UNICEF DED Ted Chaiban noon briefing on Mission to Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank – Opening Remarks as Delivered
19 September 2024 – “I know we are all concerned with situation involving Lebanon and Israel and the Secretary General has urged all concerned to exercise maximum restraint to avert any further escalation and any further escalation would be terrible in terms of consequences for children.
“Today, I am concluding a visit to Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank where I had the opportunity to meet with children from different communities who have been affected by this terrible war. October 7 was a horrible day, and every day since has been horrible too for children in this fourth major escalation in 10 years and the result of an unresolved conflict and a history of occupation
“At the beginning of the week, when I was meeting with children and families in Israel who had gone through horrors on the 7 of October, they asked me to be the voice of all children and to relay their suffering. UNICEF will work with line ministries to ensure that Israeli children are supported.
“In my meetings with the Israeli authorities, I asked for increased access for humanitarian and commercial supplies especially fresh foods and nutrition supplies, protecting children, improved security measures and standard operating procedures for humanitarian personnel and facilitating the movement of separated and unaccompanied children.
“In my meeting with the Palestinian Authority, I called for prioritization of investment in social services, particularly education, ensuring children go to school. We are at risk of a lost generation as children not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank have lost months of learning.
“In Gaza too, devastating attacks on schools, hospitals and internally displaced sites continue, with over 14,000 children reported killed according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and leaving already overwhelmed hospitals buckling under the strain.
“I went to Kamal Adwan hospital, in the north of the Gaza Strip. This is the only remaining pediatric unit in the area. I visited the pediatric intensive care unit and I saw a tiny baby, Sham, only a few months old, who had been heavily hit by shrapnel. Her mother was the only survivor of the strike that struck her. She was a striking reminder of the thousands and thousands of children who have been killed and injured in the Gaza Strip in the past 11 months.
“I also met with 7-month-old Farah who suffers from severe acute malnutrition and respiratory infection as well as many children suffering from leukemia other types of cancer diseases that require their medical evacuation. If we don’t evacuate them quickly, they will not make it. We will make all efforts with our colleagues in WHO to get these children out for treatment.
“Between my last visit which was in January and today, the scale of the destruction, of the suffering of children has considerably increased. The total number of displaced people moved from 1.7 to 1.9 million people. So called safe zones where people were forced to move have themselves received evacuation orders, have been bombed, confirming that – really – nowhere is safe in the Gaza Strip.
“Since my last visit, tons of untreated solid waste have accumulated. I spoke to children digging in huge piles of garbage. They told me they were looking for bits of paper or cartons to light fires to cook their meals with their families. I visited Geraar Al Qudua school, which was turned into shelter. There, in the middle of the school court, the people dug a makeshift open sewage to evacuate wastewater. People and children are literally living there. With the current temperatures, these are terrible recipes for the emergence and spreading of diseases.
“In the south and middle area of the strip, I saw food in the markets, it is available but at exorbitant prices. And the diversity is not there in the north of the Gaza strip, too little fruits, too much canned food.
“When I was in Gaza last time in January, there were 99 to 100 humanitarian trucks entering on an average every day. In August, 50 humanitarian trucks were entering daily on average and in September, barely 15 because of concerns around law and order, limitations on the so-called fence road and too few entry points.
“Many of our supplies (worth 12M USD) are pending entry in Jordan. These supplies are approved for entry by the Israeli authorities, but we have high concerns on the absence of law and order and risk of looting.
“Commercial traffic is key to the well-being of Palestinian children and their families. In the south of the strip, we see fruits and vegetables and more variety of food largely because of commercial traffic. We need the private sector to be able to bring soap and shampoo and other hygiene items and for commercial traffic to also be allowed to enter into the north of the strip where some 400,000 people still reside.
“Going to the north of the Gaza strip was enlightening. Not only to see with my own eyes the sheer level of destruction and suffering, but also to see how our team need to operate when heading to the north. We left our guest house at 10am, at 10:30am we were at the first step to access the checkpoint. Then it took five hours to get through the checkpoint. A checkpoint we passed only five hours later. This left us only limited hours to do our job on the ground.
“In the midst of all this, things can get done. The first round of the polio campaign that just ended with over 560,000 children below the age of 10 vaccinated has shown to the world that when everyone lines up, it is possible to bring critical aid to children in Gaza, including to the north. Palestinian mothers are the heroes of this story standing in line bringing their children to get vaccinated despite 11 horrendous months. We need stronger guarantees that this can happen on a regular basis to address urgent child needs such as measles vaccination, distribution of soap and other hygiene needs etc. The way the coordination and deconfliction mechanisms are currently working do not allow our programmes to work efficiently, and they need to be strengthened.
“The situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem is a tinderbox…and has reached new heights in intensity. Several militarized operations have left the cities severely impacted, with numerous homes damaged or destroyed. Increasing violence and movement restrictions since October 2023 have created new learning barriers. Since October 7, 166 Palestinian children and two Israeli children have been killed. Children are scared at home, and scared to go to school.
“This is untenable and there needs to be de-escalation and restraint.
“So, in light of the above, what do we need?
“We need a cease-fire as we have consistently indicated to end the killing and maiming of children and enable the urgent delivery of desperately needed lifesaving aid and the unconditional release of hostages especially the two Bibas children.
“In the absence of a ceasefire, we need the kind of pauses that allowed for the polio campaign to be successful, but we need a ceasefire. We need to have more security for our staff and our operations. To achieve this, we need more direct contact with the Southern Command, we need to have agreed upon standard operating procedures at check points and we need to be able to bring in Gaza more telecoms equipment into Gaza including internet capacity.
“On malnutrition, I am very concerned by the decrease of humanitarian trucks we are currently witnessing. The Strip was on the verge of famine not so long ago and the situation could be reversed very quickly. We need more entry points inside Gaza, and all measures should be taken to re-establish law and order and improve the security of all, to allow us to distribute lifesaving supplies to the children who need them.
“Considering the terrible hygiene and sanitation situation, we need to be able to bring in soap, shampoo at scale, especially by the commercial trucks.
“And to conclude, we need more medical evacuations for children and their guardians whose lives can be saved only with a medical treatment abroad. And we need more medical supplies and medical consumable like antibiotics for the skin diseases, equipment for neonatal units, syringes and bandages for surgery rooms, etc.
“The continued destruction of Gaza and the escalating violence in the West Bank will not bring peace or safety to the region. That can only be achieved with a negotiated political solution, one that prioritizes the rights and well-being of this and future generations of Israeli and Palestinian children.
Notes for Editors:
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