rumors quickly swirl. Safe drinking water remains extremely scarce. Illnesses like Helicobacter pylori bacterial infections from drinking polluted water are increasingly common. The absence of fuel inhibits distribution of whatever resources are available.

Today, we distributed a total of 8,000 hot meals packages that contain three servings each. Families at UN Shelters in Khan Younis received 5,000 packages, and another 3,000 went to displaced people at UN shelters in Rafah. In total, we distributed 24,000 servings of fish meals today. Unfortunately, our team in Gaza weren’t able to provide meat-based meals today as the supplies are running low.

We also distributed 1,500 fresh produce baskets, allocating 500 to the Middle Area, 500 to Rafah, and 500 to Khan Younis. This produce provides the raw ingredients for up to 66,000 meals.

Today we were finally able to speak with our Gaza team again for the first time in over 30 hours, as telecommunications services have been partially restored in Gaza.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is becoming more and more dire every day. The scarcity of fuel and supplies are forcing many life-saving aid operations in Gaza to significantly curtail operations.

We are continually assessing the security of our staff and our ability to operate. Along with the bombardment and complete collapse of services, as people grow more desperate civil unrest may pose a security risk when distributing food.

Anera continues to track the evolving humanitarian crisis on a daily basis, addressing the urgent needs where possible. As food supplies continue to diminish, we are stepping up our efforts by expanding our daily distribution of hot meals.

Today, we distributed a total of 18,000 hot meals, which included 8,000 fish meals and 10,000 meat meals. We also distributed 1,500 fresh produce baskets to the Middle Area, Rafah, and Khan Younis. This supply of produce provides support for up to 66,000 meals.

We continue to clean five UN shelters each day in Khan Younis to help maintain clean and safe conditions for displaced people seeking refuge.

Statement on Telecommunications Blackout in Gaza – 6:00pm ET

We have lost all communication with our Anera Gaza staff members. Most with connections in Gaza have lost complete contact with loved ones and colleagues, as destruction has impacted landline, cellular and internet services. As of this morning, our staff were all accounted for, but this is no longer a guarantee. Over the past 21 days, our 12-member team in Gaza has worked tirelessly to provide for their community by serving meals, delivering medicines to hospitals, and sanitizing shelters to prevent disease spread. While we were never able to properly ensure their safety during this unprecedented bombing campaign, we were always able to verify their locations and provide what little protection we could for them. That is now gone.

Equally important, essential services such as ambulance dispatches, hospital communications and rescue operations cannot communicate with one another. Even if medical and aid workers can reach those in need there is no way to confirm where they can be taken to provide life-saving care. We only expect these essential services to become even more vital as we receive reports of a potential ground incursion into the northern areas of Gaza.

This total blackout comes as Gaza’s health and water sectors have collapsed. Without fuel and due to damage from airstrikes, hospitals and healthcare clinics across Gaza have already been forced to shut down or severely reduce their services. Doctors are making horrifying decisions as to which of their emergency patients they can realistically treat. In Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, doctors reported days ago that the hospital is well over capacity, serving some 5,000 patients when it was originally designed to serve 700 people at a time. This number has surely risen. Medical staff are providing treatment and performing operations on the floors and in hallways, often without anesthesia or proper equipment and sanitation. The hospital is also hosting around 50,000 internally displaced persons. And now, today, we are horrified to hear increasing calls to evacuate and bomb Shifa Hospital.

Anera calls for an immediate ceasefire, as UN members have now called for, and the protection of civilians and the humanitarians who care for them, in the medical and broader aid fields. We ask you to join us in demanding an end to this decimation of life and humanity and to allow life-saving humanitarian aid into Gaza. Please, now more than ever, people in Gaza need your support.

– Sandra Rasheed
Anera Palestine Country Director

Our Gaza team distributed a total of 41,000 servings of hot meals today. Specifically, they allocated 21,000 servings of fish and rice meals to UN shelters in Khan Younis and Rafah, while the remaining 20,000 servings of meat and rice meals were distributed to UN shelters in Khan Younis.

In addition to these hot meal deliveries, Anera distributed 1,500 produce baskets to UN shelters, evenly split among three regions: 500 in Gaza’s middle area, 500 in Rafah, and 500 in Khan Younis. Collectively, these baskets provide enough produce to prepare 66,000 meals.

Furthermore, our efforts continue in cleaning UN schools that are serving as shelters in the Khan Younis area, with 5 shelters being cleaned daily.

Despite our ongoing work, the fuel situation in Gaza remains critical. Anera, alongside numerous other humanitarian organizations in Gaza, urgently requires fuel to sustain our deliveries, sanitation efforts, water pumping, and medical aid support. Crucially, the lives of countless individuals depend on this essential resource. Therefore, we reiterate the urgent need for increased pressure to reopen the border and prioritize the delivery of vital fuel to effectively address this crisis.

The situation in Gaza remains dire. Al Shifa Hospital lacks essential supplies like water, food, and medicine. Many patients are in imminent danger of losing their lives. The aid coming through Egypt is meager so far, consisting of only 10 trucks of bottled water and a very limited amount of food. The deliveries barely scratch the surface of the community’s needs. And the process of getting aid in is extremely cumbersome. Trucks from Egypt cannot pass into Gaza. The aid is transferred at the border to PRCS and UNRWA trucks. No vehicles are allowed to travel beyond Deir Al Balah, the middle area of Gaza. While 40 trucks are expected today, the scale of assistance falls short of what is urgently required. The call for increased pressure to open the border and prioritize the delivery of essential fuel remains critical to addressing this crisis.

Today, our amazing Gaza team distributed 5,000 food parcels. Out of these, we sent 4,000 to UN shelters in the Rafah area, and another 1,000 to hosting families across the north and Gaza City. This shipment will provide 25,000 people with food for 150,000 meals. We also provided 3,000 hygiene kits to displaced families in Deir Al Balah and 10,000 hot meals, serving two adults each, have gone to families in UNRWA shelters in Khan Younis. Finally, the team collected from farmers and agricultural cooperatives, 1,000 fresh produce bundles which they distributed to UN shelters in Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis. These vegetables serve 5,000 and can make 44,000 meals.

Today, Anera’s contracted cleaning agency, sanitized an additional five UN schools, bringing the total to 20 UN schools cleaned so far.

Fuel scarcity is a critical issue, with lives hanging in the balance. The Anera team in Gaza was able to procure inside of Gaza 1,180 liters of fuel which they delivered to a desalination plant in Beit Hanoun. This amount of fuel will allow the plant to process 800,000 liters of water.

The situation in Gaza is calamitous. Gaza is in a humanitarian crisis. Services and support have collapsed, and people are dying without water. Our staff is struggling to find trucks, fuel, and food to help as many of their fellow Gazans as possible. People are reaching out to our staff, pleading for help. Today, just 14 trucks came in through Rafah, which will not come close to addressing the desperate situation. In the meantime, wireless service is vanishing, further isolating Gaza from the world.

While Anera aid from outside still has not gone into Gaza, our Gaza team still managed to distribute enough food for 175,000 meals today.

Twenty trucks from various organizations carrying humanitarian aid came into Gaza today through the Rafah border. They included two trucks of water, 13 with medicines, two with tuna, and three with a mix of food parcels, blankets, and other necessities. Though it is great news, it is a trickle of what is needed. Anera is still waiting with many other aid organizations to get in vital medicines and supplies.

Anera has purchased and stored medical supplies in Jordan that are ready to go to Gaza. We are coordinating with the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization to send them as soon as possible.

And, against all odds, our amazing Anera Gaza team continues to deliver food to displaced families in shelters. To date, the Anera community has served 100,000 displaced people with hot meals and delivered food parcels providing another 600,240 meals to displaced families.

The team also has been procuring fresh vegetables for families. So far, they have delivered enough for 75,000 meals. Included in these bundles of veggies are potatoes and eggplants, which displaced families specifically requested. They put together makeshift fires and use the oil Anera provided in the food parcels and they cook them on the spot. (Anera is also working to include aluminum foil in our distributions, to make cooking easier.)

Read the latest Gaza Flash Update from UNOCHA.

View Anera CEO and President Sean Carrol speaking about the humanitarian situation in Gaza on Canadian TV. For more, please visit our In the News page.

Anera’s Gaza team distributed 7,500 hot meal packages (each with two servings), 4,000 food parcels and 500 vegetable baskets to UNRWA schools in Khan Younis where displaced families are sheltering. They also were able to deliver 150 food parcels to families in Jabalia refugee camp in the north. The families there had not eaten for two days. The Anera team there plans more distributions in the coming days.

Our West Bank staff is working on service contracts to thoroughly clean five UNRWA schools. Despite best efforts and intentions, the overcrowding in shelters means that sanitary conditions inevitably are deteriorating and the threat of illnesses is increasing.

As for water, our colleagues in Gaza have been working for a few days to get a generator functioning in the Zawaydeh area of Deir Al Balah. They succeeded today! This is great news for 100,000 people in the area who can now get access to clean water. We also are working to procure, within Gaza, 3,500 cases of water, a total of 21,000 liters, to be distributed to displaced families.

Today, our Jordan team finalized and delivered 18 pallets (162,000 items) of high quality medical supplies, locally procured from Jordan, to be shipped to Gaza when a humanitarian corridor opens.

Anera’s Gaza team distributed 7,500 hot meals, 4,000 food parcels and 5,000 hygiene kits to displaced families sheltering in UNRWA schools located in Khan Younis. The quantity in the meals feeds two adults or three children. The food parcels can feed families of five for approximately five days. In some cases, we have been delivering the food in bulk, to expedite the aid deliveries.

Please see OCHA’s Flash Update #11 for the latest details on the situation in Gaza.

Anera FAQs on October 2023 War in Palestine-Israel.

Today, Anera delivered 7,500 hot meals to UN shelters in Khan Younis governorate. Each meal serves 15,000 displaced adults or 22,500 children. There are 32 active school shelters in the Khan Younis Governorate. Each shelter accommodates about 500 families, which means there are about 2,500 displaced people per shelter.

Anera’s Gaza team is also distributing food parcels and hygiene kits in Khan Younis and Deir Al Balah. The distribution of these items will take place today and tomorrow.

We are working with our partner World Central Kitchen on these vital distributions.

Update at 12:00 pm, Gaza time: Anera’s Gaza team has prepared 4,000 food parcels for immediate distribution to displaced families sheltering at UNRWA schools in the Khan Younis Governorate. The parcels include canned beans, dates, jam, halva, biscuits, canned tuna, beef, canned corn, tomato paste, sauces, powdered milk, and cheese. Anera purchased all of the items locally from a vendor close to the schools and UN trucks are delivering the food.

Read the latest report from UNOCHA >>>

The Israeli Government has again called for hospitals in the northern parts of Gaza to evacuate to the south. This means everyone — patients in ICUs, babies in neonatal units, those that were fighting chronic health and other life-threatening diseases prior to the war, and the thousands of people who have been injured in the attacks. Anera strongly condemn any attacks on Gaza hospitals and evacuation orders in violation of principles of humanitarian and human rights law, as they jeopardize the protection of wounded and sick individuals. Read our full statement.

Over the past three days, Anera’s Gaza team distributed food parcels to 2,000 displaced families – 1,500 in northern areas on October 12-13 and 500 in the Zawayda area today. The team also distributed 850 hygiene kits in Zawayda today.

Anera is now in the process of assembling 5,000 food parcels, containing ready-to-eat items like milk and biscuits. The vendor is in close proximity to UNRWA schools housing displaced families.

According to UNOCHA, some 200,000 of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents, have been displaced after fleeing for fear of their lives or after their homes were destroyed or damaged by airstrikes. Most of them are taking shelter in UNRWA’s schools, at least two of which have already been damaged by airstrikes in the area. The Gaza power plant has officially run out of fuel.

Our Gaza colleagues report that people are evacuating their neighborhoods, although there are limited spaces designated for shelter and no place is really safe. It is not uncommon for upwards of five families to crowd into one home, seeking shelter with their relatives. On top of that, there are incidents of false evacuation orders. One person talked about carrying his invalid mother down seven stories and carrying her back up – more than once – upon learning of false evacuation orders. Another person said “I’m not going to leave. I’d rather die with dignity in my home.”

Anera response

Anera is concentrating on procuring food parcels, water, and hygiene kits for displaced families, and coordinating with the UN and other organizations to ensure all essential relief areas are covered. Anera’s staff in Gaza are working with local vendors to coordinate immediate purchases of items like food, water, hygiene kits, blankets, and mattresses.

We are putting together food parcels over the next 24 hours, to be distributed with hygiene kits, to displaced families in UNRWA schools.

In the month leading up to the beginning of the war, Anera we distributed 22,000 doses of prenatal and multivitamins, 48,000 treatments of antibiotics and medicines for hypertension, diabetes, and other non-communicable diseases, and healthcare supplies including cotton, gauze, syringes, water purifying tablets, and Vaseline to treat injuries and burns. Our medical donations team is communicating closely with international partners to procure additional medicines and essential medical supplies, which we hope to send through the Rafah, Gaza border with coordination from partners in Jordan.

An update from Anera staff in the West Bank

According to Anera’s staff in the West Bank, the situation there is very tense and people are worried about a large-scale war. Apart from some shortages in food shops, so far life is relatively normal within towns and cities — but travel using main roads between population centers is not permitted. And there are new checkpoints and gates, like the one that the Israelis are installing between Hebron and Halhoul. Israeli citizens have been asked to secure food, water and medicine for 72 hours.

Reports from our staff suggest that the intensity of the bombing that Gaza is now experiencing is unprecedented. News reports indicate that Israel is preparing to launch a ground invasion into Gaza. Israeli airstrikes have hit Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border twice in the last day, prompting its closure on the Egyptian side.

WHO reports that hospital stocks of medical supplies are becoming depleted due to the border closures. Today, the United Nations called for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor.

Anera’s staff in Gaza are currently procuring 2,000 food parcels to distribute to displaced families. Since the families can’t cook, we’re sending out ready-to-eat foods. These packaged foods require no refrigeration before opening. The parcels include jam, dates, feta, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, corned beef, tuna, kidney beans, za’atar, olive oil, dukka (seasoning), and bread that should last six to 10 days for a family of five.

Anera is also procuring 3,000 hygiene kits – in addition to the 800 we’re distributing – and we are actively working to buy drinking water locally in Gaza.

We are stocking up on medical supplies and medicines at our Hebron distribution center so that we can deliver immediately to Gaza when a humanitarian corridor opens.

Three of our staff have been displaced. One has had to move with his family between the houses of relatives multiple times, making the painful decision to separate shelters for his children in case the worst happens. Other staff are sheltering in our offices.

The unprecedented escalation in the war that began on October 7 in Palestine and Israel have already created significant humanitarian needs that are almost certain to grow substantially.

The situation is precarious as Israel’s response to the crisis remains uncertain. We do know, though, that the crisis has led to the displacement of as many as 70,000 people in the north of Gaza, who are now seeking shelter in schools and homes. Jabalia is just one of the many areas severely affected and it is clear that other areas may soon witness similar mass displacements. This uncertainty underscores the urgency of providing humanitarian assistance to those affected.

Anera FAQs on October 2023 War in Palestine-Israel

A few days ago, Anera delivered 12,000 bags of IV solutions to Gaza’s largest hospital just in time for the emergency. And, in the next couple days, we are distributing hygiene kits to displace families in UNRWA schools. Our medical aid team is in contact with our international partners for donated medical supplies. They are also looking into procuring items on the local market, Our staff in Gaza and the West Bank are reaching out to vendors for immediate purchase of relief supplies like hygiene kits, food, water, blankets and mattresses.

Anera has distribution centers in the West Bank and Gaza to act as staging areas for dispatching relief supplies where they are most needed, when conditions allow.

We are ready to respond to what will likely be a large humanitarian need in Gaza and the West Bank.