UN Warns of ‘Massive Trauma’ for Gaza’s Children amid Renewed Fighting

Displaced Palestinians collect books, from the destroyed Islamic University to use as fuel to cook food, in Gaza City on March 21, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Palestinians collect books, from the destroyed Islamic University to use as fuel to cook food, in Gaza City on March 21, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Warns of ‘Massive Trauma’ for Gaza’s Children amid Renewed Fighting

Displaced Palestinians collect books, from the destroyed Islamic University to use as fuel to cook food, in Gaza City on March 21, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Palestinians collect books, from the destroyed Islamic University to use as fuel to cook food, in Gaza City on March 21, 2025. (AFP)

The UN warned Friday that all of Gaza's approximately one million children were facing "massive trauma" as fighting in the war-ravaged territory resumed, and amid dire aid shortages.

Humanitarians described an alarming situation in Gaza, amid a growing civilian death toll since Israel resumed aerial bombardment and ground operations this week after a six-week ceasefire.

Sam Rose, the senior deputy field director in Gaza for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, highlighted the psychological shock for already traumatized children to once again find themselves beneath the bombs.

This is a "massive, massive trauma for the one million children" living in the Palestinian territory, he told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Gaza.

The breakdown of the ceasefire that took effect on January 19 comes as the population is already dramatically weakened from 15 months of brutal war sparked by Hamas's deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

"It's worse this time," Rose warned, "because people are already exhausted, they're already degraded, their immune systems, their mental health, (and) populations on the verge of famine.

"Children who had come back to school after 18 months out of school, now back in tents,... hearing the bombardment around them constantly.

"It's fear on top of fear, cruelty on top of cruelty, and tragedy on top of tragedy."

James Elder, a spokesman for the UN children's agency UNICEF, said traumatized children usually only start to process their trauma when they begin returning to normalcy.

"Psychologists would say our absolute nightmare is that they return home and then it starts again," he told reporters.

"That's the terrain that we've now entered," he said, warning that Gaza was the only "example in modern history in terms of an entire child population needing mental health support".

"That's no exaggeration."

Gaza's civil defense agency said 504 people had been killed since Tuesday, including more than 190 under the age of 18.

The toll is among the highest since the war started more than 17 months ago with Hamas's attack on Israel.

It has also been a deadly period for humanitarians, with seven UNRWA staff killed just since the ceasefire broke down, bring the total number killed from that agency alone to 284 since the Gaza war began.

A Bulgarian worker with another UN agency was also killed this week, as was a local staff member of Doctors Without Borders, the medical charity said Friday.

Humanitarians warned the situation on the ground has been made worse by Israel's decision earlier this month to cut off aid and electricity to Gaza over the deadlock in negotiations to prolong the ceasefire.

"We were able to bring in more supplies in during the six weeks of the ceasefire than ... in the previous six months," Rose said, warning though that that progress was "being reversed".

Currently, he said, there is only enough flour supply in Gaza for another six days.

Asked about Israel's charge that Hamas has diverted the more than sufficient aid inside Gaza, Rose said he had "not seen any evidence" of that.

"There is no aid being distributed right now, so there is nothing to steal."

He warned though that if aid is not restored, "we will see a gradual slide back into what we saw in the worst days of the conflict in terms of looting ... and desperate conditions among the population".

Elder meanwhile described the vital aid items that aid agencies were unable to bring into Gaza.

"We've got 180,000 doses of vaccines a few kilometers away that are life-saving and are blocked," he said.

He also pointed to a "massive shortage" of incubators in Gaza even as pre-term births were surging.

"We have dozens of them, again sitting across the border," he said. "Blocked ventilators for babies."



UN Food Agency Says Its Food Stocks in Gaza Have Run out under Israel’s Blockade

A girl puts a pot to her head as Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, April 24, 2025. (Reuters)
A girl puts a pot to her head as Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, April 24, 2025. (Reuters)
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UN Food Agency Says Its Food Stocks in Gaza Have Run out under Israel’s Blockade

A girl puts a pot to her head as Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, April 24, 2025. (Reuters)
A girl puts a pot to her head as Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, April 24, 2025. (Reuters)

The World Food Program says its food stocks in the Gaza Strip have run out under Israel’s nearly 8-week-old blockade, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory.

The WFP said in a statement that it delivered the last of its stocks to charity kitchens that it supports around Gaza. It said those kitchens are expected to run out of food in the coming days.

Some 80% of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million relies primarily on charity kitchens for food, because other sources have shut down under Israel’s blockade, according to the UN. The WFP has been supporting 47 kitchens that distribute 644,000 hot meals a day, WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa told the Associated Press.

It was not immediately clear how many kitchens would still be operating in Gaza if those shut down. But Etefa said the WFP-backed kitchens are the major ones in Gaza.

Israel cut off entry of all food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza on March 2 and then resumed its bombardment and ground offensives two weeks later, shattering a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. It says the moves aim to pressure Hamas to release hostages it still holds. Rights groups have called the blockade a “starvation tactic” and a potential war crime.

Israel has said Gaza has enough supplies after a surge of aid entered during the ceasefire and accuses Hamas of diverting aid for its purposes. Humanitarian workers deny there is significant diversion, saying the UN strictly monitors distribution. They say the aid flow during the ceasefire was barely enough to cover the immense needs from throughout the war when only a trickle of supplies got in.

With no new goods entering Gaza, many foods have disappeared from markets, including meat, eggs, fruits, dairy products and many vegetables. Prices for what remains have risen dramatically, becoming unaffordable for much of the population. Most families rely heavily on canned goods.

Malnutrition is already surging. The UN said it identified 3,700 children suffering from acute malnutrition in March, up 80% from the month before. At the same time, because of diminishing supplies, aid groups were only able to provide nutritional supplements to some 22,000 children in March, down 70% from February. The supplements are a crucial tool for averting malnutrition.

Almost all bakeries shut down weeks ago and the WFP stopped distribution of food basics to families for lack of supplies. With stocks of most ingredients depleted, charity kitchens generally can only serve meals of pasta or rice with little added.

World Central Kitchen -- a US charity that is one of the biggest in Gaza that doesn’t rely on the WFP -- said Thursday that its kitchens had run out of proteins. Instead, they make stews from canned vegetables. Because fuel is scarce, it dismantles wooden shipping pallets to burn in its stoves, it said. It also runs the only bakery still functioning in Gaza, producing 87,000 loaves of pita a day.

The WFP said 116,000 tons of food is ready to be brought into Gaza if Israel opens the borders, enough to feed 1 million people for four months.

Israel has leveled much of Gaza with its air and ground campaign, vowing to destroy Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. It has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, whose count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

In the Oct. 7 attack, gunmen killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251. They still hold 59 hostages after most were released in ceasefire deals.