More than 130 days of intense hostilities have unleashed a devastating humanitarian crisis and profound human suffering in Gaza and Israel. The October 7 Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people in Israel and the abduction of 240 people. Subsequent Israeli bombardment and military operations in Gaza have resulted in the deaths of nearly 29,000 people, injury to more than 68,000 people, and 7,000 people remaining missing as of mid-February. Women and children comprise approximately 70 percent of the reported fatalities in Gaza.
The conflict has displaced approximately 1.7 million people within Gaza, representing approximately 75 percent of the population. Many affected individuals have been displaced more than six or seven times, desperately seeking safety amid a raging conflict and heavy bombardment from air, land, and sea. The conflict has resulted in the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings, medical facilities, roads, as well as water, hygiene, and sanitation facilities. The figures represented in this update speak to the devastating scale and impact of this humanitarian emergency; however, like all severe crises, the true human toll of the crisis is immeasurable.
Food Security Catastrophe
The conflict has caused catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity. Gaza’s entire population—approximately 2.2 million people—is facing Crisis—IPC 3—or worse levels of acute food insecurity. This constitutes the “largest percentage of individuals confronting acute food insecurity ever recorded for a specific area or country,” according to the IPC initiative. UN officials have sounded the alarm about a looming famine in Gaza, where more than a quarter of the population is facing Catastrophe—IPC 5—levels of hunger and imminent starvation. In other words, these households are experiencing “an extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion of coping capacities.” People in Gaza now account for 80 percent of all people facing famine or catastrophic hunger conditions worldwide, representing a severe food security crisis unprecedented in its scale and pace.
Health Care in Crisis
The UN has recorded more than 750 attacks on health care facilities since October. These attacks on health care have claimed the lives of more than 660 people, further undermining Gaza’s fragile health system during a time of unprecedented acute medical needs. No hospitals in Gaza are fully functional, and only about one-third of hospitals remain partially functional, as the conflict pushes the health care system to the brink of complete collapse.
Severe Humanitarian Access Restrictions
Humanitarian access in Gaza remains extremely challenging, characterized by restrictions and delays imposed by Israeli forces that have impeded the delivery of critical assistance to more than 2.2 million people in need. Pervasive and prevailing insecurity continues to further constrain humanitarian access, including attacks affecting humanitarian personnel, facilities, and convoys. The number of United Nations aid workers killed in Gaza, totaling more than 154 staff members, surpasses that of any other conflict in the organization's 79-year history.
While a massive humanitarian response is necessary to address the immediate life-saving needs of Gaza’s population, humanitarian assistance alone will be insufficient to respond to the scale of this catastrophe. An immediate and enduring ceasefire, return of hostages, unhindered humanitarian access, massive humanitarian operations, and long-term multi-sector recovery and reconstruction efforts will be necessary to even begin to address the unimaginable human toll of this war. We stand with our humanitarian and medical colleagues in Gaza, across the region, and around the world who are working tirelessly to save civilian lives from the scourge of conflict. We stand with them in calling for a renewed global commitment to protect and preserve civilian lives, wherever they are found.
- Michael VanRooyen, MD, MPH | Director, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
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