"Cold, sick and traumatized" - the ongoing nightmare for children in Gaza

AMMAN/GENEVA, 20 December 2024 – “Children in Gaza are cold, sick and traumatized. Hunger and malnutrition, and the dire living conditions more broadly, continue to put the lives of children at risk. Right now, over 96% of women and children in Gaza cannot meet their basic nutritional needs. Most are surviving on rationed flour, lentils, pasta, and canned food—a diet that slowly compromises their health.

“In November, an average of 65 truckloads of assistance entered Gaza, compared to 500 truckloads daily, before the war – and when Gaza still had internal food production capacity. The most northern part of Gaza has been under a near total siege for 75 days now. Humanitarian assistance has been largely unable to reach the children in need for more than 10 weeks.

“Gaza must be one of the most heartbreaking places on earth for humanitarians. Every small effort to save a child’s life is undone by fierce devastation. For over 14 months, children have been at the sharp edge of this nightmare, with more than 14,500 children reportedly killed, thousands more injured.

“Last week I met with Saad, five years old. He lost his eyesight in a bombing, and sustained a head injury and burns. When I met him this week, he told me: “my eyes went to heaven before I did”. As we were talking, a plane flew overhead. He froze, screamed, and clutched for his mother. Seeing this boy, recently rendered blind, in such deep distress was unbearable.

“As we approach the end of the year, a time when the world strives to celebrate family, peace, and togetherness, in Gaza the reality for over a million children is fear, utter deprivation and unimaginable suffering.

“The war on children in Gaza stands as a stark reminder of our collective responsibility. A generation of children is enduring the brutal violation of their rights and the destruction of their futures.

“The stories I heard over the past months will torment me forever. Let me share one: this summer we met with a baby boy, also named Saad, he was seven months old. His mother’s miracle after years of trying to conceive. He weighed just 2.7 kilograms at 7 months—a fraction of what a baby his age should. Eleven days ago, his fragile body gave out after not getting enough nutritious food. He was born in war and left this world without being given a chance to live in peace. I cannot even start to imagine the depth of suffering of his parents. The suffering is not merely physical. It is also psychological.

“Winter has now descended on Gaza. Children are cold, wet, and barefoot. Many still wear summer clothes. With cooking gas gone, many are searching through rubble for scraps of plastic to burn.  Diseases are ravaging the little bodies of children all while hospitals are destitute and continuously attacked. Health care is on its knees: hospitals lack medicines, medical supplies and doctors. This is worsened by the continuation of a near total electricity black out, making hospitals and other critical infrastructure entirely dependent on meagre fuel imports.

“There are immediate things we can all do today to make life just a little more bearable for these children.

“We can use our voices, use our political capital and our diplomatic leverage, to push for the evacuation of grievously injured children and their parents to leave Gaza and seek life-saving medical care in East Jerusalem or elsewhere.

“As so many of us head into the celebrations of Christmas and the New Year, surrounded by so much, let’s take a moment to think of these children, who have so little and yet continue to lose more, day by day. Use your power, use your influence, to push for a ceasefire, and for the entry of aid at scale.

“Every day without action steals another day from Gaza’s children. Every delay costs more lives. This war should haunt every one of us. Gaza’s children cannot wait.

Thank you.”

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For more information, please contact:

UNICEF UK Press Office, [email protected], +44 207 375 6030

About UNICEF:

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone.

The UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) raises funds for UNICEF’s emergency and development work for children. We also promote and protect children’s rights in the UK and internationally. We are a UK charity, entirely funded by supporters.

United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), Registered Charity No. 1072612 (England & Wales), SC043677 (Scotland).

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