Gaza

The ever-changing security situation and ongoing tensions compound the challenges of humanitarian response in Gaza. Before the conflict escalated in 2023, our work focused on implementing emergency preparedness and coordination projects, and on providing primary and secondary healthcare, MHPSS, CP, and services to address VAWG.

Following the conflict’s escalation, we adapted our services to meet the dire humanitarian needs of Gazan civilians, including establishing large, fully functional field hospitals to provide civilians with surgical and trauma services, outpatient services, MHPSS, CP, nutrition and WASH services.

Primary and Secondary Healthcare

Our field hospitals and multi-purpose centres together provide comprehensive primary healthcare services—including outpatient consultations, disease prevention and treatment, routine immunisations, and maternal and newborn healthcare—to displaced populations across Gaza. The hospitals are classified as Level 4 primary healthcare centres.

Our hospital in central Gaza focuses primarily on internal medicine and on comprehensive maternal and newborn health services. It has an emergency room, an operating theatre and a neonatal intensive-care unit (NICU), supported by a laboratory, a pharmacy, a blood bank and a radiology department.

Our field hospitals in the north provide comprehensive medical services focused on trauma care, patient rehabilitation, surgeries and maternity care, offering operating rooms, an intensive care unit and a NICU. The hospitals also offer physiotherapy, integrated protection and nutrition services.

Nutrition

We provide integrated nutrition services through 10 sites at the community and facility levels. These services include malnutrition screening, outpatient therapeutic programmes, targeted supplementary-feeding programmes, blanket supplementary-feeding programmes, infant and young-child feeding (IYCF) programmes and a stabilisation centre.

Regular screening enables early identification and treatment of acute malnutrition. We provide clinical nutrition support to paediatric and adult inpatients through assessments, therapeutic nutrition plans, counselling and monitoring. Our IYCF programming includes counselling, support groups, cooking demonstrations and mother-baby spaces that promote safe infant-feeding practices. We also provide therapeutic and ready-to-eat meals to inpatients.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Our technical experts lead the design, construction and maintenance of critical WASH infrastructure, including reliable water-supply systems with desalination and backup units; accessible sanitation facilities, such as toilets, showers and handwashing stations; and comprehensive waste-management systems that cover medical and general waste through segregation and safe disposal, following strict infection-prevention and control standards.

We raise awareness of handwashing, safe-waste storage and waterborne-disease prevention through hygiene-promotion activities. During emergencies, we deliver safe water to displaced communities through multiple distribution points—ensuring safe, dignified and continuous care in challenging environments.

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support

Our MHPSS work strengthens social connections and promotes positive coping strategies through comprehensive, multi-tiered MHPSS services aligned with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) pyramid and the World Health Organization’s Mental Health Gap Action Programme. We provide MHPSS services through a multidisciplinary team of psychiatrists, psychologists and psychosocial workers who support those experiencing distress, as well as mental, neurological and substance-use conditions.

We use tools such as Self-Help Plus as well as peer-support activities in group sessions to strengthen coping skills and build social connections. In our hospitals and through outreach, our community prevention and promotion activities include psychoeducation, stigma reduction, healing ceremonies and awareness sessions. We help local healthcare workers, volunteers and partner organisations integrate MHPSS into existing systems.

We have established the first inpatient centre for mental health—called the Acute Psychiatric Stabilization Unit—in central Gaza to provide specialised psychiatric care and mental health services to people experiencing psychological distress.

Child Protection

Since establishing our field hospitals, we have expanded our CP interventions to include structured and unstructured psychosocial activities in our child-friendly space. The CP team provides case management, counselling, psychological first aid (PFA), and parenting and awareness sessions to build resilience and strengthen coping.

Children in inpatient care receive daily psychosocial support, including during medical procedures. Our team also supports unaccompanied and separated children by providing structured case management. Our comprehensive approach helps to reduce CP risks and ensure a safe, supportive environment that upholds children’s rights and dignity.

Violence Against Women and Girls

Recognising the needs of women and girls at risk of violence in conflict-affected settings, we provide information sessions, PFA, individual support sessions and targeted interventions to educate the community on how to recognise, prevent and report VAWG. We connect survivors to medical care and psychosocial support through specialised case management.

To provide holistic assistance, we integrate all protection services with medical care. Our teams coordinate referrals internally and externally, and provide protection training for our staff and partners.

To further support women and girls, we operate women’s and girls’ safe spaces (WGSSs) that offer safe environments for information-sharing, social support and skills training. Our WGSS activities build resilience, promote well-being and reduce the risk of VAWG through survivor-centered programming.