Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza: How To Help
Families in Gaza are facing a widespread humanitarian crisis and public health emergency. Nearly the entire population has been forcibly displaced, children are malnourished, and healthcare access is severely threatened.
There is a health emergency unfolding in Gaza. Babies are being born early due to stress, children are malnourished, and there has been a surge of infectious skin diseases and rodent bites.
Families are being put in precarious positions as the tents in Gaza’s displacement camps transform from temporary shelters into zones of extreme survival risk. Water sources are contaminated, sewage systems destroyed, and parents are staying awake through the night to protect their children from a rapid outbreak of diseases spread by rodents and other pests.
As one of the only NGOs still providing health care in Gaza, our health workers are working overtime to reach as many people as possible with care. Project HOPE clinics are operating at 714% of their estimated capacity and our staff conduct over 10,000 medical consultations each week. With other organizations closing and shortages of medicines becoming more severe, we must be able to provide care for this surge of patients.
We need your help. Every dollar raised directly impacts our ability to provide care and support to the children and communities who need us most.
In this moment, your support doesn’t just save clinics — it saves lives.
More than 71,000 people have been killed and 2 million displaced after Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in retaliation for the deadly attacks that occurred in Israel on October 7, 2023. The conflict has caused a severe lack of food, water, medicines, medical supplies, and fuel inside Gaza, leading to what the United Nations has described as a “humanitarian tragedy.”
Humanitarian aid continues to grow in importance as health needs intensify despite the recent ceasefire. Winter storms, recent famine conditions, disease outbreaks, and years of disrupted access are taking their toll on the health of the communities we work in. Displaced families face dehydration, hunger, and illness as they contend with shortages. Hospitals are overwhelmed, operating with disrupted access to electricity, limited capacity, and have spent over two years relying on sporadic deliveries of essential supplies.
Parents are overwhelmed by the threats facing their children, from hunger and violence to the spread of infectious diseases like scabies, polio, and cholera. Project HOPE’s health workers are helping families survive by providing wound care, administering vaccines, treating malnutrition, addressing primary healthcare issues, and caring for pregnant women and newborns.
Our team reached more than 442,000 people in 2025. Our seven primary health clinics operating in Deir al Balah, Gaza City, and Khan Younis have treated thousands of patients, including pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and those dealing with serious injuries and acute malnutrition. The team is also trucking clean water to displacement camps, facilitating emergency medical teams, and establishing temporary medical points for displaced families living in informal settlements.
Project HOPE previously delivered more than 10 tons of medicines, medical supplies, hygiene kits, and other urgently needed items into Gaza. Read on to learn more about our response and how you can help.
The Latest
70,000+
Palestinians in Gaza have been killed
Widespread hunger, violence, and the spread of infectious diseases continues to threaten lives across Gaza.
>90%
of Gazans have been displaced
With much of Gaza reduced to rubble, people are living in tents, shelters, and overcrowded spaces.
14%
of the health workforce has been lost
Health workers are being stretched thin. More than 50% of Gaza’s hospitals are completely non-functional and there are widespread shortages of essential medicines.
URGENT: Humanitarian Catastrophe in Gaza
Your gifts ensure we can respond to the most devastating humanitarian emergencies like this one — while supporting health workers and rebuilding health care infrastructure in the long-term for communities around the world.
What is happening in Gaza?
On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants from Gaza fired a deadly barrage of rockets and sent gunmen into Israeli territory, killing approximately 1,200 people and escalating the long-running conflict. In response, Israel declared war on Hamas and launched air strikes and ground operations that have killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly the entire population.
Humanitarian conditions in Gaza have deteriorated over the past two years, with people living in tents that cannot protect them during storms, access to health care disrupted, and recent famine conditions affecting pregnant women and children. Gaza’s health system is beyond its breaking point, with hospitals overwhelmed, supplies scarce, health workers overworked, and many facilities damaged or destroyed.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that up to 1.9 million people — roughly 90% of Gaza’s population — has been forcibly displaced from their homes since October 2023. There are limited goods available in markets and the cost of fuel, food, and cooking gas has surged. Although access to food has improved after the ceasefire, persistently high prices and the widespread loss of income has resulted in continued food insecurity.
What is Project HOPE doing to help?
Project HOPE’s operations in Gaza provide an array of essential health, nutrition, psychosocial, and WASH services to address urgent civilian needs.
Our team of local health workers operates seven primary and maternal health clinics in Deir Al Balah, Gaza City, and Khan Younis, which provide over 10,000 medical consultations each week, as of May 2026. Project HOPE’s clinics provide a range of lifesaving medical services, including emergency nutrition, vaccines, primary care, maternal health care, and medications.
Project HOPE is providing access to lifesaving treatment for malnutrition. These safe spaces also allow parents and children the ability to seek care for the long-term health impacts that come from malnutrition, including stunted growth, more frequent infections, respiratory illnesses, and chronic diseases. At the beginning of 2026, nearly half of households were unable to afford basic groceries and 71% of households reported decreasing their number of meals to sustain themselves.
Project HOPE is also supporting the urgent mental health needs faced by Gaza’s civilians. In Gaza, Project HOPE continues to provide mental health and psychosocial services to protect those in vulnerable positions and help children process traumatic experiences, reaching more than 18,000 in the past year. The team also previously provided mental health sessions to Palestinians in the West Bank.
What’s happening in Gaza right now is a health and humanitarian catastrophe, and the conflict has taken a vast toll on the mental health of civilians. Project HOPE is scaling up community and clinic-based psychosocial support services, with a focus on gender-based violence response, child protection, and stress management. Our team continues to hire both national and international staff and integrate these services into our current and planned clinics.
What are the greatest needs inside Gaza?
Even in facilities that are partially-functional, health workers have been operating in impossible conditions, providing trauma care without the anesthesia, blood, medicine, materials, staff, supplies, or space needed to provide proper care to the patients lining the halls.
As conditions worsen due to seasonal and environmental pressures (extreme weather, flooding, disease outbreaks, rodent infestations, etc.), health workers are being pushed to their breaking points. Project HOPE’s clinics are working overtime to meet increased needs, but increased funding is needed to meet the urgent needs of families and children in Gaza.
Shortages of supplies are having a tragic impact and the closure of other organizations is forcing patients to travel far to reach out clinics.
At any given moment, approximately 50,000 women are pregnant in Gaza, with roughly 5,000 expected to give birth each month. Without a massive increase in health and humanitarian aid, these women will be forced to give birth in shelters, homes, and amidst rubble. An estimated 15% will endure birthing complications with minimal support for medical interventions. Additionally, malnutrition can lead to lifelong issues for both mother and child, including irreversible stunting in growth, brain damage, cognitive processing difficulties, weakened immune systems that increase the severity of common infections, and an increased lifetime risk of developing diabetes and other chronic diseases.
After years of conflict, the health infrastructure in Gaza is on life support and requires immediate support to ensure a peaceful, self-sufficient future.
“Everywhere I went in Gaza, I heard from pregnant women and new mothers who were vulnerable and terrified,” said Rondi Anderson, Project HOPE’s Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health Advisor. “Displacement camps, homes, small clinics, and makeshift locations have become impromptu birth centers without trained health workers. Women who give birth outside health facilities face increased risks of all leading causes of death, including postpartum hemorrhage, high blood pressure, seizures, prolonged labor, and infections. In the absence of substantial and immediate increased access to humanitarian aid and a permanent ceasefire, the lives of all pregnant women are at risk, and the region could lose an entire generation.”
“In the absence of substantial and immediate increased access to humanitarian aid and a permanent ceasefire, the lives of all pregnant women are at risk, and the region could lose an entire generation.”
As people across Gaza have been forcibly relocated time and time again, areas have become overpopulated. In overcrowded and unsanitary areas, there are reports of 700 people using one toilet, dozens of women giving birth each day, and people nursing open wounds. Overcrowding and harsh living conditions have caused an alarming rise in acute respiratory infections, scabies, jaundice, diarrhea, and bloody diarrhea. Right now, over 1.2 million people are exposed to raw sewage near their shelters.
>> Read reflections from our program officer on the ground in Gaza
What are health workers facing in Gaza?
Health workers in Gaza have been working in horrific conditions. What few hospitals remain partially-functional in Gaza have faced scarce resources, fuel shortages, and a dangerous lack of medical supplies. There have been reports of surgeries being performed without anesthesia, health workers working around the clock, and patients lining the hallways.
Before the ceasefire, Moses Kondowe, Project HOPE’s Team Lead in Gaza, said, “Everyday services in Gaza are very difficult, if not impossible to find. Everything is down. There’s no banking system. There’s no fuel. There’s nothing in the market. Humanitarian aid is not coming easily across the borders. If you want to move, you have to notify officials and wait for a green light. A lot of humanitarian workers, including one of our own, have died.”
“We have seen a rise in cases of acute diarrhea and are starting to see outbreaks of hepatitis A and B. We have also seen an increase in the number of people being discharged from health facilities who have nowhere to go, including children who have lost their parents and do not have anyone left.”
The trauma of the recent conflict and the hope for the current ceasefire is always present. The mental health toll for health workers living in the same devastating conditions as the patients they treat is immense.
What is Project HOPE’s history in Gaza?
Project HOPE previously supported relief efforts in Gaza through local partners in 2009 and 2021, including distributions of hygiene kits, emergency medicines, medical supplies, and equipment.
Though Project HOPE did not have active operations in Gaza prior to the current conflict, our medical team on the ground is comprised of local Palestinians from Gaza and led by dedicated emergency response professionals from outside Gaza.
Throughout our response, we have worked with local authorities, UN agencies, and local civil society to plan and coordinate the delivery of aid. Additionally, we are in regular, close contact with partners across the region and are actively participating in the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Global Health Cluster to better coordinate our response. From operating health clinics and temporary medical points to delivering essential, lifesaving supplies, Project HOPE’s team in Gaza is working every day to deliver the medical care Gaza’s civilians need.
This article was updated on May 7, 2026.
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