United Nations Children's Fund: Report on Child Protection and Humanitarian Crisis in the State of Palestine

Key Chapter Title List

1. State of Palestine: Key Points Overview and Core Data
2. In-depth Analysis of the Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip
3. Situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem: Ongoing Turmoil and Restrictions
4. Analysis of Project Responses in Health and Nutrition
5. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Response
6. Child Protection and Mental Health Support
7. Education Sector Interventions and Challenges
8. Social Protection: Humanitarian Cash Transfers
9. Accountability to Affected Populations and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
10. Humanitarian Leadership, Coordination, and Cluster Strategy
11. Key Appeals and Policy Implications
12. Funding Status and Gap Analysis

Document Introduction

This report is the 39th UNICEF Humanitarian Situation Report on the State of Palestine, covering key data, field assessments, and project response analysis for the period from May 1 to 31, 2025. The report systematically presents the near-total collapse of the protective environment for children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), after 20 months of conflict. The study is based on UN inter-agency coordinated data, field partner reports, and cluster monitoring information, aiming to provide policymakers, humanitarian practitioners, and the international community with an authoritative assessment of the current crisis scale, impact, and response needs.

The report's core findings indicate that the ongoing hostilities, massive displacement (90% of Gaza's population displaced), and severely restricted humanitarian access have had a devastating impact on children's safety, rights, and well-being. The Gaza Strip is experiencing an unprecedented child protection and humanitarian crisis: the public health system is on the verge of collapse, with only 38% of health service points partially functional; child malnutrition rates have deteriorated sharply, with the screening diagnosis rate for acute malnutrition among children under five rising to 5.8%, and severe acute malnutrition cases reaching a yearly peak; water, sanitation, and hygiene services are critically scarce, and although UNICEF and its partners provided drinking water to over 1.5 million people, fuel shortages have led to a significant reduction in water supply levels. The West Bank continues to face forced displacement, house demolitions, settler violence, and severe movement restrictions, severely disrupting livelihoods and access to education and health services.

Regarding project responses, the report provides a detailed analysis of the interventions and outcomes by UNICEF and its partners in key areas such as health, nutrition, WASH, child protection, education, and social protection. For example, in Gaza, efforts to address the rapidly worsening nutrition crisis include deploying mobile nutrition teams and providing ready-to-use supplementary foods and nutritional supplements; providing humanitarian cash assistance to the most vulnerable families through digital e-wallets has become a critical lifeline for basic survival; meanwhile, efforts are made to maintain temporary learning spaces and provide psychosocial support in the face of the continuously deteriorating learning environment (95.4% of school buildings damaged). The report also highlights the operations and challenges of cross-sectoral coordination mechanisms, such as the UNICEF-led WASH, Nutrition, and Education Clusters and the Child Protection Area of Responsibility.

The final section of the report reveals a severe funding shortfall. UNICEF's 2025 Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) appeal faces a significant funding gap of USD 490.6 million, representing a 68% gap rate. This severely constrains the ability to scale up life-saving assistance. Accordingly, the report issues clear appeals to all parties to the conflict and the international community: demanding an immediate cessation of grave violations against children's rights, a restoration of the ceasefire, ensuring large-scale and unimpeded humanitarian access, protecting civilian infrastructure and humanitarian workers, and supporting the pursuit of a just and lasting political solution. As a crucial interim assessment, this report provides indispensable factual and data-based foundations for understanding the current crisis dynamics, planning effective interventions, and mobilizing international resources.