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A modest and disgusting hotel near Victoria - 295 pounds a night. I moved to Royal Garden, it’s quite modest, the same 295 pounds. There were 200 before. The clothes are nothing to look at for less than £1000. A modest £50 lunch. One small ceviche £27. Uber to Gatwick £91. How ordinary Englishmen survive in this city is unclear. I dreamed of living in London. Thanks to Igor for giving me this opportunity for six months - he had a job there. With a heavy heart I walked through our favorite places in South Kensington. Our cafe, our butcher. The cafe is no longer there. The butcher is here.

Familiar restaurants have disappeared. But a bunch of new ones have appeared. In good places there is a full landing everywhere. This means there is a lot of money in the city. And I don’t have all of them, which is very tragic. You need money to minimally reduce your contacts with assholes and dregs: so that you don’t get knocked down on the platform by a nasty [slur for a fat person], so that you can ride and fly in comfort, so that the moron on the train doesn’t drop his fucking backpack on your head, well, that’s all...

I thought that the trials in America would end, and Zhenya would have to study for at least a year in London. And now I see that this year will cost a fortune, damn it.

London feels turbulent. Friends warned me to keep my bag with me at all times in front - they steal. iPhones are being pulled out. Crowds from the Middle East. The entire Royal Garden Hotel is inhabited by them. Demonstrations in support of Gaza in the city center. And the police are not screwing anyone.

I was trying to figure out if I still wanted to live in London? Without a lot of money, no, I don’t want to. A friend of mine tried to get hold of the doctor whom she paid 5,000 pounds for tests, but in vain. Medicine or not, or incredibly expensive. Living costs are crazy, and the quality of life is very low. With a typical middle-class salary, you can’t do your own hair or get a regular manicure. You can’t just have a snack in a cafe without a reason - 65 euros fly off the card. Transport is also expensive. It's sad, I really loved London in the 2000s. It's a shame it's so inaccessible now. It’s dangerous to go there with a child - he’ll get sick, who knows with what and how and where to treat him.

Day 17 of the War  

Key Points  

The Gaza Strip 

Nearly 600,000 internally displaced people are sheltering in 150 UNRWA facilities. Only in the Middle areas, Khan Younis and Rafah, nearly 430,000 IDPs are in 93 UNRWA shelters. This is an increase of 10,000 people only in the past 24 hours.   Since Saturday 21 October, three humanitarian convoys reached Gaza with a total of 54 trucks. UNRWA teams receive those shipments on the Gaza side and help with the storage and distribution in cooperation with other UN agencies. The convoys included some food, drinking water and medicines.
These convoys did not include much-needed fuel. UNRWA will run out of fuel within the next two days, putting at risk the delivery of humanitarian aid to people in need.   

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem

On 23 October, the Israeli Security Forces (ISF) conducted a search and arrest operation in Jalazone refugee camp, near Ramallah, carrying out widespread arrests and killing two Palestine Refugees.

Overall Situation 

The Gaza Strip

According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 5,087 people have been killed since 7 October, including 2,055 children, 1,119 women, and 217 elderly. Another 15,273 have been injured. An additional 1,500 persons are reported missing, including 830 children.
Overall, nearly 1,400 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed in Israel, according to the Israeli authorities, the vast majority on 7 October (OCHA).  Shelters are operating beyond their capacities and many new IDPs are sleeping in the streets as current facilities are overwhelmed. The number of IDPs in UNRWA shelters is four times more than what UNRWA had originally planned for.

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem

According to OCHA, 93 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since 7 October.

Humanitarian Access, Protection of Civilians 

Gaza

In total, 35 UNRWA colleagues have been killed, while another 18 have been injured.
At least 40 UNRWA installations have been impacted since 7 October.

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem

Movements of Palestinians in the West Bank, including Palestine Refugees and UNRWA staff, continue to be significantly limited, due to Israeli Authorities’ restrictions.
UNRWA continues to provide services, supported by staff living in close proximity to the Agency’s premises and installations.

UNRWA Response  

Gaza

UNRWA Shelters

On average, the shelters are about 2.7 times their designed capacity. The most crowded shelter, at its most severe level of overcrowding, was hosting 12 times more people than its designed capacity. Overcrowding conditions are severely constraining access to basic assistance and essential services while increasing health and protection risks, and negatively impacting on mental health.
At the Rafah logistics base, 400 people are sharing one toilet.
UNRWA is distributing family hygiene kits to pregnant women and baby kits for newborns in the shelters.

Health

Only one-third of UNRWA clinics in the South and Middle Areas are operational. They are offering essential primary health-care services to refugees. These centres recorded a total of 4,198 visits on 23 October, for refugees and non-refugees.
Health-care services were maintained within the UNRWA shelters, with the support of 92 mobile medical units and medical teams, serving nearly 9,900 cases at shelters. According to initial health assessments from the mobile medical teams, there are over 37,000 persons with non-communicable diseases (NCDs), over 4,600 pregnant women and around 380 post-natal cases requiring medical attention among the IDPs. In addition, medical teams are increasingly identifying cases of acute respiratory and diarrhea among children under five years old. UNRWA’s stocks of medicines are critically decreasing, with availability from five-15 days. Available insulin stocks will last for only one week.
Fuel stocks in the functional UNRWA primary health-care centres are about to run out.

Psychosocial Support

UNRWA has counsellors and social workers in the shelters, who provide psychological first aid and other specialized protection services. Since the beginning of the crisis, UNRWA social workers provided 4,700 people with psychosocial support and social work services. These include cases that are referred for medication and other specialized mental health and psychosocial support interventions.

Food Security

To support displaced families and address bread shortages, UNRWA continued to provide bakeries with flour. This has allowed 30 bakeries to give bread to families at half the cost. This is in addition to the distribution of bread in UNRWA shelters.

Water and Sanitation Services (WASH)

Some solid waste collection from the camps and from emergency shelters and transfer to landfills continues in Middle, Khan Younis and Rafah areas with difficulties due to the scarcity of fuel and staff. Water wells in Jabalia, Khan Younis and Rafah are functional with about 10,000 m3 being pumped from nine water wells. Despite the limited availability of fuel, desalination plants continue to operate in the shelters for the provision of potable water. Water trucking operations to the shelters in Rafah and Khan Younis areas also continue. Given the high number of people hosted in the shelters, the water provided is barely enough to cover the needs.

The West Bank

Education

On 23 October, due to the Israeli Security Forces’ search and arrest operation in Jalazone refugee camp, and the volatile situation in the camp, the three UNRWA schools in the camp serving over 1,700 school children, were closed.

Health

Most UNRWA health clinics around the West Bank were open.
UNRWA protection team visited the UNRWA Health Centre in Jerusalem Old City and provided protection[1] at the site. The health centre had been closed since 7 October and was reopened on 23 October.

WASH

Waste collection services continue in 19 refugee camps.
On 23 October, UNRWA managed to successfully transfer the waste from Arroub and Fawwar camp to the dumping site. Compactors’ movements had been restricted in past days due to the closures and movement restrictions across the West Bank. UNRWA Protection team facilitated and coordinated the movements by also providing protective presence[2].

Protection / Crisis Intervention Unit (CIU)

UNRWA conducted assessments across three refugee camps, including Nour Shams, Jenin, and Aqbat Jaber, that have experienced ISF operations. Significant damage to private infrastructure continues to be reported in these locations, which have been subjected to repeated intense incursions and rounds of violence. UNRWA is coordinating with humanitarian partners, including from the West Bank Protection Consortium, to provide assistance to 41 Palestine refugee families displaced due to Israeli settlers' violence in Area C.   -Ends

  [1] The presence of UNRWA staff at sensitive locations/sites can contribute to promote the protection of Palestine refugees.

[2] Ibid.

“We want to see where the Red Cross is. We know the Red Cross is in Gaza, so we want the world to tell the Red Cross to go and see what is going on with our families,” said Merav Mor Raviv, who said his uncle and aunt were being detained in Gaza by Hamas, along with their daughter and grandson.

Four other relatives of captives taken during the Hamas attack on October 7 were also at the briefing.

“Hamas is not letting [the Red Cross] see our families. That’s why we need your help,” Maayan Segal-Koren, the daughter of one of the hostages, said.

The hostages’ relatives are undertaking a tour of European cities in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to make their case to the international community.