Almost all children and adolescents in the territory have been subjected to extremely traumatic events, characterized by widespread destruction, incessant attacks, displacement and serious shortages of basic needs, UNICEF criticized.

“The murder and maiming of children, the abduction of children, attacks on hospitals and schools and the denial of humanitarian access are serious violations of children’s rights,” said Adeel Khader, the agency’s regional director for the Middle East and Northern Africa, and called for an immediate ceasefire, allowing humanitarian access and the release of the hostages.

“Even wars have laws, civilians must be protected, especially children, and everything possible must be done to save them in all circumstances,” he said. “The rate of deaths and injuries (among children) is shocking, and more frightening is the fact that unless tensions are eased and humanitarian aid is allowed in, the daily death toll will continue to rise,” he warned.

UNICEF highlighted that there is also an alarming growth in violence in the West Bank, where 100 deaths have been reported, including 28 minors, since the beginning of the new cycle of clashes. Even before the tragic events of October 7th, 2023, children in the West Bank were already suffering the highest levels of conflict-related violence in two decades, it stressed, and denounced that “the situation in the Gaza Strip is a growing stain on our collective conscience.”

The entire population of the Strip, which amounts to some 2.3 million inhabitants, faces a serious and urgent shortage of water, with severe consequences for children, who represent around 50 percent of the total, it indicated, and noted that most water supply networks have been “severely affected or stopped functioning due to a combination of factors, such as fuel shortages and damage to critical infrastructure,” and to compound the problem, the five wastewater treatment plants in the area do not work.

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