The United Nations is launching a $613 million appeal for funds to meet emergency relief and early recovery needs in Gaza, following 22 days of fighting between Gaza's Hamas rulers and Israel.
The conflict ended on Jan. 18 with a fragile truce, but aid agencies are now struggling to respond to a humanitarian emergency as many of the tiny enclave's 1.5 million people lack shelter, food and water.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon launched the flash appeal on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He said a U.N. assessment mission had revealed that the humanitarian needs in Gaza are "massive and multi-faceted".
"Without urgent action, Gaza faces an even greater humanitarian calamity," he told the forum of business leaders.
The appeal will be formally launched on Monday in Geneva by U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes.
It aims to help U.N. agencies and aid groups support 1.4 million people over the coming nine months, according to a fact sheet issued by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The largest chunks of funding are intended for food aid ($153 million), shelter and other non-food relief supplies ($128 million) and cash-for-work payments ($92 million).
The United Nations has so far received $80 million towards its relief work, and is seeking a further $533 million.
The fact sheet says the fighting, which began on Dec. 27, killed around 1,300 people in Gaza and left at least 5,300 injured, including 1,855 children. Around 21,000 homes were destroyed or badly damaged - about 13 percent of Gaza's housing stock.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been cut off from basic services including water and sanitation, health care, food supplies and markets, and cannot even access cash, OCHA says.
"People have lost their families, they have lost their homes, belongings and livelihoods," said the U.N. secretary-general. "Schools, clinics, factories and business have been destroyed."
The United Nations is also assessing what will be needed for longer-term reconstruction, and says it will develop a plan for this as soon as possible.
The flash appeal fact sheet says the conflict compounded a humanitarian crisis Gaza had already been suffering because of 18 months of restrictions on the entry of goods into the Strip. This had damaged people's livelihoods and essential services, making them more vulnerable.
It adds that the work the appeal aims to fund "requires, for full implementation, the sustained opening of all crossings into Gaza for relief supplies and aid workers".
Holmes, also in Davos on Thursday, called on Israel to lift its blockade of the Palestinian territory, which it says is necessary to stop Hamas acquiring weapons.
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