USAID supports vulnerable communities through humanitarian aid, and provides life-saving assistance to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza through its Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA).
- • Escalating violence between GoI security forces, Israeli settlers, and Palestinian residents in the West Bank has resulted in a surge of deaths, while GoI-imposed movement restrictions continue to limit Palestinians’ access to essential services.
- • Economic stagnation, reduced access to resources, and trade restrictions threaten to exacerbate food insecurity in the West Bank and Gaza, according to the UN.
- • USAID/BHA partner WFP has continued to provide food vouchers to households most vulnerable to food insecurity.
Escalation of Violence Contributes to Displacement and Disrupted Services Escalating violence between Government of Israel (GoI) security forces, Israeli settlers, and Palestinian residents of the West Bank, including recent significant violence in Jenin and Nablus cities, resulted in 89 deaths among Palestinians and injury to more than 3,000 Palestinians between January 1 and April 20, according to the UN. The first two months of 2023 saw the highest rate of deaths in the West Bank for the time frame since 2000. Violent incidents between Israeli settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank have reached an average of three per day since the start of 2023, the highest daily average since 2006, marking a significant rise in frequency. The number of violence-related deaths in the West Bank during the first three months of 2023 has already exceeded the number of deaths in the West Bank during 2021 and is more than half the number of deaths during 2022. Moreover, the number of deaths among children—a grave protection violation—has increased, with 17 deaths among Palestinian children to date in 2023, compared with eight children during the same period of 2022, the UN reports. In 2022, Palestinians in the West Bank faced the deadliest year since 2005, with Israeli forces killing at least 146 people in the West Bank, according to the UN.
In addition to increased violence, GoI security forces also imposed movement restrictions on Palestinians across the West Bank, disrupting access to basic services, such as health care, and livelihood opportunities, as well as compounding protection concerns for Palestinians. GoI authorities had also forcibly confiscated or demolished nearly 280 structures—including donor-funded shelter sites, residential structures, and shops—in the West Bank between January and March, displacing more than 400 Palestinians. Furthermore, GoI authorities issued a demolition order against a newly rehabilitated donor-funded agricultural road in Nablus, impeding access to nearly 25 acres of farmland and further restricting livelihood opportunities. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces demolished nearly 40 structures during February, marking the highest number of demolitions in the area in a single month since April 2019, according to the UN.
Movement Restrictions in the West Bank Affect Access to Health Care, Exacerbate Protection Concerns Palestinians in the West Bank continue to face heightened protection needs as GoI security forces continued to pressure the relocation of Palestinian communities in 2023. Among those affected are residents of the Masafer Yatta community, who face pressure to relocate following a May 2022 Israeli judicial decision removing legal barriers to the forced eviction of residents and the demolition of homes on land that Israeli authorities have designated military areas. Residents of Masafer Yatta, which is located in a remote area with limited access to services, also continued to face increased movement restrictions since the May 2022 court decision. These increased movement restrictions hinder residents’ access to life-saving health care, particularly as ambulances and people in need of health care are not able to access Yatta hospital, the nearest hospital in the area, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reports. Local health services remained infrequent and often disrupted, as all health clinics within the designated military area continued to face demolition orders as of April 12. In addition to negative physical health effects, demolitions and incursion events have significantly affected Palestinians’ mental health, with MSF reporting an increase in the number of Masafer Yatta residents seeking mental health and psychosocial support and other protection services throughout 2022. Overall, conflict-related violence, movement restrictions, and risk of forced relocation continue to contribute to a protracted protection crisis for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The UN estimates that 1.8 million individuals in the West Bank and Gaza will require protection support during
2023. While the overall number of people in need of some form of humanitarian assistance has remained relatively constant between 2022 and 2023, the proportion of households in both the West Bank and Gaza facing severe humanitarian conditions has increased, the UN reports. The incidence of genderbased violence (GBV) has increased between 2022 and 2023, with an estimated 1.9 million individuals experiencing or at risk of experiencing GBV. Meanwhile, access to mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services remains limited, particularly in Gaza.
Food Assistance Needs Persist Amid Conflict and Poor Economic Conditions
Protracted conflict, economic stagnation, and trade restrictions resulting in limited access to basic goods
continued to threaten food security in the West Bank and Gaza as of February, according to
USAID/BHA partner the UN World Food Program (WFP). While certain commodity prices, including
the price of wheat, have stabilized over recent months, WFP projected an increase in the price of other
food commodities—such as chickpeas and lentils—imported from Türkiye as a result of the February
earthquakes. The average cost of the typical goods in a WFP food ration increased by 3.5 percent in
February compared to the previous month and by 20 percent compared to January 2022, due in large
part to the increased food prices; the increase further reduced the purchasing power of the most
vulnerable Palestinians, limiting their ability to meet basic food needs. In response, WFP increased the
monetary value of monthly food vouchers to account for rising prices in March. According to the 2023
Occupied Palestinian Territory Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), more than 1.5 million people were in
need of food assistance as of January 2023, the vast majority of whom reside in Gaza. USAID/BHA
partner WFP continues to provide food assistance to households most vulnerable to food insecurity,
generally reaching approximately 350,000 people across the West Bank and Gaza each month with
funding from all donors, including 120,000 people in Gaza and 60,000 people in the West Bank with
BHA-supported food vouchers in the first months of 2023. However, as of early March, WFP reported
that funding shortfalls threatened to disrupt food assistance for up to 400,000 Palestinians in the coming
months.
U.S. GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
FOOD SECURITY
With U.S. Government (USG) funding, the UN Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and WFP support foodinsecure Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to meet their basic food
and nutrition needs through emergency cash assistance, electronic food
vouchers, emergency cash-for-work programs, and in-kind food assistance.
With support from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population,
Refugees, and Migration (State/PRM) and other donors, UNRWA provides
food assistance to more than 1.2 million Palestinians in the West Bank and
Gaza. Meanwhile, USAID/BHA support enables WFP to provide affected
populations with electronic food vouchers.
PROTECTION
The USG supports a range of humanitarian protection programs for at-risk
populations in the West Bank and Gaza—prioritizing the needs of women
and children—through International Medical Corps (IMC) and UNRWA.
State/PRM partner UNRWA supports children and families by providing
MHPSS in health care centers and schools, with an emphasis on the
KEY FIGURES
1.2 Million
People UNRWA
intended to reach with
food assistance in the
West Bank and Gaza in
2022
3,500
People children
supported with
USAID/BHA-funded
psychosocial support
services in 2022
4
prevention of GBV. Through dedicated State/PRM funding, UNRWA is also
enhancing its capacity to identify and correct protection risks in its facilities.
Separately, through IMC, USAID/BHA funding helps increase access to
protection-related health care services and expand MHPSS for conflictaffected Palestinians in Gaza, with a focus on psychological first aid and inperson counseling services.
MULTIPURPOSE CASH ASSISTANCE
USAID/BHA partner Mercy Corps supports the distribution of multipurpose
cash assistance (MPCA) to enhance the resilience of vulnerable individuals in
the face of future shocks as well as to help households meet their basic
needs and reduce the use of negative coping strategies. With USAID/BHA
support, Mercy Corps disbursed five months of MPCA to more than 1,300
households between October 2022 and March 2023. Additionally, Mercy
Corps began disbursing its second round of MPCA to an additional
650 households in January.
HEALTH
USAID/BHA and State/PRM support health programming throughout the
West Bank and Gaza to reduce the transmission of disease and bolster
health care capacity, contributing to reduced preventable mortality and
morbidity. State/PRM partner UNRWA provides health services to
vulnerable Palestinian refugees in Gaza, including nearly
768,000 telemedicine calls and more than 2.6 million in-person consultations
for Palestinian refugee patients in 2022. USAID/BHA NGO partner IMC
provides basic primary health care services to communities—including
remote and underserved areas—across Gaza to minimize individuals’ travel
to already overwhelmed health facilities and to help overcome access
barriers. The NGO also provides training to health care staff and trauma
referral services at health care centers in Gaza, helping ensure continuity of
health care amid recent escalations of conflict.
CONTEXT IN BRIEF
• Protracted conflict, restricted access to basic services, and the adverse health and socioeconomic effects
of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic have generated significant humanitarian needs in the
West Bank and Gaza. Nearly 2.1 million Palestinians—approximately 40 percent of the combined
population of the West Bank and Gaza—are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2023,
according to the UN. The figure includes the 1.6 million people targeted for assistance in 2023, more
than 70 percent of whom reside in Gaza.
• On November 21, 2022, U.S. Ambassador Thomas R. Nides issued a redeclaration of humanitarian need
for the West Bank and Gaza for FY 2023 due to the widespread humanitarian needs resulting from the
complex emergency.
$2.1 Million
In dedicated USG
funding for life-saving
health care activities in
FY 2022
$9 Million
In dedicated
USAID/BHA funding for
MPCA activities in
FY 2022
5
USG HUMANITARIAN FUNDING FOR THE WEST BANK AND GAZA RESPONSE IN FY 20231
IMPLEMENTING PARTNER ACTIVITY LOCATION AMOUNT
USAID/BHA
WFP Food Assistance–Food Vouchers West Bank and Gaza $5,400,000
TOTAL USAID/BHA FUNDING $5,400,000
TOTAL USG HUMANITARIAN FUNDING FOR THE WEST BANK AND GAZA RESPONSE IN FY 2023
2 $5,400,000
1
Year of funding indicates the date of commitment or obligation, not appropriation, of funds. Funding figures reflect publicly announced funding as of April 27, 2023.
2
State/PRM has provided nearly $50 million to date in FY 2023 for UNRWA’s calendar year 2023 program budget and projects, portions of which may be used in
the West Bank and Gaza.
PUBLIC DONATION INFORMATION
• The most effective way people can assist relief efforts is by making cash contributions to humanitarian organizations that
are conducting relief operations. A list of humanitarian organizations that are accepting cash donations for disaster
responses around the world can be found at interaction.org.
• USAID encourages cash donations because they allow aid professionals to procure the exact items needed, often in the
affected region; reduce the burden on scarce resources, such as transportation routes, staff time, and warehouse space;
can be transferred very quickly and without transportation costs; support the economy of the disaster-stricken region;
and ensure culturally, dietarily, and environmentally appropriate assistance.
• More information can be found at:
o USAID Center for International Disaster Information: cidi.org
o Information on relief activities of the humanitarian community can be found at reliefweb.int
Original source can be found here.