The Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies is organizing a webinar on "Unmet Needs: Gaza's Humanitarian Crisis and the International Response Gap", on Monday, 11 May 2026, starting from 11:00 AM (Doha Time) via Zoom.
Panelists:
Ayed Awni Abu-Ramadan, Commissioner for Economy, Industry, and Trade of the National Committee for Gaza Administration (NCGA).
Omar Shaban, Founder and Director of Palthink for Strategic Studies.
Jeannine Hollaus, Director for Programme Development and Quality for Save the Children in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Amjad Shawa, Head of Programme / Assistant Special Representative of UNDP in Gaza.
Background
Gaza remains trapped in a state of sustained paralysis. Humanitarian needs are still acute, basic services are widely disrupted, and the majority of the population lives under conditions of severe deprivation. The ceasefire did not mark a transition toward recovery. Instead, it has entrenched the reality of chronic emergencies.
In April 2026, a joint report by the World Bank, the European Union, and the United Nations was issued under the title Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA). The report estimates total damage and losses at over $50 billion and indicates that recovery and reconstruction needs may exceed $80 billion in the coming years. These figures are staggering, but not surprising. The real shock lies in the fact that they are being published while Gaza's population remains under siege, displacement, and the collapse of basic services.
The report notes that Gaza's real GDP has contracted at an unprecedented rate, with more than 80% of economic activity lost since the outbreak of the most recent war. Over 60% of housing units have been damaged or completely destroyed, while a large proportion of hospitals and health centers are no longer operational. The economy has not merely declined, but it has been collapsed. In the education sector, most schools have been damaged or destroyed, meaning that an entire generation has remained outside the formal education system for more than two years.
The scale of destruction extends beyond these general indicators. The report shows that direct physical damages amount to approximately $35.2 billion, with more than half concentrated in the housing sector alone, while the remainder is distributed across vital sectors such as trade, industry, transport, and water. Economic losses are estimated at around $22.7 billion, with effects expected to persist for years, particularly in health, labor, and education, sectors that are meant to protect society in times of crisis, not collapse alongside it.
The gap between assessment and action raises fundamental questions about how international humanitarian and recovery frameworks operate. Despite the clarity of needs, the response remains fragmented, underfunded, and constrained by political barriers. Under such conditions, humanitarian action risks becoming a mechanism for documenting deprivation rather than addressing it.
The implications of this paralysis extend beyond the operational to the normative. The continued weakness of the response deepens poverty, prolongs displacement, accelerates institutional collapse, and increases civilian vulnerability. It also undermines the credibility of international commitments to recovery, protection, and post-conflict reconstruction. When clear evidence of catastrophic need fails to generate meaningful action, the legitimacy of humanitarian governance itself comes into question.
Objectives
This webinar aims to achieve four interrelated objectives:
To analyze the scale and structure of unmet needs in Gaza as presented in the 2026 Gaza RDNA.
To examine the gap between estimated needs and the actual response.
To assess the humanitarian consequences of continued response failure, including deepening poverty, deteriorating health conditions, prolonged displacement, and the erosion of long-term human development prospects.
To uncover the structural constraints embedded in current international response mechanisms, such as access restrictions, fragmented governance, donor hesitancy, and the limitations of existing aid and reconstruction frameworks.