Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza: How To Help

Health facilities are at their breaking point after months of violence that has killed more than 40,000 and forced 90% of the population to leave their homes.

Nearly 2 million people in Gaza have been 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 ongoing 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” that is creating a dire emergency for civilians.

Gaza no longer has any fully functional hospitals. Families in Gaza are now relying on temporary medical points and NGOs like Project HOPE for access to health care services. Yet, after months of air strikes and military incursions, humanitarian zones are becoming smaller and smaller.

Parents are overwhelmed by the threats facing their children, from hunger and violence to the spread of infectious diseases like polio and cholera. Project HOPE’s health workers are helping families survive by providing wound care, administering vaccines, preventing malnutrition, and caring for pregnant women and newborns.

Project HOPE has delivered more than 10 tons of medicines, medical supplies, hygiene kits, and other urgently needed items into Gaza. Our primary health clinics in Deir Al Balah 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 establishing temporary medical points for displaced families living in informal settlements. Read on to learn more about our response and how you can help.

The Latest

• What is happening in Gaza?
• What is Project HOPE doing to help?
• What are the greatest needs?
• What are the health workers facing in Gaza?
• How to Help?
• Read out latest situation report on the Gaza-Israel Conflict
• Project HOPE In the News

What is happening in Gaza?

On October 7, Hamas militants from Gaza fired a deadly barrage of rockets and sent gunmen into Israeli territory, leaving approximately 1,200 people dead and escalating the long-running conflict. In response, Israel declared war on Hamas and launched air strikes into Gaza that have killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly the entire population, according to Gaza health officials.

Humanitarian conditions in Gaza have deteriorated to the point where the vast majority of the population can no longer access the food, water, medicine, fuel, and other basic resources they need for daily life. Frequent communications blackouts make it hard to calculate the number of missing persons, death tolls, and injury counts. Gaza’s health system has been at its breaking point for months, 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 — have been forcibly displaced from their homes. Project HOPE’s partner, Anera, has reported that people are using livestock and trolley carts to transport humanitarian goods, though livestock have been targeted by military forces. Additionally, cash is largely unavailable as banks are not working and most money transfer apps are not functional in Gaza. There are limited goods available in markets and the cost of fuel, food, and cooking gas has surged.

What is Project HOPE doing to help?

Project HOPE has successfully delivered seven interagency emergency health kits (IEHKs) and seven trauma and emergency surgery kits (TESKs) into Gaza—more than 10 tons of medical relief. Each IEHK contains essential medicines and medical devices that can serve the primary health needs of a population of 10,000 for three months, though we anticipate the supplies to be used quickly due to the immense level of need. Our team has established a supply chain into Gaza that has been able to deliver thousands of family hygiene kits, blankets, and mattresses that were distributed by our local partner, Anera.

Project HOPE’s team of local health workers are operating primary health and sexual and reproductive health clinics in Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis, which have provided over 61,000 consultations since December 2023. The team treats as many as 200 patients a day and is able to prescribe critical medicines that residents have not had access to since the conflict began on October 7. As displaced families continue to arrive in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, Project HOPE has scaled up our operations and increased staffing to support the increased health needs of the community.

Project HOPE has stocked the clinic with medicines and supplies, and our local partner, Anera, has also supported the clinic with repeated donations of medicines and medical supplies. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has provided additional supplies, including Plumpy’Nut, a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) for children impacted by food insecurity.

Before the military incursion into Rafah, Project HOPE provided medical care in tent settlements and supported a short-term primary health clinic at a school housing displaced families. As the conflict continues and the conditions and needs on the ground change, our health workers are standing up.

Project HOPE is vaccinating children in response to the threat of polio, a deadly and disabling infectious disease. In coordination with the World Health Organization and other humanitarian organizations, our team is working to protect the health of children in Gaza. As new threats pop up, like cholera, skin infections, acute malnutrition, and respiratory infections from dust, our health workers are responding with lifesaving health support.

Project HOPE is also supporting the urgent mental health needs faced by Gaza’s civilians. In both Gaza and the West Bank, Project HOPE partnered with Sharek Youth Forum, Sawa, Hakini Foundation, and the Treatment & Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture — all local Palestinian organizations — to provide more than 28,000 people with psychosocial support through psychological relief sessions, Psychological First Aid, and community workshops on managing trauma.

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. While our mental health partnerships have recently concluded, Project HOPE’s staff in Gaza remain committed to caring for the whole health needs of their patients.

What are the greatest needs inside Gaza?

The aid trucks that have been allowed to enter Gaza have delivered only a fraction of the medicine, medical supplies, fuel, food, and clean water people need. Since January, Gaza no longer has any fully functional hospitals. Even in facilities that are partially-functional, health workers are 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.

Shortages of supplies are having a tragic impact on the health of Gaza’s civilians. Project HOPE’s team in Deir al Balah previously reported that 15% of the pregnant women they treated during one week showed signs of malnutrition. 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.

“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.”

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. 

>> Read reflections from our program officer on the ground in Gaza

What are health workers facing in Gaza?

Health workers in Gaza are working in horrific conditions. What few hospitals remain partially-functional in Gaza face scarce resources, fuel shortages, and a dangerous lack of medical supplies. There are reports of surgeries being performed without anesthesia, health workers working around the clock, and patients lining the hallways.

“Everyday services in Gaza are very difficult, if not impossible to find,” said Moses Kondowe, Project HOPE’s Team Lead in Gaza. “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 ongoing conflict is always present. The mental health toll for health workers living in the same devastating conditions as the patients they treat is immense.

At the beginning of the conflict, Dr. Monther Abo Sharek, an emergency doctor at El-Najar Hospital in Rafah, told us that the majority of his staff had not left the hospital since the war started. The doctor told us that his hospital had 80 beds to meet the needs of 500,000 people, faced severe shortages of medicines and medical equipment, and was unable to refer trauma cases to larger hospitals. They had no imaging equipment to assess serious internal injuries, and regular electricity blackouts rendered their existing equipment unusable.

“Most of these cases are critical,” Dr. Sharek said. “Most of them will die soon because we don’t have enough medical supplements or medical staff to deal with them.”

Further, Dr. Sharek reported that his staff were facing severe mental health issues due to exhaustion and trauma brought on by the severity of civilian injuries they were treating. “Our team is very exhausted,” he said. “Our team is very tired, emotionally, inside them. Nobody in this world can imagine the number of cases and the type of victims that have come to us.”

“The scene is very hard to imagine. Most of us now need psychological therapy, because we’re just carrying more than we can carry,” he said.

As the months go on, health and humanitarian aid workers are coping with untold amounts of stress and trauma.

“The scene is very hard to imagine. Most of us now need psychological therapy, because we’re just carrying more than we can carry.”

Does Project HOPE work 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 hard at work.