The European Commission has released an additional €50 million in humanitarian assistance to respond to the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and to address the rising humanitarian needs in the West Bank. This brings total EU emergency humanitarian aid in 2025 to €220 million to Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to over €550 million since 2023.
The first ever famine has been confirmed in Gaza and the massive, forced displacement caused by the ongoing Gaza City military offensive is leaving families desperate for food, shelter, healthcare, and protection. In the occupied West Bank continued forced displacement, severe movement restrictions, and settler violence lead to acute humanitarian needs in protection, shelter, and access to basic services.
The EU's additional funding will help its humanitarian partners on the ground deliver life-saving assistance both in Gaza and the West Bank. Safe, unimpeded access for humanitarian workers is vital across Gaza, and civilians must be protected wherever they are.
Since October 2023, the EU has also organised 77 Humanitarian Airbridge flights and has shipped 5,037 tonnes of relief supplies, including medicines, medical supplies, shelter, water and sanitation, and educational items on behalf of humanitarian partners, EU Member States and from the EU's own stocks. Since 2024, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, has also coordinated the medical evacuations of 306 patients throughout Europe.
Background
Over 1.9 million people (over 90% of the population) have been repeatedly forcibly displaced in Gaza amid intensified Israeli bombardments, including in tents, hospitals and schools, ongoing ground confrontations, and recurrent forced displacement orders.
As of 22 August 2025, Famine (IPC Phase 5) has been confirmed in Gaza. After months of relentless conflict, over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions. Another 1.07 million people, 54 percent of the population, are facing an Emergency or Crisis situation.
In the West Bank, the humanitarian situation continues to significantly worsen, due to, inter alia, rapid settlement expansion and legalisation heightening the risk of de facto annexation, Israeli military operations, and persistent Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian communities with at least 2,300 settler attacks in the West Bank. Almost 40,000 people have been displaced since 1 January 2024.
