Military and Diplomatic Highlights:
• A ceasefire has been agreed to between Hamas and the State of Israel on January 15th:
• On January 16th, the Israeli Ministry of Defense announced that they are preparing in concert with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to implement the agreement.
• Between December 31 and January 13, 11 IDF soldiers were killed in Gaza.
Civil Protection and Humanitarian Assistance Highlights:
Israel
• The Magen David Adom reported on January 6th; that they responded to a shooting incident on Route 55 near Al-Funduq (between Karnei Shomron & Kedumim). A total of eight people were killed and eight people were injured.
Gaza Strip
• The UN reports that at least 1.9 million people (90% of the population) have been displaced. Many have been displaced repeatedly, some 10 times or more.
• IDF Evacuation Orders:
o Between January 1-3, the Israeli military issued three evacuation orders for parts of Gaza city and North Gaza and Deir al Balah governorates:
Two of the orders, on January 1-3, affected the same areas of Al Bureij refugee camp in Deir al Balah. An estimated 23,1000 people were affected by the order, including 10,300 people sheltering at three Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) sites.
o The IDF issued an evacuation order which impacted the Nuseirat area on January 12th.
• Access to North Gaza governorate, which has been under intensified siege since October 6, 2024, continues to be largely denied by the Israeli authorities:
o Between October 6-December 31, the UN attempted to reach the area 165 times, of which 149 attempts were denied and 16 were allowed to proceed but faced impediments.
o Coordinated aid missions to areas in the Rafah governorate, where there has been an ongoing Israeli military operation since early May, have faced similar challenges.
• The UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reports that tens of thousands of people are continuing to live in at least 80 of their shelters.
• On January 3, the UN Migration Agency (IOM) expressed deep alarm at the impact of winter rains and freezing temperatures on IDPs.
• Since mid-November, IOM has delivered nearly 180,000 emergency shelter items to partners inside Gaza, but due to severe access restrictions, it remains unable to distribute over 1.5 million additional winter supplies.
• Healthcare and Public Health Update:
o Ongoing hostilities and besiegement of North Gaza have severely disrupted healthcare services for the population remaining in the area, after the Indonesian and Kamal Adwan Hospital were rendered out of service on December 24-27.
o Relief International reports that, on January 3, the Al Awda Hospital, the last partially functioning hospital in North Gaza, was ordered by the IDF to immediately evacuate patients and staff.
o The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that as of January 6th, at least seven newborns had died of hypothermia in December.
o On January 14th, WHO reached the Al-Shifa Hospital. The convoy delivered the following supplies:
9,700 liters of fuel
Blood and plasma units for distribution to hospitals in Gaza City.
The convoy was also able to facilitate the return of the emergency medical team deployed in Gaza City and transferred three patients and eight companions to be medically evacuated outside of Gaza.
o The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) reports that as of January 11th, three of their 22 health centers and four temporary clinics remain operational.
o Medical Evacuations:
On December 31, 55 patients, alongside 72 companions, were medically evacuated from Gaza to the United Arab Emirates through the Kerem Shalom Crossing.
On January 8th, WHO and their partners supported the medical evacuation of four patients and five companions to Jordan, and six children and five companions to the United States where they will receive specialized health care.
On January 16th, 12 patients from Gaza were transported to healthcare facilities in Albania, France, Norway and Romania to receive specialized medical care. They were accompanied by 35 family members and caregivers.
There remain over 12,000 people who still need to be medically evacuated.
• Food Security Update:
o Food insecurity continues to deteriorate while assistance equivalent to food rations sufficient for the whole population for more than three months (about 120,000 metric tons) continues to remain stranded outside the Strip.
o Moreover, there are restrictions on the official entry of commercial cargo, armed lootings of humanitarian supplies that partners collect from crossings, and predominantly unaffordable basic commodities on local markets.
o North Gaza has remained largely cut off from food assistance for three consecutive months.
o In central and southern Gaza, key Food Security Sector partners had exhausted all supplies in their warehouses as of January 5, and requests to transport food assistance entering through Erez West Crossing to areas south of Wadi Gaza have generally been denied by the Israeli authorities except in exceptional circumstances.
Lebanon
• Lebanon continues to face significant humanitarian challenges due primarily to economic downturn and the ongoing impact of the 14-month escalation of hostilities.
• The IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix indicates that some 868,947 IDPs are back in the cadasters from which they were initially displaced.
Violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Highlights:
• The UNRWA has reported that at least 46,645 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
• On January 4, the WHO Director-General called on the Israeli authorities to immediately release the Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya.
• The World Food Programme (WFP) on January 5th reported two incidents:
o A WFP convoy, consisting of three clearly marked vehicles carrying eight staff members, was shot at by the IDF near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint. No injuries were reported, but at least 16 bullets struck the vehicles.
o The flour distribution warehouse operated by MA’AN Development Center in Deir al Balah was hit, killing one humanitarian worker and seriously injuring two others.
• As of January 9th, UNRWA reported that 266 of their staff have been killed.
• On January 10th, the IDF reported that they recovered the bodies of Youssef Ziyadne and his son Hamza Ziyadne from an underground tunnel. They were both kidnapped on October 7th.
• The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that on January 15th, one of their ambulances that was part of a WHO convoy to evacuate patients from the Al-Awda Hospital was fired on by the IDF. No injuries were reported among the crew.
Sources:
• Humanitarian Situation Update #253 | Gaza Strip
• UNRWA Situation Report #155 on the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem
• Lebanon: Flash Update #54 - Escalation of hostilities in Lebanon, as of 09 January 2025
• Israeli Ministry of Defense Twitter Page
• Israeli Defense Forces Twitter Page
• Magen David Adom Twitter Page
• Palestine Red Crescent Society Twitter Page
• OCHA Occupied Territories Twitter Page
• WHO Occupied Territories Twitter Page
• UN Agency for Palestine Refugees Twitter Page
Resources
FAO, On the ground in Gaza Website
ADL, We Stand with Israel Website
Monetary Donations:
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• UN Agency for Palestine Refugees
• Palestine Red Crescent Society
• Magen David Adom
• United Hatzalah
• UN Crisis Relief, Occupied Palestinian Territories
• American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Inc.
• Israel Trauma and Resiliency Center
• Sderot Foundation
• Soroka Medical Center
• American Friends of Rambam Hospital in Haifa
• Syrian American Medical Society Foundation
• American Near East Refugee Aid
• Doctors Without Borders
• IsraAID
• Jewish Agency for Israel
• Jewish Federations of North America
• Middle East Children's Alliance
• Palestine Children's Relief Fund
• Save the Children
• World Central Kitchen
• WHO Foundation, Gaza Crisis: Help Save Lives
• UN Migration Agency, Gaza
• Center for Disaster Philanthropy