Children of Gaza Crisis
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Children of Gaza Crisis
UNICEF welcomes the announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza. It’s the glimmer of hope we’ve all been waiting for.
For more than a year, children and families in Gaza have experienced the unimaginable horror of war.
Since the conflict escalated in October 2023, children's homes, schools, communities and dreams have been reduced to rubble. Severe shortages of essential food, water, and medicine have created a humanitarian crisis on the brink of catastrophe.
With entry points being open, now’s the time to scale up support.
Right now, over 2.1 million people are facing a high level of food insecurity. The war has already cost children so much pain and suffering– reportedly leaving at least 14,500 dead, thousands more injured and nearly one million displaced from their homes.
A ceasefire alone will not end the suffering of children in Gaza. This is a crucial time for us to act. We've reached hundreds of thousands of children with therapeutic food, clean water, medical supplies and sanitation and hygiene services. Our staff continue to be on the ground working tirelessly to ensure children and families receive the critical supplies and services they need.
Recovery will take time, but with your help, it starts now. Please support the children of Gaza by making a life-saving donation today.
How Can My Donation Make A Difference?
A donation of $51 could provide 10 collapsible water containers and 2,800 water purification tablets to protect kids from waterborne disease.
A donation of $90 could provide 150 packets of ready-to-use therapeutic food to save the lives of kids suffering from malnutrition.
A donation of $119 could provide 1,000 polio vaccines and 2x vaccine carriers to transport them at the right temperature to protect kids from this deadly disease.
A donation of $247 could provide a School-in-a-box Kit with enough learning materials for 40 displaced children to keep up their education.
© UNICEF/UNI504113/ alBaba
How's UNICEF responding in Gaza?
A lasting ceasefire is vital for saving children’s lives.
We’re scaling up a response, with a total of 1,300 truckloads lined up to deliver life-saving nutrition, water and sanitation (WASH), health and essential education and psychosocial supplies for children and families in urgent need. An additional 700 truckloads are set to follow.
Since October 2023, UNICEF has reached one in three people in Gaza with humanitarian supplies and services.
We've provided safe drinking water to 2.9 million people; critical water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) supplies to 638,390 people and medical supplies for more than 250,000 people.
We've provided psychosocial support services to over 314,000 people in Gaza, including more than 208,000 children. More than 210,000 kids have received learning materials and support to continue their schooling. And we've delivered humanitarian cash assistance to 375,692 households.
A ceasefire agreement is a critical first step, but it must be upheld. It is imperative that parties fully adhere to the ceasefire and the desperately needed aid allowed in.
We were on the ground in Gaza long before this crisis escalated a year ago, and we continue to deliver for kids in the most challenging of humanitarian situations. We will never give up on children in Gaza.
Polio has reemerged in Gaza
A huge concern right now is children’s health and the deadly threat from polio, which has reemerged in Gaza after 25 years. As the sole provider of vaccines for children in Gaza, we're stepping up to protect children from this horrific disease.
Right now, we're undertaking a large-scale polio vaccination campaign. We need 1.6 million polio vaccines, vaccine carriers to transport the life-saving cargo and cold-chain equipment to keep the vaccines at the right temperature to protect kids.
In September, around 560 000 children (under ten years old) received their first round of vaccinations against polio. And in November, we've just completed the second round of the vaccination campaign, reaching 556,774 kids. We've achieved 94% vaccine coverage across the target population, which will help to stop the outbreak and prevent it spreading across the region.
Other ways you can donate
If you'd like to donate over the phone, call our friendly team on 0800 243 575.
If you'd like to donate direct to our bank account, please use account 01-0505-0463764-00 and the code 'gaza-ws'.
Other ways to support kids in Gaza:
Help us spread awareness of the situation for kids in Gaza by sharing this appeal with your friends and family.
If you'd like to fundraise with your community to support our work, you can start a fundraiser here.
Disclaimer:
In the event that funds raised exceed UNICEF's funding requirements, the appeal no longer needs funding, or the decision is made to close this appeal, your one-off or ongoing monthly donation will go to our Greatest Need Appeal. Where possible we will communicate this with you, however in some circumstances this might not be possible.
Your life-saving monthly donations will support this appeal for a period of twelve months. After that they will go into our Greatest Need Fund to save and protect kids worldwide.
UPDATED: 18th November, 2024
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Gaza: 12 months on
It’s been 12 months of unbelievable trauma and grief for millions of people. Kids caught up in the violence have been the urgent focus for thousands of UNICEF staff - both those on the frontlines and those around the world working tirelessly to support the children affected by this conflict. During this time many of our donors and supporters have been asking questions and so we've answered a list of some of the most frequently asked ones.
UNICEF whānau who've been in Gaza from the beginning
These are just a few of the stories of UNICEF’s helpers who've risking their safety and lives every single day for the last 12 months, all of whom have their own families and loved ones.
The first phase of the polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip - Statement by UNICEF Regional Director for the MENA region, Adele Khodr
Statement by UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Adele Khodr.
Humanitarian pauses vital for critical polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip
Two rounds of a polio vaccination campaign are expected to be launched at the end of August and September 2024 across the Gaza Strip to prevent the spread of circulating variant type 2 poliovirus (cVDPV2).
Unrelenting war in Gaza continues to inflict horrors on children
This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF Communication Officer Salim Oweis – to whom quoted text may be attributed - at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva
Children’s lives threatened by rising malnutrition in the Gaza Strip
As the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip enters its 20th week, food and safe water have become incredibly scarce and diseases are rife, compromising women and children’s nutrition and immunity.
Malnourished babies in Gaza slowly perishing under the world’s gaze
“At least ten children have reportedly died because of dehydration and malnutrition in Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Northern Gaza Strip in recent days..."
Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell on Rafah, Gaza
“UNICEF is urgently calling on the parties to refrain from military escalation in Rafah Governorate in Gaza where over 600,000 children and their families have been displaced – many of them more than once..."
UNICEF welcomes NZ Government funding towards life-saving aid for women and children in Gaza
The UNICEF funding will support greater access to safe drinking water, vital medical supplies, as well as the supply of nutritional supplements and vitamins to children and pregnant women who are facing malnutrition.