OCTOBER 7, 2023
TIME KEPT MOVING.
2023
PHOTO: REUTERS
GAZA CRISIS RESPONSE
October 2023 — September 2026
In the first days of October 2023, families across Gaza began leaving their homes with whatever they could carry. HDF's response started in those same days with food, water and baby formula, and it has continued every month since.
Over 35 months, that work grew into a clinic, a school, care for orphans and bakeries making bread inside Gaza. This report follows that work month by month.
YEAR ONE
October 2023 to September 2024
The first year began with emergency distributions in shelters and ended with a permanent clinic, a school and a daily water service. Families were moving again and again, so the response had to move with them.
2,122+ households reached in 2023
1,000 people supported through rapid response grants
20 water tanks installed in high need areas
1st permanent HDF medical clinic in Gaza
121,430 patients treated by the clinic and mobile units
231,250 people reached by water trucking (37,000 liters a day)
1.2M hot meals
190+ students at the Seeds of Hope School
934 orphans sponsored
OCTOBER 2023
Thousands of people left their homes within days in search of safety, many with only what they could carry. HDF activated its emergency response in Gaza. Relief teams began assessing needs and registering families, and built the logistics and local partnerships that a longer response would depend on.
NOVEMBER TO DECEMBER 2023
Families who had already fled once were relocating a second and third time as the weather turned cold. HDF launched its foundational programs, bringing food parcels, hot meals, infant formula and children's winter clothing to shelters, and installing water tanks in the areas with the greatest need.
2,122+ households reached
20 water tanks installed
1,000 people supported through rapid response grants
JANUARY TO MARCH 2024
With hospitals overwhelmed and waterborne diseases spreading through crowded sites, the need was going to last. HDF set up a structured food distribution network, started daily water trucking and expanded shelter and hygiene kit distributions. During these months, planning began for a permanent clinic and an education program.
APRIL TO JUNE 2024
Specialist care had become nearly impossible to reach and mothers, young children and people with chronic illness were going without treatment. HDF opened its first permanent medical clinic in Gaza with maternal and child health services, chronic illness care and daily emergency consultations. Outreach teams, a telehealth platform and mobile missions carried that care into the displacement camps.
1st permanent HDF clinic in Gaza
Daily emergency consultations
JULY TO SEPTEMBER 2024
learning again
With most of Gaza's population displaced, many children had gone months without school. HDF opened the Seeds of Hope School so they could start learning again, and began sponsoring orphans so children who had lost their parents had steady support. Hot meals and daily water trucking continued across the camps.
190+ students at Seeds of Hope School
934 orphans sponsored
1.2M hot meals
YEAR TWO
October 2024 to October 2025
Year two brought a second winter, a second Ramadan under these conditions and an evacuation order in the north. The clinic stayed open through all of it, and programs reached back into North Gaza and out to the West Bank.
600,000+ beneficiaries of food, water, shelter and winter support
2.64M programmatic touchpoints in 2024
37,000 liters of water a day to Central and South Gaza
15,000+ patients at the fixed clinic, January to June 2025
500 to 600 telehealth patients a week
31,250 patients reached by mobile health in 2025
200 cataract surgeries
3,000+ baby formula units for families evacuating North Gaza
500 to 700 families supported through relocation
24 months of continuous operations
OCTOBER TO DECEMBER 2024
The cold returned to families still living in tents and temporary shelters. HDF's food, water and winter support reached more families than in any season before, and new tents with washroom units went up for families who needed sturdier shelter.
600,000+ beneficiaries reached
2.86M liters of clean water
100 new tents with washroom units
JANUARY TO MARCH 2025
Winter rain flooded tents across the camps, and respiratory illness spread quickly among families sleeping close together. HDF's winter emergency campaign brought heaters, fuel and blankets into those tents, along with hygiene kits and hot meals. Mobile clinics moved from camp to camp in Central Gaza, treating wounds, chronic illness and the infections the cold was spreading.
37,000 liters of water a day to Central and South Gaza
APRIL TO JUNE 2025
care continued
A second Ramadan under these conditions put more strain on families' nutrition, and skin conditions spread with overcrowding. HDF scaled up hot meals and daily water for the month, and a maternal and child health caravan joined the clinic's work. When travel across Gaza wasn't possible, telehealth kept patients in contact with their doctors.
15,000+ patients at the fixed clinic
100 to 150 consultations a day
500 to 600 telehealth patients a week
Fixed clinic: general medicine, maternal and child health, chronic disease management and wound care
Mobile caravans: first line treatment and referrals for hard to reach camps and informal shelters
Telehealth: maternal health, chronic disease and mental health support when movement is restricted
Specialist days: cataract surgery, dermatology, ophthalmology and maternal health
Pharmacy: antibiotics, antifungals, anti inflammatory drugs and blood pressure medication kept in stock for clinic and mobile teams
Water and sanitation: 2,500+ hygiene kits and 4 movable sanitation units serving 280 people a day
JULY TO SEPTEMBER 2025
Families were still scattered across Gaza and the West Bank, and specialist care remained scarce. HDF brought its programs back to North Gaza, with medical caravans carrying emergency care to families there, and opened a new West Bank program with food and fresh produce parcels. For patients who had been living with cataracts, surgery meant seeing clearly again.
200 cataract surgeries
1.165M liters of water
20,000 hot meals
SEPTEMBER 2025
Families across North Gaza were ordered to leave immediately, including hundreds of families HDF was serving, and an HDF campsite of more than 60 tents was destroyed. Before the deadline, teams got food parcels and baby formula to families as they prepared to go. Health services moved south with them to Central and South Gaza, and relocated families were tracked so their support could follow them wherever they settled.
3,000+ baby formula units for evacuating families
500 to 700 families supported through relocation
OCTOBER 2025
Two years in, the families HDF served were still living with displacement and limited services. The response around them had grown steadier: a clinic running at full capacity, mobile teams reaching remote camps, and food, water, shelter and education programs running across all three regions. Funded by supporters and carried out by HDF teams and partners in Gaza, that work continued into a third year
YEAR THREE
November 2025 to September 2026
In year three, more of what families receive came from inside Gaza, with bread and manaqeesh baked daily by local bakers in two community bakeries. The work also settled into longer commitments: meals on a steady daily schedule, a care program that follows each orphan through school and health, and a new program for children with disabilities.
~1M hot meals served
~84K meals a month (2,800 a day)
3,835 patients treated
570 students in education
1,000 orphans in comprehensive care
2 community bakeries built
24 home caravans delivered since January 2026
2,900 people (580 families) received frozen meat as a Qurbani alternative
19,565 Ramadan beneficiaries
158,000 people given water in April 2026
NOVEMBER 2025
As a third winter set in, the HDF Clinic Caravan brought medical care to camps with no clinic nearby, and families received winter clothing and bedding for the cold months ahead. This was also when the hot meal program began the run that would carry it through the next eleven months.
678 patients seen by the Clinic Caravan
4,600+ people received winter clothing and bedding
2,133 baby formula units
DECEMBER 2025 TO FEBRUARY 2026
From December, hot meals were served every day across HDF's North and Central Gaza camps, and that schedule was held through May. For children living in tents, it meant a warm plate arriving at the same hour each day, something steady to count on through the winter. Water deliveries and fresh milk continued through the coldest weeks.
2,800 hot meals a day
810,000 to 870,000 liters of water a month
3,000 fresh milk units
MARCH 2026
Families kept a third Ramadan under these conditions, waking for suhoor before dawn and gathering to break their fast at sunset. HDF served both meals across the camps, along with food parcels families could cook from themselves. In the last fifteen days, daily hot meals in the North and Central camps returned alongside the Ramadan meals, so families had more on the table through the final nights of the month.
19,565 Ramadan beneficiaries
7,280 iftar and 4,000 suhoor meals
1,657 food parcels
APRIL 2026
Water distribution reached families across the camps this month, alongside daily hot meals in the North and Central camps. Where clean water is scarce, illness spreads quickly, and regular deliveries help families stay well.
158,000 people given water
790,000 liters delivered
230,900 combined meal and water beneficiaries
MAY 2026
On May 2, HDF's partner in Gaza held the opening ceremony for a comprehensive care program for orphans. Each child's needs are coordinated through a single program, so the support around them works together as they grow.
1,000 orphans enrolled
4 areas of support: education, health, psychosocial and livelihood
On May 17, HDF's first bakery began baking in North Gaza, and fresh bread and manaqeesh joined the daily meal distributions in the camps. More families moved into home caravans, a sturdier place to live than a tent. For Eid al-Adha, families received frozen meat as a Qurbani alternative, along with Eid sweets and new clothes.
16,800 bakery items
2,900 people (580 families) received frozen meat as a Qurbani alternative
11 home caravans delivered, 24 since January 2026
JUNE 2026
With most of Central Gaza's commercial bakeries damaged or destroyed, the HDF Community Bakery opened with industrial equipment and a team of local bakers, so families receive bread baked in Gaza by people from Gaza. It bakes daily for displaced families, orphan households, households led by women and the host communities sheltering them.
36,400 bakery items: 5,200 bread bags and 31,200 manaqeesh
200 to 500 bread bags a day
Six veteran clubs from across Gaza, from Rafah to Beit Hanoun and Al-Shuja'iya, met at Al-Ittihad Deir Al-Balah Stadium for a tournament HDF led and sponsored. The Committee of Former Players brought the clubs together, and the Palestinian Football Association and Palestinian Olympic Committee supervised play. Khidmat Rafah Club took the trophy in front of a crowd that came out to watch.
50+ players and participants
6 veteran clubs
1 trophy, won by Khidmat Rafah Club
50+ children in care
HDF opened Children of Rahma, a child friendly center in Gaza for children living with conflict related injuries, amputations, disabilities and trauma. Each child's care is built around their own needs, and caregivers are trained so progress can continue at home.
Physiotherapy and occupational therapy
Speech and language therapy
Psychosocial support
Daily meals and hygiene supplies
JULY, 2026
HDF and the Palestine Amputee Football Association hosted a football day for women players living with conflict related amputations at Al-Enan Club in Deir Al-Balah. It opened with the national anthem, followed by skills demonstrations, a refereed match, medals and trophies, and lunch shared with families and coaches.
AUGUST 2026
As the new school year began, students set off for class with new school bags on their shoulders. Daily hot meals returned to the North and Central camps through donor support, and fresh bread from both bakeries kept reaching families through the month.
541 school bags for 541 students
2,800 hot meals a day
15,000 bread bags
SEPTEMBER 2026 TO PRESENT
Three years after the first distributions, the work continues every day across Gaza. Bread from two community bakeries and a daily hot meal reach families on a schedule they can rely on, while children in the orphan care program and Children of Rahma receive steady support.
October 2023 to September 2026
35 months of continuous response
8 life saving sectors
5.3M+ humanitarian touchpoints
5.2M+ hot meals served
151K+ patients treated
58K+ food parcels delivered
26.6M+ liters of clean water
220K+ bags of bread
52,000+ infant formula units
1,760 students receiving education
300 tents built
200 sight restoring surgeries
Three years in, the families of Gaza remain at the heart of this work. They have held on to daily routines, sent their children back to class, baked bread for their neighbors and stepped back onto the football pitch. We carry deep gratitude for their trust, and for the staff and local partners in Gaza who kept the work moving through evacuation orders, flooding and three winters. Alongside them stands a community of supporters that has given steadily, month after month.
THREE YEARS.
1,096 DAYS.
after 1,096 days...
Still serving.
Still healing.
Still feeding.
Still teaching.
Still showing up.
BUT STAYING TAKES ALL OF US.
Our commitment holds. HDF will stay for as long as families in Gaza need us.
