Gaza: gunfire damages tents at a Rafah displacement site and forces an aid group out, OCHA says

Gunfire hit and damaged several tents at a displacement site in the northern Rafah area of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday 3 November, reportedly causing injuries and forcing a humanitarian organisation to leave the area, according to the United Nations aid coordination office OCHA. The details were published in an OCHA update on Wednesday 4 November and relayed by UN News.

OCHA said the non-governmental organisation had been working on flood control at the site ahead of the rainy season. The UN account does not say who fired, and the number of people hurt was not given.

Fire near UN facilities and convoys

On the same day, small arms fire was reported near a UN-contracted facility in Deir al Balah and close to a UN-organised convoy in Rafah. According to the UN, no UN staff were injured and no damage was reported in those two cases.

The incidents came, in the UN’s wording, amid continued reports of strikes hitting populated areas and causing civilian casualties across the Gaza Strip. UN Secretary-General’s Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told journalists that civilians, including humanitarian workers, “must always be protected”, and that civilian objects, including humanitarian facilities and vehicles, “must always be spared”.

Geopolitiki has reported on earlier incidents, including Gaza: Israeli strikes kill civilians in Maghazi and al-Mawasi as the Health Ministry presses for the Rafah crossing to open.

Relief continues as winter approaches

OCHA said that, despite the insecurity, relief work goes on. In the last week of October the UN and its partners supported more than 70 households that had lost their shelters and belongings in incidents ranging from airstrikes to domestic fires.

During the same week, child protection partners reached nearly 4,500 boys and girls and more than 2,000 caregivers with mental health and psychosocial support. They identified almost 200 children needing individually tailored help, including 20 who are unaccompanied or separated from their families and 17 who are injured. Partners also supplied vouchers for autumn clothes to more than 1,000 children without parental care.

West Bank olive harvest

In the West Bank, OCHA said the olive harvest continues to be disrupted by Israeli settler violence and restrictions on Palestinians’ access to their groves. Food security partners have provided harvesting tools and machinery across nearly 80 per cent of identified hotspots, and protection partners have supported volunteer harvesting campaigns and a protective presence for farmers. In most locations, OCHA said, assistance can reach only a limited number of pickers because of funding shortfalls, violence and Israeli restrictions.

The UN statement does not carry any comment from the Israeli authorities on the Rafah incidents, and the claims above are those of OCHA and the UN spokesperson.