UNRWA Situation Report on Crisis in Gaza & Occupied West Bank

Palestinians in Khan Younis struggling to rebuild their daily lives in devasted homes © December 2025 UNRWA photo

Published on 17 December 2025

   The Gaza Strip

• At least 16 deaths were reported over recent days amid heavy rains and cold weather brought by Storm Byron: multiple waterlogged buildings collapsed on families sheltering in them, and at least three child fatalities were reported.  

• The rains have aggravated overcrowding and the poor living conditions facing more than 79,000 people sheltering in over 100 UNRWA schools-turned-shelters, including 85 displacement sites managed by UNRWA. UNRWA teams continue to remove water from flooded yards, clear blocked manholes and drainage collectors, repair damaged tents inside school compounds, and distribute tarpaulins and other materials to help families reinforce their shelter spaces against ongoing winter weather. However, UNRWA’s ability to respond to heightened winter needs are severely limited by the Israeli blockade on the Agency’s supply pipeline. UNRWA Commissioner General noted that “[UNRWA] supplies have now been waiting for months to enter Gaza. They would cover the needs of hundreds of thousands of people in desperation. Aid must be allowed in at scale, without delay, to prevent putting more displaced families at serious risk.”

• Over the past week, airstrikes, shelling, and gunfire continued to be reported across the Gaza Strip, with most incidents occurring in the vicinity of the so-called “Yellow Line,” resulting in casualties. The Ministry of Health (MoH) reported, according to OCHA, that since the ceasefire, 379 Palestinians have been killed, 992 injured and 627 bodies have been retrieved from under the rubble.

• Multiple UNRWA installations have reportedly been impacted amid escalating military operations by Israeli forces. One person was reportedly killed, and five others were injured within an UNRWA school-turned shelter affected by an Israeli strike. In a separate incident, one UNRWA school in Eastern Gaza City (beyond the “Yellow Line”) has reportedly been severely damaged by the explosion of a robotic tank.

|    The occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem

• On 8 December, Israeli forces forcibly entered the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem, seizing furniture, IT equipment, and other assets. The UN flag on the compound was taken down and replaced with an Israeli flag.

The Gaza Strip

Fatalities and injuries

• Between 7 October 2023 and 10 December 2025, according to the MoH in Gaza, as stated by OCHA, 70,369 Palestinians reportedly have been killed in the Gaza Strip and another 170,999 have been injured.

• UNRWA recorded 382 colleagues killed in Gaza since the war began (309 UNRWA personnel, in addition to 73 persons who were supporting UNRWA activities [2]), as of 14 December 2025.

Health crisis

• According to UNFPA, every week, approximately 15 women deliver outside hospitals without skilled attendants or safety, and one in three pregnancies is high-risk.  

• On 15 December, UNRWA was forced to temporarily suspend operations in one health centre in the Middle Area, due to repeated shooting incidents affecting the structure. The majority of the 22 UNRWA health clinics operational before the war have been significantly damaged or are in inaccessible militarised areas.

Education crisis

• According to the Education Cluster, extensive damage to school infrastructure has forced a reliance on temporary learning spaces (TLS), with efforts ongoing to expand learning services. Education Cluster parters (including UNRWA), with support from 5,180 teachers, are currently serving about 220,950 students in TLS, or about 34 per cent of school-aged children in Gaza.

Displacement, site management

• UNRWA continues to monitor the movement of displaced persons and displacement sites. As of 15 December, 79,000 displaced people were estimated to be living in UNRWA schools-turned-shelters and the surrounding areas, including in 85 displacement sites managed by the Agency.

• Currently, 116 UNRWA facilities are located within the Israeli militarized zone and areas where access is subject to Israeli approval/coordination.

Operational implications and humanitarian response

• Around 12,000 Palestinian UNRWA personnel in Gaza continue to provide services and assistance to an entire population in need. In the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, UNRWA continues to play a central role with over 4,000 UNRWA Palestinian personnel providing education, health, and other services to Palestine Refugees.

• All UNRWA international staff are prevented from entering the occupied Palestinian territory (the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem). This follows the implementation of laws passed by the Israeli parliament (the Knesset) on 28 October 2024[3] that purport to prohibit UNRWA’s operations in areas that Israel considers its sovereign territory, including occupied East Jerusalem, and seek to bar any contact by Israeli officials with UNRWA. The Israeli Authorities have not granted the Agency’s international staff visas or permits to enter the occupied Palestinian territory, including Gaza, since the end of January 2025.

• The Israeli Authorities continue to block UNRWA from directly bringing humanitarian personnel and aid into the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, pre-positioned outside Gaza, UNRWA has enough food parcels for 1.1 million people, flour for 2.1 million individuals, and shelter supplies for hundreds of thousands of people.  

The occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem

• According to OCHA, between 7 October 2023 and 7 December 2025, 1,039 Palestinians – at least 225 of them children – were killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Among them, 233 Palestinians, including at least 52 children, were killed since the beginning of this year alone.

o On 8 December, Israeli forces accompanied by municipal officials with trucks and forklifts entered the UNRWA compound in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem. They seized furniture, IT equipment, and other assets. The UN flag on the compound was taken down and replaced with an Israeli flag. This incident represented the latest in a series of violations of the privileges and immunities of the compound as a United Nations premises, and prompted a series of condemnations, including from the UNRWA Commissioner-General and the UN Secretary-General.

o The Israeli security cabinet reportedly formalised the establishment and/or recognition of 19 Israeli settlements in the West Bank on 11 December, against the backdrop of heightened settler violence.

• Gaza humanitarian overview and response

1.1. Humanitarian access, armed conflict-related incidents

• UNRWA is verifying details of incidents that reportedly impacted the Agency’s premises, assets, and/or personnel. Additional information will be provided once it becomes available*.

• From 3 to 9 December, one significant incident has impacted UNRWA installations, staff and/or persons supporting UNRWA’s activities.

o On 9 December 2025, an UNRWA health centre in Maghazi was reportedly indirectly struck by at least two bullets due to random shooting by Israeli forces in the areas east of Eastern Maghazi, Middle Area.  No casualties among UNRWA personnel were reported, while minor damage to the facility was reported.

As of 9 December, 949* incidents impacting UNRWA premises and the people inside them have been reported since the beginning of the war. 312* (or nearly all) UNRWA installations have been impacted by armed conflict-related incidents since the beginning of the war, with some installations impacted multiple times. UNRWA estimates that, in total, at least 851* persons sheltering in UNRWA buildings have been reported killed and at least 2,581* injured since the start of current hostilities. UNRWA continues to verify and update the number of casualties caused by these incidents. A total of 116 UNRWA facilities are located within the Israeli Forces’ militarized zone. – UNRWA Report