Urgent health update: Consequences of war on Gaza, West Bank/East Jerusalem, and Lebanon 2/14/25

Support UNRWA!

Much of the information, and almost all the good news, contained in these weekly updates comes from UNRWA efforts to keep Palestinians in schools, housing and health care, both in the West Bank and Gaza. Oppose Israel’s attempt to get rid of UNRWA, supported by the US government although hardly anyone else in the world. See the JVP Health Advisory Council statement on our website and be sure your local and national electeds, as well as your unions and associations, support UNRWA.

For more on the role of UNRWA, see this Mondoweiss article: here

Here is a worrisome analysis of what Trump’s Gaza plan means for the world. here

Highlights:

1. Ethnic Cleansing Won’t Make the Middle East Safer (and will encourage other powers to disregard sovereignty, international law, and self-determination

2. Trump Is Motivating Islamist Extremists to Kill Americans: foreign military occupation is the leading cause of the worst forms of terrorism—suicide attacks—and has also led to the rise of the terrorist groups that use these deadly tactics.

3. What Trump Really Wants in Gaza-likely seeking to pressure Arab nations into doing more for Gaza through his threats of the United States taking over the Gaza Strip—signaling that he would reluctantly have to get involved if they don’t take the initiative.

4. Criticizing Trump Isn’t Enough. Arab Leaders Need a Counterproposal.

5. Trump’s Plan for ‘Cleaning Out’ Gaza Didn’t Emerge in a Vacuum-it is the natural culmination of his predecessor’s policies—as well as years of dehumanization of Palestinians in U.S. political discourse.

6. Trump’s Gaza Proposal Is Less Original Than He Thinks- it originated with his son-in-law Jared Kushner

7. Palestinians Have Always Feared U.S. Complicity in Erasing Their Presence

8. Why Egypt Is United in Opposing Trump’s Gaza Plan-because they support Palestinians and an influx of Palestinians create a national security issue that would undermine its already shaky domestic support and open the door for a security crisis due to the importation of Gaza’s violence to its territory.

9. The Arab World Sees Trump’s Gaza Plan as a Declaration of War

10. Trump Makes Population Transfer an American Policy

MEDICAL JOURNAL

British Medical Journal: Campaigners have criticized the UK government for not allowing medical evacuation of severely injured Gazan children to the UK, despite calls from doctors, humanitarian organizations, and MPs. 50+ MPs signed a letter to PM Starmer calling for action. here

PODCAST: Emergency health care in Gaza here Dr. Mimi Sayed and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa both traveled to Gaza multiple times on medical missions to provide emergency health care during the war.

VIDEO: Medical witnesses to a war of extermination here

The Israeli army has expanded their open-fire orders, leading to a surge in Palestinian civilian deaths. According to Israeli army commanders and soldiers, the new orders allow shooting anyone suspected of planting an explosive device, as well as vehicles approaching a checkpoint.

Especially if you live in Virginia

Shaden Qous, a US citizen from Virginia, was arbitrarily detained by Israeli forces on 1/6, after 5 days of house arrest and an intense interrogation. The 22-year-old Afro-Palestinian artist, activist, and law student, was forcibly taken from her East Jerusalem home, had her belongings confiscated, and is being held in Ofer Military Prison on charges of "incitement" over social media posts. Israeli authorities denied her the right to mourn her father, who passed away suddenly last week, delaying her release on bail until after his funeral. Demand her release: here

GAZA

Since the Gaza ceasefire began on 1/19, 5 exchanges have released 21 hostages to Israel and 766 Palestinian detainees. Another exchange is scheduled for 2/15 to include 3 hostages, 36 Palestinian prisoners, and 333 Palestinians detained during the attacks on Gaza.

Killed: 48,219 + (107 this week, 87 of whom were corpses unearthed in the rubble)

Injured: 111,665+ (47 this week)

Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza: 407 (2 this week)

Israeli soldiers injured in Gaza: 2,579 (8 this week)

(Note: This week’s Israeli deaths & injuries were caused by a heavy equipment crane collapse.)

Hostages in Gaza: 76

• The Gaza Information Ministry said that more than 14,000 people are still missing in Gaza, adding that it has decided to classify the missing as killed, which by their estimate brings the updated death toll in the Strip to over 62,000.

• February 2025 Israel Prison Service (IPS) data lists: 9,846 Palestinians in Israeli custody, including 1,734 sentenced prisoners, 2,941 remand detainees, 3,369 administrative detainees (held without trial), and 1,802 “unlawful combatants.” These figures do not include Palestinians from Gaza detained by the Israeli military since 10/2023.

For more Gaza data: here

Israeli attacks

• 2/5, a boy was killed in Rafah.

• 2/6, a man was killed in Deir al Balah.

• 2/9, an elderly woman was killed in eastern Khan Younis.

• 2/9, Israeli forces shot and killed 3 (5 injured) returning to their homes in Gaza City.

• 2/9, as part of phase 1 of the ceasefire agreement, Israeli military withdrew from the Netzarim corridor and announced that movement on foot via Salah Al Deen Road will be permitted and movement of vehicles will continue to be subject to inspection. They warned residents not to approach any area where Israeli forces are deployed, including the Rafah Crossing, the Philadelphi Corridor, the ”buffer zone,” and the maritime area.

• The “buffer zone” along the eastern Gaza border was home to 238,000 Palestinians prior to 10/2023. UNOSAT shows 90% of its 4,000 structures are destroyed. The area encompasses essential facilities, including wells, sewage pumping stations, wastewater treatment plants, and the main Sufa landfill in Khan Younis governorate. Israel continues to hinder repairs and restoration of key facilities in the buffer zones, aggravating public health risks.

Health and Hospitals

• Between 2/5-10, 256 patients (56 children) and 327 companions were evacuated to Egypt via Rafah Crossing. 12-14,000 people (5,000 children) remain in urgent need of medical evacuation.

• According to WHO, about 1,900 hospital beds are now available at partially functional hospitals and field hospitals across the Gaza Strip to cover the needs of over 2 million people, compared with 3,500 beds that were available prior to the escalation of hostilities. 30,000 people have serious, life-changing injuries requiring ongoing rehabilitation unavailable in Gaza.

• Palestine Red Crescent transferred its field hospital from Khan Younis to Gaza City. This hospital includes surgery, neonatal care, intensive care, radiology and emergency services, operated by a team from Al-Quds Hospital of Gaza City, rendered inoperable by Israeli attacks. There are 10 more field hospitals: 4 in Deir al Balah, 4 in Khan Younis and 2 in Rafah (where all 3 hospitals were destroyed).

• UNRWA opened a new physiotherapy unit at Muawiya Health Centre. MoH announced the Central Blood Bank (Gaza City) is again functional, calling for blood donations to restock the Central Blood Bank as well as the Al Sahaba and Al Ahli Arab hospitals (Gaza City). As of 2/11, only 40% of primary health centers (57 of 142) and 51% of hospitals (18 of 35) are at least partially operational.

• UNFPA is restocking medicines for deliveries, obstetric and gynecological complications, antenatal and postnatal care, family planning and STIs, as well as infant warmers, postpartum kits and dignity kits. Emergency obstetric and newborn services are now available (though understaffed and overstretched) at 12 health facilities.

• UNRWA continues to provide mental health services, reaching 10,907 children, youth and adults between 2/3-9 with psychological first aid, individual and group counselling, fatigue management, recreational activities, explosive ordnance risk education and protection cash assistance, reaching children, youth and adults. UNRWA provides health services at 3 of its 22 health centers, 4 temporary centers, and 54 medical points.

• Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, met with his lawyer for the first time on 2/11 after being forcibly detained on 12/27/24. He described “the torture and abuse” he has been subjected in Israeli detention, including 25 days of solitary confinement at Ofer Prison, “a period so prolonged as to constitute a form of torture in itself.”

Report: On children in Gaza from the Arab Network for Early Childhood Development here

And related Petition: The Palestine-Global Mental Health Network and our international counterparts call upon global leaders to uphold international law and protect Palestinian children by cutting off every channel of support—military, political, financial, and diplomatic—that sustains Israel’s systematic human rights abuses. 1. Sign this Petition 2. Write to Lawmakers (follow link) for more info here

Movement, Displacement & Shelter

• Site Management Cluster counted 586,000 people crossing from southern to northern Gaza between 1/27-2/6; 56,000 crossing southwards

• With 92% of homes in Gaza damaged or destroyed, there is a critical shortage of adequate shelter and shelter materials, creating unsafe and undignified living conditions, especially for women and girls. Heightened risks of gender-based violence (GBV), worsening levels of personal hygiene, including menstrual hygiene, and growing vulnerability to mental and physical health risks, and scarcity of shelter materials exacerbates existing power imbalances, leaving the most vulnerable groups, such as female-headed households, unaccompanied minors, and persons with disabilities, at greater risk of exploitation as they struggle to access the shelter they need. Many are forced to seek refuge in damaged buildings and are exposed to the dangers of explosive remnants of war (ERW). Nearly a million displaced Palestinians remain in immediate need of assistance to protect themselves from harsh weather conditions.

• As of 2/6, UNRWA is running 120 emergency shelters for 120,000 people throughout Gaza, including 37 established after the ceasefire for 30,000 in the north. As heavy rain and winds expose thousands to dangerous weather, UNRWA stated: “People living in makeshift tents in Gaza are at the mercy of severe winter storms… Hundreds of families in Deir al Balah and North Gaza have been affected, with hundreds of tents destroyed and several households displaced.” 5 child-friendly safe spaces were destroyed by weather, and in Jabalya, the women and girl’s safe space, serving nearly 500 women and girls monthly, was destroyed.

Aid

• The surge in the daily entry of supplies into Gaza (through Erez and Zikim crossings in the north and Kerem Shalom Crossing in the south) since the ceasefire began has enabled the delivery of lifesaving assistance throughout the Strip, including areas previously difficult or impossible to access, such as Rafah, Gaza and North Gaza.

Food & Nutrition

• With flour and fuel available, the WFP is now supporting 22 bakeries: 1 in North Gaza, 7 in Gaza, 6 in Deir al Balah, and 8 in Khan Younis. Cooked meals prepared in about 160 kitchens reach 20% more families daily. WFP also provided cash assistance to 15,791 households (1/31), aiming to double that within a month.

• Nutrition Cluster partners have increased screenings of children <5 and pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBW). 42 new nutrition sites have opened, bringing the total to 204. 3 stabilization centers are operational, following a closure due to funding. Since 1/1, 2,369 children have been admitted for outpatient treatment of acute malnutrition. As for maternal malnutrition, data shows an average rate of 10-15%.

• Overall, the Nutrition Cluster estimates that 290,000 children <5 and 150,000 PBW require feeding and micronutrient supplements. In January, UNICEF reached 10,000+ children <2 with RUTFs (ready-to-use therapeutic food); 132,229 children and 58,254 PBW received food supplements; and nearly 220,000 received counselling on infant nutrition.

Education

• Last week, Education Cluster partners established 13 new temporary learning spaces (TLS) in Gaza, Deir al Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah governorates, supporting 1,700 returned or relocated school-aged children. Given the Israeli destruction of education infrastructure and continuing use of schools as shelters, space for education is limited. As of 2/10, there are 403 TLSs serving 152,000 children (48% girls, 52% boys), with UNRWA as the largest provider. TLS offer psycho-social support (PSS), recreational activities, and lifesaving messages on protection and hygiene promotion which kids share with their families.

THE WEST BANK, INCLUDING EAST JERUSALEM

The ceasefire and lessening of violence in Gaza have increased already high levels of Israeli violence in the northern West Bank. Over 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced from refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas.

This week, Israeli forces killed 5 Palestinians (1 child) and injured 49.

Killed since October 2023: 1047 (221 children) and injured: 16,531 (2,545 children).

Israeli deaths: 2 soldiers killed this week and 6 injured.

For more detail: here

• Since October 2023, and especially since this January, the intensity of Israeli military operations in the West Bank has escalated to a level unseen since the 2nd Intifada. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announced “Operation Iron Wall” on 1/21—a bombing campaign and ground invasion centered on the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank. here

• UN says 40,000 displaced in West Bank as Israel accused of readying annexation. Jamal Juma'a, of the Stop the Wall campaign, tells MEE that the Israeli offensive is preparing the infrastructure for a US-backed land grab. here

• Israel’s offensive in the West Bank is act 2 of the Gaza genocide. Israel’s goal is not to wipe out Palestinian resistance, but to ethnically cleanse the West Bank and set the stage for annexation. here

Israeli Attacks

• 2/4, a Palestinian man shot and killed 2 Israeli soldiers and injured 6 at Taysir checkpoint near Tubas. He was killed by soldiers who withheld his body. Israeli forces closed the Taysir checkpoint (connecting Tammun area with the northern Jordan Valley), affecting 60,000 people as well thousands travelling between Nablus and Jericho.

• 2/7, a boy died who was shot by Israeli forces in Tulkarm on 1/28 when he stepped out of his house, even though no fighting happening there. After he was taken away by ambulance, Israeli forces assaulted and detained his father for an hour.

• 2/9, Israeli forces shot and killed 2 women (1 in her 8th month of pregnancy) and injured 2 men in Nur Shams refugee camp (Tulkarm). The same day, Israeli forces shot and killed one man and injured 4 (1 child) in Nur Shams.

• Several medical teams this week reported Israeli forces delayed them while transporting the injured to hospital. World Health Organization reports 694 attacks on health in the West Bank from April-December 2024, causing 26 deaths and 121 injuries, involving 62 health facilities, 22 mobile clinics, and 475 ambulances. 172 health care staff were detained or arrested on duty, along with 25 patients. 20% of attacks involved the search of health facilities, transport, or personnel, and 77% obstructed health care delivery.

• The Israeli army invaded and occupied an UNRWA Health Center in the Arroub Refugee Camp (Bethlehem) in violation of international law. UNRWA said Israeli occupation forces “forcibly entered the health center and used it for the detention and interrogation of tens of Palestinian residents rounded up in the camp.”

• Since the ceasefire agreement, Israeli forces have restricted access in home villages of freed prisoners, raided 20 prisoner family homes to disperse or prohibit celebrations (interrogating and detaining family members), and dispersed crowds in Beituniya (near Ofer Prison) awaiting the release of loved ones. Israeli forces shot and killed 1 Palestinian and injured 134 (28 children) mainly in Beituniya (113), injuring 96 with tear gas.

• A Palestinian official stated that President Abbas revoked the laws enabling payments to the families of prisoners and those killed by the Israeli army, a move that had been communicated to the US administration in advance. The decree also transfers the cash assistance program, its database, and allocations from the Ministry of Social Development to the Palestinian National Foundation for Economic Empowerment.

Settler Attacks

This week, settlers carried out 15 attacks against Palestinians, injuring 3 (1 child) and damaging property (250+ olive trees). In addition, between 1/15-20, large groups of Israeli settlers protesting the ceasefire raided 11 Palestinian towns and villages in 4 governorates, injuring 17 (2 children) and damaging property.

• 2/4, settlers raided agricultural lands of Al Lubban ash Sharqiya village (Nablus), destroying 55 olive trees between 60-65 years old.

• 2/5, settlers uprooted 200 olive trees in Kafr Ra’I village, Jenin.

• 2/7, settlers injured a man walking through Wadi Salem, near Al Khader village (Bethlehem).

• 2/9, armed settlers raided a house and injured a boy on the roof in Tuba (in the Israeli-designated “Firing Zone 918” in Masafer Yatta, Hebron). Neighbors heard him screaming and rushed to help, driving off the settlers.

• A settler was charged with several counts of “terror-motivated aggravated assault driven by racism against Arabs” for opening fire on a Palestinian family harvesting olives in the West Bank. This is unusual: 94% of crimes by Jews against Palestinians in the West Bank are closed without charges.

Demolitions & Displacement

This week, Israeli authorities demolished 49 Palestinian-owned structures for lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 76 people (37 children) and affecting 100 people (13 children). Over the past 2 years, Israeli authorities demolished more than 434 structures in East Jerusalem: 226 were homes, displacing over 1,200 Palestinians (590 children).

• 2/4, the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority (INPA), accompanied by settlers from the Elad organization, seized a one-dunum plot of land used as a children's cemetery since the 16th century in the Wadi Hilweh area of Silwan, East Jerusalem. The INPA and settlers destroyed its surrounding metal fence, removed the cemetery’s sign, and posted a notice declaring the land "public property." No formal confiscation order had been received. Silwan is one of the East Jerusalem communities most affected by evictions by Israeli settler organizations, threatening over 900 people (400 children) with displacement.

• Between 2/4-9, Israeli forces raided 2 Educational Bookshop locations, detaining the owners and seizing materials. They also sealed an Old City library, serving the community since the 1970s, confiscating books, arresting the owner and workers, and ordering a 1-month closure.

Developments in northern West Bank

• The Israeli operations in the north entered their 4th week, now involving Jenin, Tulkarm, Tammun, Tubas and multiple refugee camps. As of 2/13, at least 44 Palestinians have been killed (25 in Jenin, 10 in Tubas, and 9 in Tulkarm).

• 2/12, UNICEF expressed concern about the number of children killed (13), injured, or displaced in the northern West Bank so far in 2025. Israeli military operations have disrupted education in about 100 schools, further exacerbating psychological and social stress.

• 2/10, UNRWA reported over 40,000 Palestine refugees from Jenin, Tulkarm, Nur Shams, and El Far’a refugee camps, as thousands more continue to flee the 4 camps, home to 76,000 refugees. The Jenin and Nur Shams refugee camps are almost completely empty, and thousands have left the Tulkarm and El Far’a camps, seeking refuge in surrounding towns and villages. UNRWA continues to deliver assistance to families outside the camps, but has been forced to suspend operations within the camps. 13 UNRWA schools (serving 5,000 children) remain closed, as are 13 UNRWA health services points.

• Access to the Jenin Governmental Hospital and Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin remains extremely limited; ambulances are searched and delayed at hospital entrances. Jenin Hospital has 100 shattered windows. Red Crescent ambulances face challenges at checkpoints: safe passage for medical teams is denied. Health workers cannot reach their workplaces, essential medicines are in short supply, compounding the crisis.

• Widespread damage to homes and infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems in the 4 refugee camps, poses significant health risks. Farmland access restrictions affect 2,800 dunums of greenhouses and 10,000 dunums of open fields in Tammun, and supply chain disruptions threaten livelihoods and food security.

Lebanon

• The recent Israeli attack on Lebanon killed around 4,000 people, wounded 16,600, and displaced half a million. A ceasefire went into effect on 11/27, but the Israeli army has violated it at least 700 times. Israel continues to bomb, kill, and systematically destroy residential units; it destroys entire towns and attempts to deprive families of their right to return to their homes by occupying villages, taking civilian captives, and targeting returning families. This discussion of challenges for Lebanese children is produced by the Beirut-based Arab Network for Early Childhood Development: here

United States

• Trump has vowed that displaced Palestinians will not be allowed to return to Gaza under his plan for the region. He is threatening to cut aid to Jordan and Egypt if they refuse to accept Palestinians, another step in the decades-long campaign of ethnic cleansing of Palestine. here

• More than 350 rabbis and Jewish creatives and activists signed a New York Times ad condemning Trump’s proposal for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza. Their message to Palestinians: “you are not alone, our attention has not wavered, and we are committed to fighting with every breath we have to stop ethnic cleansing in Gaza.” here

• Donald Trump’s executive order reauthorizing sanctions against international criminal court (ICC) personnel reflects a disgraceful effort to ensure that no American or citizen of an ally (such as Israel) is ever investigated or prosecuted. Quite apart from this warped sense of justice – that it is only for other people – the president’s limited view of the court’s powers was rejected in the treaty establishing the court and repudiated by the Biden administration and even the Republican party. But that didn’t stop Trump. here

• Trumps efforts to downsize USAID endanger funding for food, tents, and medical treatment for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, according to U.S. officials and workers for groups funded by the agency. Officials said that the threats to the aid supply chain risk destabilizing the cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel, which is contingent on the weekly entry of 4,200 aid and commercial trucks to the territory.

United Kingdom

• In August 2024, I resigned over the UK’s refusal to halt arms sales to Israel amid the bombardment of Gaza. This decision followed over a year of internal lobbying and whistleblowing. My resignation made headlines, and weeks later, the new Labour government announced it would finally suspend arms sales to Israel. Welcome, though far too late. Israel continues to commit atrocities in Gaza as the UK stands by, unwilling to act. here

Europe

• German police shut down a pro-Palestine protest in Berlin on 2/8 and arrested demonstrators citing a ban on the use of Arabic. Hundreds gathered near the Wittenbergplatz Metro to support Palestine, under the slogan “Stop the aggression in the West Bank—Do not supply weapons to Israel.”

SOURCES

OCHAOPT, British Medical Journal, DropSiteNews, Guardian, Haaretz, Jewish Currents, Middle East Eye, Mondoweiss, Palestine Chronicle