Gaza Herald – UNRWA said that around 1.6 million Palestinians across Gaza were suffering from malnutrition, as the enclave remained sealed off and battered by genocide, displacement, and a deepening humanitarian collapse. The agency warned that access to food, clean water, and basic services had been critically eroded.
As deadly winter conditions set in, three people have been reported dead since the current weather system began, including a newborn infant who died from freezing. UN officials said the deaths highlighted how exposure, inadequate shelter, and fuel shortages were turning harsh weather into a lethal threat for displaced families.
Despite severe limitations, UNRWA said it had carried out rapid emergency interventions. The agency reported sheltering about 80,000 Palestinians inside its facilities, while hundreds of thousands more gathered around these sites seeking safety, warmth, and assistance.
UNRWA spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna said the agency’s 12,000 staff members inside Gaza were working around the clock, with environmental health and logistics teams responding as quickly as possible. However, he described the situation as a “massive humanitarian earthquake or tsunami” that far exceeded the capacity of UNRWA or Gaza’s devastated municipalities.
Abu Hasna warned of a dangerously dramatic deterioration ahead, citing the lack of heavy machinery, water pumps, mobile sewage systems, and shelter supplies, which are being blocked from entering Gaza. With heavier winter rains still expected in January and February, he cautioned that without immediate access to equipment and hundreds of thousands of tents waiting at border crossings, Gaza risked sliding back into full-scale famine and humanitarian collapse.
