7 things you should know about the Gaza crisis right now

In times of war, CARE has seen over and over that it is often children and mothers who are most affected.

Even within this context, the hostilities in the Gaza Strip are having an especially catastrophic impact on children.

In total, more than 7,700 children have reportedly been killed, 40% of the total reported fatalities.

More children have been killed in this conflict than in all major global conflicts combined in 2022.

Nearly 85% of Gaza’s population has been displaced over the past two months.

That’s 1.9 million people ordered to move, desperate to escape violence, scrounging for the basic necessities to survive.

Alaa and her children, like most of those fleeing, have had to move multiple times.

“We lived in four different places since the war started,” she says.

Nearly 60% of all houses in Gaza are estimated to have been either damaged or destroyed.

During the seven-day truce in late November, Saaed, CARE Gaza’s Emergency Coordinator, was able to speak to a friend who checked on his home in Gaza City.

“He told me that our house is completely destroyed,“ Saaed said. “The place where we raised a family for so many years has been reduced to nothing.”

Since the end of the truce, the levels of bombardment are worse than ever.

“We were told to leave our homes because the area will be hit by airstrikes. But we don’t know where else to go; there is nowhere we can go,” our colleague Salwa told us.

"The building next to us in #Rafah was bombed. There was flying glass everywhere."
CARE's Salwa Tibi and her family narrowly escaped an airstrike in #Gaza on Monday night.
While fighting continues, innocent civilian lives will remain at stake.
We urge for a #CeasefireNOW. pic.twitter.com/11GIM6b4KD

— CARE International (@CAREGlobal) December 13, 2023

Almost 1.3 million Palestinians now live in just 155 United Nations shelters, many of which are hosting more than four times their capacity. These overcrowded shelters lack privacy and increase the risk of gender-based violence, sexual exploitation, and abuse for women and girls.

As the crisis continues, families are setting up tents in open areas or are forced to sleep on the street.

Almost half of the 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip are under the age of 18.

In the current war, none of these children can receive any education at school, with many forced to use school buildings as a shelter.

Additionally, 70% of all school buildings, 342 in total, have been damaged in the fighting, including those sheltering children and their families.

Instead of playing or going to school, many children have been forced to spend their time on basic survival needs like collecting firewood to keep warm while they mourn dead parents and siblings.

“Education is a forgotten dream for children terrified this day might be their last,” says Aaron Brent, CARE’s Acting Country Director for the West Bank and Gaza.

“Psychological trauma has reached unprecedented highs. Mothers are telling us their children have stopped speaking or eating because of what they have seen and lived through. Others are crying and screaming with every loud sound they hear.”

Even before the current war, 15 years of blockade and conflict had horrific consequences for the psychological well-being of children in Gaza.

Now, CARE and other humanitarian organizations fear an entire generation of children’s lives are dictated by fear, distress, and mourning.

60% of Gaza’s infrastructure has been destroyed.

Homes, hospitals, schools, and other critical infrastructure such as water networks, sanitation facilities, and grain mills are destroyed or damaged.

Only eight out of 36 hospitals and medical facilities are partly operational, and at least 286 health workers have been killed.

For over two months, the Gaza Strip has been cut off from all electricity, and fuel reserves for its only power plant were depleted.

“Our team has spoken to doctors who must perform C-sections without anaesthesia and see mothers who lose their babies right after giving birth because there is no power to run incubators that could keep them alive,” said Hiba Tibi, CARE’s Acting Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Tens of thousands of wounded people — including 180 mothers giving birth every day – have been left without safe medical or delivery assistance.

The few hospitals that are still running have 2.5 times more people in intensive care units than their capacity.

Hospitals are also sheltering thousands of displaced people.

Missiles and airstrikes are not the only killers in Gaza.

Malnutrition, cold, and lack of clean water and hygiene, all caused by the siege, are a deadly combination.

CARE is already seeing a significant spread of disease infecting and killing those who have survived the bombing and airstrikes. Many people have been forced to drink unsafe water.

Dehydration and waterborne diseases are a growing threat, especially among those living in makeshift tents in the open.

In such dire conditions, more people could die from disease than the bombings. Diarrhea, chicken pox, and scabies are on the rise, especially endangering the health of small children without medicine and amid horrific sanitation conditions.

With cold nights and heavy rains drenching clothes and mattresses, hypothermia becomes a deadly threat for the youngest.

“Lack of medical care, hygiene, and high levels of malnutrition while living in overcrowded shelters are a poisonous mix, and we fear the numbers of women and children dying of otherwise preventable and treatable diseases will rise,” said Hiba Tibi.

According to the World Food Program, there is a high risk of famine and cases of dehydration and malnutrition are increasing rapidly.

The situation has further deteriorated since the truce ended with thousands more people needing to flee to areas that don’t have enough food and water for survival.

Up to half of all displaced people report going to sleep hungry, and 44 percent report “very severe hunger levels.”

Our colleague Salwa told us she and her family are surviving on canned food, and have queued hours to buy cooking gas. Food prices are skyrocketing, and families cannot afford to buy fresh produce on the market if it is available at all.

Where to go?
After the end of the #IsraelGazaTruce, thousands of people in #Gaza have been ordered once again to evacuate but have nowhere to go. The remaining shelters are overcrowded, with poor health & hygiene conditions, as CARE's Hiba Tibi shared with @kimbrunhuber.@CNN pic.twitter.com/SH6ACio31R

— CARE International (@CAREGlobal) December 4, 2023

For most of the past year, around 500 truckloads of aid and commercial goods entered Gaza every day.

Over the past two months, only a few dozen trucks per day have been permitted to enter the enclave, despite communities needing more support than ever.

Lack of fuel, communication blackouts, and constant airstrikes make aid delivery difficult to impossible for those in need. More than 135 aid workers have been killed in the past two months alone.

Only an immediate and sustained ceasefire will allow humanitarian agencies to start addressing this unprecedented catastrophe and save the countless lives that are at risk.