Statement by UNICEF Middle East and North Africa Regional Director Edouard Beigbeder.
“I have just concluded a four-day mission to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The situation is extremely concerning.
“Far too often, children in the State of Palestine are the victims of this relentless conflict. Nearly all of the 2.4 million children living across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, are affected in some way. Some children live with tremendous fear or anxiety; others face the real consequences of deprivation of humanitarian assistance and protection, displacement, destruction or death. All children must be protected.
“Without aid entering the Gaza Strip, roughly 1 million children are living without the very basics they need to survive – yet again.
“Stalled just a few dozen kilometers outside the Gaza Strip sit more than 180,000 doses of essential childhood routine vaccines, enough to fully vaccinate and protect 60,000 children under 2 years of age, as well as 20 lifesaving ventilators for neonatal intensive care units. While UNICEF managed to deliver 30 CPAP respiratory machines—which significantly aid newborns experiencing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and prematurity—the ventilators are essential for infants needing advanced respiratory support.
“Tragically, approximately 4,000 newborns are currently unable to access essential lifesaving care due to the major impact on medical facilities in the Gaza Strip. Every day without these ventilators, lives are lost, especially among vulnerable, premature newborns in the northern Gaza Strip.
“UNICEF is advocating for these lifesaving children’s health supplies to be allowed to enter. There is no reason why they shouldn’t be.
“In accordance with international humanitarian law, civilians’ essential needs must be met, and this requires facilitating the entry of life-saving assistance whether or not there is a ceasefire in place. Any further delays to the entry of aid risk further slowing or shuttering essential services and could fast-reverse the gains made for children during the ceasefire.
“We need to deliver these supplies for children, including newborns, before it is too late. And we must keep essential services running. I visited the UNICEF-supported water desalination plant in Khan Younis in Gaza, the only facility that received electricity since November 2024 and which has now been disconnected. It is now running at only 13 per cent of its capacity, depriving hundreds of thousands of people from drinkable water and sanitation services.
“In the West Bank including East Jerusalem, more than 200 Palestinian and 3 Israeli children were killed since October 2023, the highest figure recorded in such timeframe in the past two decades.
“In Jenin and the north of the West Bank, more than 35,000 have been forced to leave their homes and their belongings and find shelter elsewhere. Education is heavily disrupted for nearly 12,000 children, because of the recent population displacements. The children in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are often exposed to roadblocks and the absence of school supplies.
“In Jenin, I met with many displaced mothers and children in shelters. They told me how much they were suffering from the violence, the fear and the disruption to education. They said they were not asking for charity, just for the respect of their rights and the possibility to return to their homes.
“UNICEF continues to do everything we can to protect and support children in the State of Palestine. We are repairing water systems, running mental health sessions, setting up learning centers and advocating constantly with decision makers for access and for the violence to cease. But this alone is not enough.
“Children must not be killed, injured or displaced and all parties must respect their obligations under international law. Civilians’ essential and protection needs must be met, and humanitarian assistance must be allowed to flow at speed and scale. All hostages must be swiftly released, and the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip must continue and support lasting solutions to the conflict.
“Tens of thousands of children have been killed and injured. We must not go back to a situation that pushes these numbers higher.”
