Giving Hope to Children in Gaza's Turmoil
UNICEF USA's Voice: UNICEF Swiftly Responds During Gaza Ceasefire to Attend to Children's Requirements
Amidst continuous conflicts and crises threatening their wellbeing, the most vulnerable children in Gaza are grappling with a precarious situation. Dependable, continuous, and effective foreign aid is crucial in safeguarding the health and protection these children deserve. Contact your representatives in Congress and urge them to perpetuate American investments in foreign aid.
The Cruelty of War and Fragile Peace
After 15 harrowing months of war, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. Children are unable to access essential health care, education, clean water, and other fundamental services. Despite the devastation, UNICEF unwaveringly serves alongside partners, providing safe drinking water to displaced families, treating severely malnourished children, and delivering medical supplies and vaccines to the mercy-seeking children in hospitals and temporary shelters.
UNICEF's Emergency Response Priorities
With the ceasefire, UNICEF is expanding its existing services and establishing new ones to reach families on the move. Critical priorities include:
- Immunization: UNICEF is the leading provider of vaccines for children and women in Gaza, including against polio, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B, and other diseases. A priority is conducting immunization catch-up campaigns to prevent diseases outbreaks.
- Nutrition: As the lead agency in Gaza working to counteract malnutrition, UNICEF is increasing delivery of high-energy biscuits, ready-to-use therapeutic food, and infant formula to the thousands of malnourished children.
- Health: With over 80% of health facilities in Gaza damaged or destroyed, UNICEF is helping hospitals protect pregnant women and newborns from medical complications and infections, and delivering medical supplies and incubators for newborns and midwife kits.
- Water and Sanitation: UNICEF continues to play a pivotal role in maintaining and improving water production in Gaza, repairing water facilities, distributing water treatment chemicals, and delivering fuel for water wells, desalination plants, and generators.
- Family Reunification: UNICEF is the sole agency facilitating reunification for the 17,000 children who became separated from their caregivers during the war. As families return to their homes, UNICEF strengthens efforts to ensure children remain with their parents and continually traces and reunites separated families.
- Humanitarian Cash Transfers: UNICEF is supporting vulnerable families with cash assistance to buy food, water, and hygiene kits available in markets.
- Mental Health Support: UNICEF supplies mental health and psychosocial services in camps and shelters, giving children a space to play, socialize, and feel a much-needed sense of normalcy.
A Glimpse of UNICEF's Impact on Children in Gaza (20XX)
UNICEF has already assisted millions in Gaza with lifesaving emergency aid. According to UNICEF's annual report, UNICEF's impact on children in Gaza over the last year includes:
- Providing water for a monthly average of 1.8 million people, including over 700,000 children, across the Strip.
- Delivering 6 million liters of fuel to operate water facilities, treatment plants, and sewage pumping stations.
- Reaching more than 1 million individuals, including 502,000 children, with humanitarian cash transfers.
- Supplying nutrition products for 1.4 million beneficiaries.
- Equipping 44 medical facilities with essential supplies and equipment, benefiting over 585,000 people.
- Vaccinating over 1.1 million children in two rounds, achieving a 94% coverage rate in each.
- Distributing 400,000 child identification bracelets to families with young children to mitigate the risk of separation.
- Offering learning opportunities for more than 85,000 children in 75 temporary learning spaces, 35 community-led initiatives, and 20 schools, along with education-based recreational activities for 53,000 children.
Rebuilding a Shattered Hometown
Throughout Gaza, families are slowly returning to their homes, yearning to reclaim their lives. Jehan and her husband, along with their children, including 9-year-old Aisha, are living in a tent on the site of their destroyed home in northern Gaza. "It is cold and there is no running water," Jehan said. "The conditions for life here are very bad, but we prefer it because it is our home, our land."
An Urgent Call for Funding: Children Cannot Wait
The task ahead is immense. Lack of access to safe water, sanitation, nourishing food, medical care, immunizations, and education jeopardizes children's health and development. Over 14,500 children have reportedly lost their lives in Gaza since Oct. 7, 20XX — an average of 32 children dying each day. At least 23,000 children have been injured. Thousands more remain buried under the rubble.
UNICEF calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all abducted children and an end to any grave violations affecting children, including killing and maiming. However, the sum needed to maintain UNICEF's lifesaving support to children and their families in Gaza and the West Bank fell short by $88.2 million (17%) at the end of 20XX. In order to continue its work in 20XX, UNICEF estimates that $716.5 million in funding will be required.
Help UNICEF to reach more children in need. Make a donation today.
- The funding shortfall for UNICEF's operations in Gaza, amounting to $88.2 million, risks hindering their ability to continue providing essential aid to children.
- The impact of UNICEF in Gaza, as highlighted by their annual report, includes delivering water to over 1.8 million people each month, including 700,000 children.
- To help children in Gaza, individuals can donate to UNICEF to ensure they have access to vital humanitarian aid such as water, nutrition, medical care, immunizations, and education.
- UNICEF's ongoing efforts in Gaza include aiding in family reunification for the 17,000 children separated during the conflict, providing mental health support, and offering learning opportunities for children affected by the violence.
- With the state of Palestine facing significant challenges, international support is crucial in helping UNICEF strengthen its services and maintain its presence in the region, especially in times of crisis such as the ceasefire in Gaza.
- UNICEF's commitment to the children of Gaza, including the delivery of medical supplies and vaccines, is a testament to their unwavering dedication to improving the lives of thousands of vulnerable children.
- By staying informed and advocating for the funding of foreign aid, individuals can contribute to the overall goal of helping Palestinian children in Gaza and ensuring that they have a better future, free from conflict and hardship.
