State of Palestine Appeal

The conflict that escalated on 7 October 2023 has caused devastating humanitarian consequences for children across the State of Palestine and Israel. In the Gaza Strip, at least 21,289 children have been reported killed as of 3 February 2026; 44,500 children have been injured, including more than 11,000 children with life-changing injuries. Protection risks, grave violations and mental health and psychosocial needs of children are at extreme levels and ever-increasing. At least 1.3 million people – most of the Gaza Strip’s population – are displaced; many of whom have been displaced multiple times.

Following the October ceasefire, aid delivery has noticeably increased, and the impact is clear. Famine that occurred in one governorate was reversed and the availability of goods in the markets has increased. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain, including access issues limiting humanitarian operations; violence that, though reduced, persists, with at least 138 children reported killed in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire, highlighting ongoing protection risks; and restrictions on critical items for water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions – such as pipes and spare parts – are delaying early recovery efforts. 

The extensive damage to water, sanitation and waste management infrastructure, the lack of critical resources to operate and maintain the remaining infrastructure and the resulting poor hygiene conditions are leaving almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip prone to public health risks. The destruction of health facilities, coupled with overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, has led to outbreaks of diarrhoea, hepatitis A, acute respiratory infections and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (CvDPV2), 25 years after it was eliminated. According to the recent health functionality assessment, no hospital is fully functional while 50 per cent (18/36) of hospitals are partially functional. Among primary healthcare centres, about 1.5 per cent (3/200) are fully functional and 46.5 per cent (93/200) are partially functional. 

High levels of malnutrition continue to threaten the well-being and survival of children in the Gaza Strip. Combined with limited access to health, nutrition and WASH services, 320,000 children under age 5 are at risk of malnutrition, including 101,000 who require treatment for wasting. In addition, approximately 37,000 pregnant and lactating women urgently need nutrition support, while 121,000 children aged 5–17 years are also in need of essential nutritional assistance.

Systematic attacks on schools – many serving as shelters for internally displaced people – have severely hampered the resumption of learning, leaving over 637,000 children out of school and potentially setting back their education by five years, with 97.5 per cent of schools damaged or destroyed. UNICEF launched a Gaza-wide Back to Learning campaign and managed to bring Recreational Kits and Educational Kits to the Gaza Strip in January 2026 for the first time in over two years. These supplies, plus Early Childhood Development Kits and Education Kits, will support children’s learning, wellbeing, and resilience. 

The destruction of roads and infrastructure and an unpredictable security situation, coupled with highly constrained humanitarian access, is disrupting supply chains and delaying distribution of essential items. Entry of critical supplies is hampered by the mandatory use of congested entry points, with frequent denial of alternative routes for humanitarian trucks.Persistent delays in customs clearance exacerbate delivery timelines. 

In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, escalating violence, settler attacks, militarized law enforcement operations and movement restrictions have crippled essential services. Around 800,000 people require water and sanitation services and 830,000 require healthcare, including pregnant women and newborns. Protection concerns, attacks on education and teacher salary cuts have deepened the education crisis, affecting at least 84,000 students. Violence and grave violations against children, displacement and economic hardship have intensified protection needs for children, particularly for mental health and psychosocial support. 

In Israel, approximately 1,200 people were killed on 7 October 2023 and in its immediate aftermath, including 37 children. Out of 255 people taken hostage, including 36 children, 253 have been released or returned. Of the 36 children, 34 were released alive in November 2023 and the remains of two were returned in February 2025. The psychological impact of the conflict on Israeli children cannot be overlooked.

UNICEF prioritizes urgent needs in WASH, health, nutrition, education, child protection and social protection while strengthening systems and preparedness. Life-saving services and behaviour change interventions target vulnerable groups with attention to disability, age and gender.

Across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, UNICEF repairs, operates and maintains WASH infrastructure engaging in activities including solid waste management, infection prevention, hygiene promotion, pre-positioning of WASH supplies and improving WASH facilities in health and educational settings. 

UNICEF will advance primary healthcare by deploying mobile clinics and operationalizing primary healthcare centres to improve their accessibility and efficiency. Capacity building for community health workers is supported to strengthen community resilience. In parallel, UNICEF is reinforcing immunization efforts to protect children against vaccine-preventable diseases; secondary care with a focus on maternal and neonatal health; and rehabilitation for children with impairments, including amputees. The overarching objective is to build resilient health systems through the humanitarian nexus approach, ensuring that emergency response investments contribute to long-term healthcare system strengthening. 

In the Gaza Strip, UNICEF prioritizes prevention, early detection and treatment of wasting through provision of complementary food, energy and micronutrient supplements, infant and young child feeding counselling and social and behaviour change. In the West Bank, support includes strengthening community health and nutrition capacities and pre-positioning supplies. 

Education efforts in the Gaza Strip prioritize the resumption of learning by establishing learning centres with minimum learning entitlements. Teachers and students benefit from essential materials, and are supported through social and emotional learning activities, while UNICEF adapts alternative mechanisms so that students have access to educational materials to learn effectively. Through the Back to Learning programme, UNICEF with partners is scaling up its response to restore access to non formal education for hundreds of thousands of children deprived of schooling for nearly three consecutive years. 

In the West Bank, UNICEF supports catch-up education programmes, digital learning and disaster risk reduction initiatives to mitigate learning loss. Adolescent girls receive a combination of protection, education and hygiene support. 

Child protection interventions are tailored to the unique impact of conflict and grave violations, focusing on supporting affected families and at-risk children, including children without parental care, while improving case management and access to legal assistance. UNICEF continues to adapt emergency child protection, community-based protection and mental health and psychosocial support services, including in learning centres in the Gaza Strip, using creative mobile and remote modalities to reach scale. 

Multi-purpose cash assistance helps vulnerable households meet basic needs. There are top-ups for families with pregnant and breastfeeding women, female-headed households and children with specific requirements. Additional front-line workers will receive incentive payments, ensuring service continuity. 

UNICEF focuses on protecting populations from sexual exploitation and abuse and strengthening survivor assistance by enhancing grassroots initiatives – and also by expanding feedback mechanisms for concerns about UNICEF programmes. Women-led and girl-centred groups and volunteers provide inputs to ensure accountability to affected populations. 

UNICEF remains active within the United Nations Country Team and the Humanitarian Country Team and will work to strengthen cluster coordination as leader of the WASH and nutrition clusters, as co-leader of the Education Cluster, and through the coordination of child protection matters within the Protection Cluster.