Children in Gaza need life-saving support

UNICEF and partners are surging aid now.

Gaza Strip. Children and their families wait in the central Gaza Strip to begin their journey back home to Gaza City and other areas.
UNICEF/UNI726130/El Baba

The war in the Gaza Strip has taken an unconscionable toll on children. At least 14,500 have been reported killed, with thousands more injured. Nearly every child in Gaza knows what it is to be displaced: Their families have been torn apart, their homes destroyed.

No child will emerge from the horrors of bombardment without the imprint of trauma.

UNICEF welcomes the announcement of a ceasefire, though this alone will not bring an end to children’s suffering. We’re mobilizing resources to scale up and expand our emergency response. Only with safe, unrestricted access throughout Gaza can humanitarians begin to get relief into children’s hands.

The challenges of aid delivery in Gaza are many. The reasons to persist are more.

What UNICEF is doing now | What we are calling for | News and updates | Response challenges

What UNICEF is doing now

State of Palestine. a small child stands next to a UNICEF tent at a shelter centre in the Gaza Strip.
UNICEF/UNI501864/ alBaba

UNICEF is scaling up our response in Gaza, surging critical aid to children in urgent need. 

Since the start of this war, UNICEF staff have remained on the ground, working with partners to provide safe drinking water to displaced families, treatment for severely malnourished children, and medical supplies and vaccines for children in hospitals and shelters.

Under the ceasefire, we’re expanding existing services, while establishing new ones to reach families on the move. 

Immunization

UNICEF remains the leading provider of all vaccines for children and women throughout the Gaza Strip, including for polio, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and more. As infectious diseases continue to rage, we’re prioritizing vaccination to keep children safe from life-threatening disease outbreaks and facilitate the roll-out of other critical services.

Already, UNICEF and implementing partners have reached around 94 per cent of targeted children with both doses of the polio vaccine. Our immunization campaigns also bring essential nutrition supplies to children in need. 

Nutrition

The lead agency in Gaza working to prevent and treat malnutrition in children, UNICEF is scaling up our delivery of essential aid. We’re dispatching high-energy biscuits, ready-to-use therapeutic food, and infant formula for the tens of thousands of children known to be suffering from malnutrition. We’re also providing micronutrient supplements for pregnant women, and will expand nutrition screening services for children and pregnant or breastfeeding women. 

Health

With over 80 per cent of health facilities in the Gaza Strip damaged or destroyed, UNICEF will continue to help hospitals protect pregnant women and newborns from medical complications and infections, especially in neonatal units. We’re delivering incubators for newborns, medical kits for midwives and other emergency supplies. 

In coordination with partners, UNICEF also continues to press for the medical evacuation of sick and injured children.

Water and sanitation

UNICEF will continue to play a key role in sustaining and increasing water production in Gaza after the crippling of two thirds of water and sanitation infrastructure has left children dehydrated, malnourished and fatally ill from infectious disease. We’ve helped repair water facilities; distributed water treatment chemicals; and delivered millions of litres of fuel for wells, desalination plants and generators.

Family reunification

UNICEF is the only agency facilitating family reunification for the estimated 17,000 children who have been separated from their caregivers while war has raged. Especially as families begin to move back to their homes, we’ll strengthen efforts to ensure children remain safely in the hands of their parents, while continuing our work to trace and reunite families who have been torn apart.

Humanitarian cash transfers

UNICEF is providing more humanitarian cash transfers than any other organization in Gaza. We’re supporting vulnerable groups – including female-headed households, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and families of children with disabilities – with cash assistance that allows them to buy food, water and hygiene kits still available in markets. As essential goods become more scarce and less affordable, UNICEF has already reached every third person in the Strip with the means to help meet their most basic needs. 

Mental health support

UNICEF is providing basic mental health and psychosocial services in camps and shelters to give children space to play, seek comfort in one another, and experience glimmers of childhood. We’ll scale up these activities to help children cope with trauma, and bring some relief to parents aching to see their children at ease. 

Support UNICEF’s work for children

What is UNICEF calling for?

  • Complete adherence to the deal for a ceasefire and release of hostages including children in Gaza, such that all relevant parties uphold their commitments and ensure this deal is fully implemented.
  • Safe and unrestricted humanitarian access throughout the Gaza Strip for the flow of all necessary aid, through all reliable entry points, at scale and in a timely manner. This includes taking steps to address the security environment. The safe movement of humanitarian workers and supplies across the Gaza Strip must be guaranteed, and reliable telecommunications networks made available to coordinate response efforts.
  • Respect and protection for the civilian infrastructure that children depend on, such as schools, hospitals, and water and sanitation infrastructure. The protection of Gaza’s remaining functional civilian infrastructure is critical to prevent further loss of life and provide care to the sick and wounded.
  • Immediate medical evacuation for injured and sick children, in accompaniment with their family members, and for all with urgent medical needs to safely access critical health services or be allowed to leave.
  • Protection for people on the move. Children and their families must be allowed to move freely and should not be forced to relocate.
  • A lasting political resolution that prioritizes the rights and well-being of this and future generations of children.   

What challenges does UNICEF face delivering support?

Gaza Strip. People walk past destroyed buildings in the centre of Gaza City.
UNICEF/UNI501991/Al-Qattaa
People walk past destroyed buildings in the centre of Gaza City.

UNICEF welcomes the announcement of a ceasefire and calls upon all parties to uphold their commitments, allowing for the safe, unrestricted movement of humanitarian workers. Yet significant obstacles persist delivering support at scale. 

Infrastructure for distributing aid has been levelled. Warehouses lie in ruin; commercial supply chains choked out of existence. Communication blackouts continue to obstruct the coordination of delivery. And trucks carrying relief must circumvent cratered roads strewn with explosives. 

Security remains fragile for other reasons. Aid workers themselves have been displaced and killed. 

Through it all, shortages and restrictions on critical items – like those needed to rehabilitate water plants and hospitals – hamper our operations. 

Humanitarian aid alone cannot meet Gaza’s incalculable needs: We must see the resumption of commercial goods and banking at scale. 

While the challenges of aid delivery in Gaza are many, the reasons to persist are more.  

UNICEF will continue to surge aid to children, doing everything we humanly can to alleviate their suffering. We urge those with influence to secure safe, unrestricted access for our teams, into and across the Strip, so we can reach children no matter where they are. 

 

Updated 31 January 2025

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Is UNICEF operational in Israel?

In high-income countries such as Israel, Governments generally have adequate capacity to respond to emergencies. Upon request from the Government, UNICEF can extend support, such as mental health and psychosocial support for children. 

In over 30 countries where UNICEF does not perform programmatic activities, National Committees for UNICEF serve as our dedicated voice, helping to raise funds for UNICEF’s work worldwide, to promote children’s rights, and to lift visibility for children threatened by poverty, disasters, armed conflict, abuse and exploitation. The Israeli Fund for UNICEF was established in 2009 to raise awareness of children’s rights in Israel and fundraise for UNICEF’s life-saving work across the world.