Fatma Hijazi holds the lifeless body of her 10-year-old child, Mustafa Hijazi, who died due to malnutrition and lack of medication in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, June 14. (Photo: Anadolu via Getty Images)
In a stark statement, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell has raised alarm over the devastating toll that ongoing violence is taking on children in Gaza, highlighting the urgent need for action to protect their lives and rights.
“Yesterday, in yet another devastating attack on Nuseirat camp, in central Gaza, 33 people were reportedly killed – including at least eight children – and 50 wounded by airstrikes”, said Russel. “The latest violence adds to a staggering figure of more than 160 children reportedly killed in Gaza in a little over a month. That is an average of four children every day since the beginning of November.”
Children remain the most vulnerable victims of the conflict, bearing a disproportionate share of the suffering. Russell emphasized that “children didn’t start this conflict and they have no power to stop it, yet they are paying the highest price with their lives and futures.”
Since the beginning of the violence, more than 14,500 children have reportedly been killed, and virtually all 1.1 million children in Gaza are in desperate need of protection and mental health support. Displacement, hunger, disease, and lack of basic necessities have compounded their plight.
The crisis has pushed 1.9 million Gazans, including hundreds of thousands of children, out of their homes. “There is no safe space in Gaza, nor any sense of stability for children, who lack essentials such as food, safe water, medical supplies, and warm clothes as winter temperatures drop”, Russell noted. The onset of winter has only deepened their suffering as preventable diseases like hepatitis, chickenpox, and respiratory infections spread rapidly.
UNICEF's statement underscores the dire humanitarian conditions in the region: children and families face constant displacement, inadequate shelter, and severe shortages of life-saving resources. “Famine continues to loom in the north and humanitarian access remains restricted” as the daily bloodshed continues,” Russell added.
Calling on all parties to the conflict and those with influence over them, Russell made an urgent appeal to end the violence. “The world cannot look away when so many children are exposed to daily bloodshed, hunger, disease, and cold. We urgently call on all parties to the conflict, and on those with influence over them, to take decisive action to end the suffering of children, to release all hostages, to ensure children’s rights are upheld, and to adhere to obligations under international humanitarian law,” she said.
UNICEF continues to call for immediate humanitarian access to Gaza to deliver critical supplies and support to children and their families, emphasizing the need for global solidarity to protect the youngest and most vulnerable in this protracted conflict.