Middle East & North Africa
OCHA: 57 killed in Gaza and 244 settler attacks in the West Bank in two weeks, as the olive harvest begins and winter nears
UN humanitarian office OCHA cites Gaza health authorities for 57 deaths between 29 September and 12 October and records 244 settler attacks in the West Bank, as 950,000 displaced Gazans face flood risk.
The UN humanitarian office OCHA reported on 19 October that 57 people were killed and 319 injured in the Gaza Strip between 29 September and 12 October, according to figures it attributes to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. In the same two weeks, OCHA recorded 244 settler attacks in the occupied West Bank that caused casualties, damage or both, as the olive harvest got under way. The figures appear in its humanitarian situation report dated 15 October and posted on 19 October.
Gaza: ceasefire figures and winter risks
OCHA cites the Gaza Ministry of Health for a total of 1,493 Palestinians killed and 5,299 injured since the ceasefire announced on 10 October 2025. Separately, the UN Human Rights Office has verified 1,076 conflict-related deaths between 10 October 2025 and the end of July 2026, including 331 near the Yellow Line. The report says Israeli forces reportedly moved Yellow Line markers westward on 11 October near the Ash Shuja’iyyeh junction in Gaza City, which raised displacement concerns. The report does not carry an Israeli response, and none was found in the sources read for this article.
OCHA also describes the pressure of the coming rainy season. About 950,000 displaced people live in sites at medium to high flood risk, more than 400,000 of them at high risk. Of 294,250 families who need winter shelter help, available supplies could partly assist 52,000, or 18 per cent. Daily cooked-meal production fell by about 12 per cent to roughly 614,000 in early October. The World Food Programme has separately cut Gaza food aid by about a third, as we reported.
West Bank: settler attacks during the harvest
In the West Bank, OCHA recorded five Palestinians killed, three of them in settler attacks, and 246 injured between 29 September and 12 October, including 22 children. It counted 244 settler attacks across 113 communities, about 17 a day, and more than 2,060 since January. Between 1 September and 12 October, it documented 199 settler attacks linked to the olive harvest, with one person killed, 124 injured and more than 2,500 trees damaged. Nine structures were demolished in the period, displacing 96 people. Israel’s own position on these incidents is not included in the OCHA report.
On 19 October, UN human rights experts, who are appointed by the Human Rights Council and are not UN staff, said Palestinian farmers face renewed threats during the harvest, according to UN News. They urged Israel to protect farmers and guarantee safe access to their land. The EU had already condemned attacks by violent settlers, including on European diplomats, in a statement we covered on 18 October.
Earlier Geopolitiki coverage of the ceasefire: Gaza ceasefire “exists in name only” along the Yellow Line, UN envoy Alakbarov tells the Security Council.