UNICEF Keeping Hope Alive

Highlights

For more than 700 days, children in the Gaza Strip have been trapped in war, killed, injured and displaced, their homes and schools destroyed, their futures stolen. Hope and humanity must be allowed to thrive.

UNICEF welcomes this long-awaited ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and urges all concerned to abide fully by the terms of the agreement. A permanent ceasefire must be secured. The fighting must stop once and for all. Unimpeded humanitarian access must be ensured. The suffering must end. After two years of devastating conflict, the situation for children and families in the Gaza Strip is catastrophic. 

Many are facing severe hardship after multiple and prolonged displacement, widespread destruction of vital infrastructure, and extensive disruption of essential services.

UNICEF’s three-month Ceasefire Response Plan therefore focuses on urgent life-saving support while catalysing early recovery. The approach integrates interventions in nutrition, health, water and sanitation, education, child protection and social protection, and prioritizes famine prevention, winterization and community recovery. The overarching objective is to ensure the rapid delivery of essential supplies and services and to strengthen recovery systems for children and their families.

Of the more than 1,600 trucks filled with life-saving humanitarian aid that UNICEF has ready to deliver, 50 entered into the Gaza Strip as soon as the ceasefire agreement went into effect.

According to the agreement, access should change dramatically with between 600 and 800

humanitarian and commercial trucks expected to enter the Gaza Strip daily.