UNICEF State of Palestine Year End Situation Report

Highlights

• 2021 remained a challenging year for children in the State of Palestine. The escalation of hostilities in May killed 67 children in the Gaza Strip, with a further 685 children reported injured. Two Israeli children were killed in Israel, and 60 were reported injured.
• As a result of the escalation health services in the Gaza Strip were also significantly impacted, with 33 health facilities damaged during the conflict. Access to safe drinking water and sanitation also remains a major daily struggle for many people in the Gaza Strip. Some 290 WASH facilities were damaged during hostilities, and many experienced disruptions to electricity supply.
• In collaboration with the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) and Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), UNICEF restored and sustained access to improved WASH services for 800,000 affected persons across the Gaza Strip. UNICEF also improved access to safe water supplies for 22,000 vulnerable people in the West Bank.
• UNICEF and partners reached over 15,000 vulnerable children (52 per cent girls) with psychosocial support activities through family centres in the Gaza Strip. Additionally, 8,600 children (56 per cent girls) and nearly 12,000 caregivers (62 per cent women) were reached with risk-educational sessions on explosive remnants of war (ERW). The families of 43 children arrested by Israeli forces in the West Bank were supported with legal aid.
• Furthermore, UNICEF supported the MoH in the provision of health and nutrition services to ensure access to primary life-saving interventions for high-risk women and young children reaching 322,000 people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
• During the school summer break, 55,000 children and adolescents in the Gaza Strip were engaged in recreational summer activities to support their well-being and mental health.
• By the end of December, some 470,087 cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed, of whom 50 per cent were women and 12 per cent were children.
• UNICEF, with WHO and other partners, supported the delivery of 1,918,010 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, of which 1,816,220 were received via the COVAX facility.
• The UNICEF 2021 humanitarian appeal has a funding gap of 58 per cent. More resources are needed to fill critical gaps and scale up current responses.

Author(s)

UNICEF

Publication date

February 2022

Languages

English