GAZA / NEW YORK — Families in Gaza are bracing for a fourth winter in tents and makeshift shelters as UN aid operations face mounting obstacles, with transport suspended on Tuesday due to Israel's closure of the key Kerem Shalom crossing for election day, UN News reported.

Source: UN News

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the UN and its partners keep bringing limited supplies into Gaza and delivering them to people in need despite restrictions and funding shortfalls, but Tuesday was an exception because transport operations had to be suspended. On Monday, UN teams brought in food supplies, blankets, winter clothes, school items and fuel, OCHA said.

Source: OCHA daily update, via EuropeSays

950,000people living in displacement sites at medium-to-high risk of flooding, according to a shelter assessment cited by OCHA
US$4 billionsize of the UN Flash Appeal for the Occupied Palestinian Territory — only 41% funded, OCHA said (yaani about $1.64 billion received so far)
8,000+children given school bags by partners over the past week, alongside other education supplies
~60,000children supported by about 300 classrooms furnished the week before, OCHA said

People are bracing for a fourth winter season while living in deteriorating tents and makeshift shelters, with little protection from the cold, wind, rain and risk of flooding, OCHA said. The UN Development Programme said teams are using recycled crushed concrete to raise and level shelter sites ahead of winter, but stocks of supplies are insufficient and more funding and an easing of restrictions are urgently needed, it added.

The UN project services agency UNOPS reported three incidents affecting its convoys and premises over three consecutive days in the past week alone, UN News said. Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva said these included close-proximity explosions, drivers detained at checkpoints, and multiple small-arms rounds striking one of the agency's guesthouses. The safety of UNOPS staff has been compromised too many times, he said, stressing that all parties must uphold their obligations to protect civilians and humanitarian personnel.

Source: UN News

Separately, Secretary-General António Guterres remains deeply alarmed over intensifying violence in the West Bank as an Israeli offensive in Hebron continues, Associate Spokesperson Daniela Gross told journalists in New York. He condemns the violence and firmly opposed the settler attacks in the region, she said.

What is solid

  • The Kerem Shalom closure for Israel's election day and the one-day suspension of aid transport are reported by both UN News and OCHA's daily update.
  • The figures for people at flooding risk (950,000), the $4 billion appeal being 41% funded, and the school-supply deliveries are OCHA's published figures, attributed to OCHA and its humanitarian partners.
  • UNOPS's three incidents in three days and its executive director's remarks are from UN News's report of the agency's account.

What is only claimed

  • OCHA's West Bank casualty and displacement figures — 331 Palestinians, including 77 children, killed and more than 42,000 displaced between January 2025 and the end of September 2026, 21 Israelis killed in the same period, and 3,684 settler attacks recorded — are UN-compiled figures; Israeli authorities have disputed UN characterisations of operations in the West Bank in the past, and no Israeli response to these specific figures was included in the UN reports.

What happens next: aid transport was expected to depend on the crossing reopening after election day, while shelter partners warn that heavy rains could force further displacement from sites already at flooding risk, with supply stocks insufficient for the winter ahead, OCHA said.