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Last updated: January 31, 2025
Israel’s war on Gaza has taken a devastating toll on civilians and fuelled further escalations in violence in Lebanon and across the wider region.
A temporary ceasefire is now in place in Gaza.
After 15 months of bombing, death and destruction, people in Gaza have a reprieve from violence. Hostages from Israel and Palestinian detainees have started to be released.
Please donate today to support people who have lost everything to this war.
Your donation will help provide emergency food, clean water and hygiene kits, and repair water and wastewater networks in Gaza. And your support will help people forced to flee their homes due to the violence in Lebanon.
The Situation
What's happening in Gaza?
- A 42-day (six weeks) temporary ceasefire came into effect from January 19, 2025. The next phases of the ceasefire still need to be negotiated.
- At least 46,000 people have been killed by the Israeli military, a third of them children.
- Homes, hospitals, bakeries and water facilities have been destroyed.
- All of Gaza is still at risk of famine, and children are already dying from malnutrition. The situation in North Gaza is especially dire.
- There is not enough clean, safe water in Gaza. Water and sanitation systems are shattered. The situation is desperate.
- People are returning to their homes to find them turned into rubble. Many will remain living in makeshift tents and shelters, with little protection against the harsh winter weather.
The most urgent needs in Gaza right now are water, food, medical supplies, and shelter.
What's happening in Lebanon?
- Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon forced more than one million people to flee their homes.
- A 60-day ceasefire agreement in Lebanon came into effect from 27 November.
- People are in need of humanitarian aid. Many homes and villages have been destroyed.
- Lebanon can’t afford to bear the weight of this added disaster on its own.
What is Oxfam doing in Gaza?
The Israeli military bombardment, destruction of infrastructure, and restriction on goods entering Gaza, has made a full-scale humanitarian response extremely difficult.
Despite huge obstacles, Oxfam staff and partners are responding as best they can to scale up their humanitarian work during the interim ceasefire.
Oxfam teams and partners have reached more than 1.2 million people with essential support since October 2023, including:
- Emergency food assistance, including fresh vegetables, food parcels, cash and vouchers to over 200,000 people.
- Clean water and sanitation for over 133,000 people, by trucking in water and repairing badly damaged water and wastewater pipelines.
- First aid kits and services to support around 20,000 people in refugee camps, as well as 600 urgent family health packages, 400 hygiene kits and 3,000 protection kits.
- Thousands of blankets, pillows, mattresses and sleeping mats to families forced to live in tents.
Oxfam has worked in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel since the 1950s to help build and protect rights to water, sanitation and hygiene, cash assistance and more.
Oxfam's early recovery work will focus on immediate needs. We will continue working with local partners in the coming weeks and months, helping people get life-saving support such as clean water, food and sanitation.
What is Oxfam doing in Lebanon?
Oxfam is responding to humanitarian needs in Lebanon, providing essential support to people who were forced to flee due to Israeli airstrikes bombarding their homes and communities.
Oxfam teams and partners have reached more than 81,000 people with essential support since September 2024, including:
- Clean water and sanitation
- Emergency cash
- Food
- Hygiene kits
- Menstrual kits
Oxfam and our partners are supporting internally displaced people in shelters in Beirut, Mount Lebanon and North Lebanon.