Improve access to essential health services and upscale trauma and emergency response across West Bank including East Jerusalem 2022 has seen an increase in conflict-related Palestinian casualties in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and in settler-related violence against Palestinians and their property resulting in the killing of 109 Palestinians by the Israeli Forces and about 8,709 injuries across the West bank according to OCHA_oPt Protection of Civilians Report released on 1st November 2022. This year has to date been the deadliest year for West Bank Palestinians when compared to the same period in the previous 16 years. 
The dramatic increase of people killed in the West bank when compared with the same period in previous years is following the intensive search-and-arrest operations, exchanges of fire, or confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the West Bank including East Jerusalem, often following settler attacks or incursions into Palestinian villages. The Israeli Forces refer to the current military operation in the West Bank as “ Wavebreaker”  targeting Jenin and Nablus since March 2022 in an attempt to limit the Palestinian resistance operations of an individual nature. 
WHO is committed to meeting acute needs while ensuring a sustainable impact that promotes health equity and contributes towards achieving quality health services. Mobilization of critical emergency items, previously prepositioned by WHO and the Ministry of Health, has allowed a timely response to the surge in emergency needs at the height of the crisis. It also highlighted the importance of integrating trauma and emergency care at the primary healthcare level, to provide basic emergency care, alongside routine services.
WHO plans to support health partners including MoH and UNRWA to improve access to essential services during times of crisis or any sudden onset disaster. The fact that the Israelis are resorting to the closure of communities and cities in the West Bank during incursions, confrontations, or in retaliation following attacks carried out by Palestinians necessitates increasing the response capacity at different levels of care, particularly at the primary health care to sustain essential services and provide life-saving emergency response and serve the communities that will be isolated from the wider health system.  For example, the Shufat camp in Jerusalem was put under siege for about seven days, in October 2022,  following the shooting of an Israeli security guard at the main checkpoint to the camp lead to its closure and hence locking out at least 130,000 people living in Shufat camp and surrounding neighborhoods. They were prevented from entering and exiting, including medical personnel. Similarly, Nablus city has been under siege with different types of restrictions since 11th of October impacting almost 200,000 people including access to health care. 41 of the 47 primary care facilities in the Nablus governorate have been heavily impacted by reduced and unpredictable access for staff and patients. Meanwhile, outpatient departments in the city reported attendance of 600 fewer patients than expected during the first 13 days of closure.

Since  Jenin and Nablus camps have witnessed the highest toll of people killed from live ammunition and the fact that the Israeli forces lock out the targeted camps during incursions and following consultations with UNRWA the focus of this grant will be on improving the emergency preparedness and response of eleven UNRWA clinics in different camps across the West Bank including  UNRWA health clinics in Jenin, Nablus, and Shufat camps. In addition, WHO will support UNRWA hospital in Qalqilya and continue working with three MoH public hospitals to increase their mass casualty management response and enhance the trauma pathway and complementary emergency services across the targeted cities including Nablus, Jenin, Jerusalem, and Hebron.