1000 Days Later: Three Years On, Gaza Still Needs Us

Three years into the crisis, families in Gaza face immense needs. Human Appeal is on the ground delivering essential aid and supporting recovery.

Three years can change a lifetime.

A child who was a toddler when the crisis began is now old enough to attend school. A family that once had a home may still be searching for somewhere safe to live. Parents who once worried about the everyday challenges of raising their children now face the daily struggle of securing food, clean water, and medical care.

For Palestinians in Gaza, the years since October 7, 2023, have brought widespread destruction, displacement, and loss. And while time has passed, the need for humanitarian assistance has not disappeared.

As we mark three years since the escalation of the crisis, the question is not simply what has happened since October 2023. It is what families in Gaza need today, and how we can continue to support them.

Human Appeal has served communities in Gaza since 1991. When the latest crisis escalated in October 2023, our teams began an emergency response on October 9.

Since then, our local teams have continued working to provide essential assistance to families across Gaza, adapting their response as needs and circumstances change.

The scale of this work reflects the scale of the crisis.

Through our emergency response, Human Appeal has delivered more than 200 million litres of clean water, distributed more than 13 million hot meals, and supported 25,000 children who have lost one or both parents.

Behind every figure is a person whose life has been affected by the crisis. Clean water helps families meet a basic daily need; a hot meal provides nourishment when food is scarce; support for children who have lost a parent can help provide some stability amid profound uncertainty.

These interventions cannot undo the devastation families have experienced. But they can help meet urgent needs and provide essential support when it matters most.

The humanitarian needs in Gaza extend far beyond food and water.

Families continue to face displacement, damaged homes, disrupted education, and limited access to healthcare. For children, the consequences reach into almost every part of daily life, from their physical well-being to their education and emotional development.

Human Appeal’s response addresses these interconnected needs.

Access to food and safe drinking water remains essential for families struggling to meet their most basic needs. Human Appeal’s teams continue to support food distribution and operate community kitchens, providing hot meals to people facing food insecurity.

Our water and sanitation work also helps communities access clean water, a necessity for drinking, cooking, and maintaining basic hygiene.

When healthcare services are disrupted and medical supplies are difficult to obtain, even routine health needs can become harder to address.

Human Appeal supports access to medical consultations, essential medications, and other healthcare services. Our work also includes prosthetic and rehabilitation support for people who have experienced limb loss, helping them regain mobility and greater independence.

For children who have experienced years of instability, access to education can offer more than academic learning. It can provide structure, connection, and an opportunity to look towards the future.

Human Appeal supports temporary learning spaces, classroom resources and educational assistance for children whose schooling has been disrupted.

We also provide support for children who have lost one or both parents, helping address their essential needs and access to care.

For families who have been displaced or lost their homes, finding a safer and more stable place to live remains a pressing concern.

Alongside emergency assistance, Human Appeal has supported shelter initiatives, home rehabilitation and other recovery efforts. These projects form part of a broader effort to help families move towards more stable living conditions.

Recovery takes time, resources, and sustained support. For many families, that process is only beginning.

Humanitarian assistance often focuses first on immediate survival: providing food, water, shelter, and medical care.

But what happens when a crisis continues for years?

Families still need those essentials. At the same time, they need opportunities to rebuild their lives, children need places to learn, and people living with injuries need ongoing rehabilitation and support.

In 2025, Human Appeal’s work in Gaza included establishing makeshift schools, distributing back-to-school kits, rehabilitating homes, providing prefabricated shelters, and fitting prosthetic limbs.

These initiatives reflect the importance of looking beyond immediate emergency needs while continuing to address them.

Rebuilding is not a single milestone. It is a process that requires sustained investment in people, essential services, and the conditions communities need to recover.

And it cannot happen without continued humanitarian support.

The passage of time does not make a family’s need for food any less urgent. It does not make access to clean water, medical care, or education any less essential.

Three years into the crisis, families in Gaza continue to need support. Human Appeal’s local teams remain committed to delivering assistance, responding to changing needs and helping communities take steps towards recovery.

But humanitarian organizations cannot meet these needs alone. Continued support from donors helps sustain essential programs and enables our teams to respond where assistance is needed most.

Your donation can help provide hot meals, clean water, medical care, education, and other essential assistance to families affected by the crisis.

Stand with the people of Gaza. Help us continue delivering aid and supporting the road to recovery.

By Human Appeal

Canada