IOM Chief and UN Humanitarian Coordinator Visit Gaza

Amman, 20 February 2025 – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Director General Amy Pope and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) Muhannad Hadi have just visited southern Gaza and saw how the humanitarian community is scaling up operations to meet the immense needs of people who have endured more than 500 days of unimaginable hardship. 

As people return to their home areas across Gaza, entire communities are coming back during the ceasefire to find their residences reduced to rubble. With nearly 90% of homes destroyed, hundreds of thousands are left with nowhere to go. Families have been sleeping in makeshift shelters, bombed-out buildings, or out in the open—exposed to winter rain, wind, and cold. Adding to the misery, basic necessities and essential services have been scarce or non-existent.   

“The scale of the destruction here is staggering. Families who have lost everything are facing the cold with no protection, no infrastructure or services, and no certainty about what tomorrow will bring,” said DG Pope. “I spoke with parents struggling to keep their children alive, using anything they can find to build makeshift shelters because there is simply nowhere else to go. That’s why we must scale up operations to help the people here, so they can recover with dignity and live inside Gaza safely, as they have the right to do.” 

IOM, alongside its UN and humanitarian partners, is working hard to increase the flow of emergency shelter assistance. Since 19 January, IOM has dispatched more than 325,000 shelter, water, sanitation, hygiene and non-food items to support people in Gaza. IOM has been using its global expertise in emergency response to deliver life-saving aid to people in Gaza through partners since October 2023. 

For more information, please contact: 
 

Amman: Megan Giovannetti, mgiovannetti@iom.int   
Cairo: Joe Lowry, jlowry@iom.int   
Geneva: Daniela Rovina, drovina@iom.int