By Judith Faucher, Institutional Grants and Compliance Officer
Gaza: death, displacement and deprivation continue
Gaza Health Ministry data, which experts deem reliable, indicate that 73,388 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip and another 174,259 injured between October 7, 2023, and August 12, 2026. This includes 1,260 fatalities since the October 2025 ceasefire.
Life remains extremely hard for Gazans for several reasons. With the ceasefire being repeatedly violated, access to aid remains affected. Persisting insecurity and funding shortfalls, too, constrain humanitarian operations. Gazans are again being forcibly displaced, this time along the Yellow Line. With insufficient humanitarian aid entering, the overwhelming majority of Gazans cannot meet their shelter and basic household needs.
Gaza: thirsting, hungry, homeless
As Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada (DPCC) reported a few weeks ago, Gaza is also facing a severe water crisis. According to UNICEF, 82 per cent of households are water-insecure, and 1.1 million children face uncertain access to water daily. Sanitation and hygiene deficits contribute to acute respiratory infections, skin diseases, and, increasingly, waterborne diseases.
Despite food security improving slightly in recent months, malnutrition is widespread. An Action Against Hunger report provides grim detail. While more families are meeting basic caloric needs, diets remain poor in quality, including mostly cereals, flour and processed foods, but too few proteins, vitamins and micronutrients. Fruit and protein-rich foods are eaten once a week or less, and vegetables, just twice weekly. Inflation and livelihood and market disruptions further restrict access to nutritious food. Lack of access to cash and unaffordable prices are major barriers to accessing markets for 63 per cent of households. Meanwhile, with less than 5 per cent of arable land remaining accessible, local production has collapsed, leaving families highly dependent on imported goods and external aid.
Most Gazans remain displaced across overcrowded sites and confined to a shrinking portion of Gaza. According to the International Organization for Migration, 70 per cent of the population lacks adequate shelter. With their ramshackle tents deteriorating rapidly, displaced people are constantly exposed to the elements. Newly displaced families often flee without even their tents or belongings. With waste management systems destroyed, displaced people are increasingly exposed to rodents and other pests.
Our response in Gaza
Thanks to support from the Government of Canada, DPCC has been able to partner with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to respond to the pressing needs of more than 25,000 Palestinians in Gaza.
In 2025-2026, we helped 8,100 individuals in 1,350 households to meet their self-identified and self-prioritized basic needs. This entailed the provision of 700 tents and multi-purpose cash assistance to 3,900 individuals in 650 vulnerable, conflict-affected households.
In 2026-2027, DPCC and CRS will continue providing emergency shelter assistance and multipurpose cash assistance, so that conflict-affected Gazans can live in safe and dignified shelter and meet their basic daily needs. The estimated number of direct beneficiaries for the current year is 17,400.
We are providing 100 emergency shelter kits, 400 tents and 1,400 weather-sealing kits to help families upgrade substandard shelters. This direct, in-kind aid overcomes the problems of the scarcity and unaffordability of constructions materials. Site improvement activities are also being implemented to enhance living conditions for displaced and returnee families in makeshift settlements. Incorporating a gender perspective is central to our approach, as evident, for instance, in the design of tents with private spaces for women.
Finally, multi-purpose cash assistance is being distributed to 1,000 vulnerable conflict-affected Gazan households (6,000 individuals) to help them meet their basic needs. For this, we are adopting vulnerability-based strategies to target and prioritize households headed by women and those that include elderly persons and persons with disabilities or chronic illnesses.
DPCC thanks the Government of Canada for its generosity and trust and commends its partners’ commitment to saving lives in the most difficult circumstances.