UNICEF chief urges immediate action as Gaza children face daily bloodshed
©UNICEF/UNI676929/El Baba Aftermath of the airstrike on Rufaida school in Deir Al Balah, Gaza, on 10 October 2024. The school had been turned into an IDP shelter, and was also hosting a malnutrition treatment point, where parents and children were queuing when the airstrike hit, killing many. Two health staff of a UNICEF partner were also killed
Catherine Russell, head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has called for urgent intervention to protect children in Gaza, who are enduring relentless violence, hunger, and disease.
“The world cannot look away when so many children are exposed to daily bloodshed, hunger, disease, and cold,” Russell said in a statement late Friday. She urged all parties involved in the conflict, and those with influence over them, to take decisive action to alleviate the suffering of children, release hostages, and ensure compliance with international humanitarian law.
Russell’s plea follows a deadly attack on the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza on Thursday, which reportedly claimed 33 lives, including at least eight children. The ongoing violence has resulted in the deaths of over 160 children in Gaza since early November — an average of four children per day.
Over the past 14 months, more than 14,500 children have been killed in Gaza, with nearly all of the territory’s 1.1 million children urgently needing protection and psychological support.
“There is no safe space in Gaza, nor any sense of stability for children,” Russell stressed, highlighting their lack of access to basic necessities such as food, safe water, medical supplies, and warm clothing as winter sets in.
In addition to the violence, preventable diseases are spreading rapidly, including over 800 cases of hepatitis and more than 300 cases of chickenpox, worsening the already dire humanitarian situation in the enclave.
UNICEF continues to appeal for immediate action to prevent further suffering and ensure the protection of Gaza’s children.
