UNICEF Middle East and North Africa Regional Director Edouard Beigbeder has described the situation of children in Gaza and the West Bank as “extremely concerning,” also affirming that all children living in those areas 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,” Beigbeder said in a statement issued Sunday after he concluded a four-day mission to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
He said 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.
“Without aid entering the Gaza Strip, roughly 1 million children are living without the very basics they need to survive – yet again,” the UNICEF Regional Director warned.
Tragically, he added, “approximately 4,000 newborns are currently unable to access essential lifesaving care due to the major impact on medical facilities in the Gaza Strip.
Beigbeder said every day without these ventilators, lives are lost, especially among vulnerable, premature newborns in the northern Gaza Strip.
“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,” the UN official explained.
He then asked for these lifesaving children’s health supplies to be allowed to enter, affirming that there is no reason why they shouldn’t be.
Before It Is Too Late
The UNICEF Regional Director said that 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.
The ceasefire in Gaza went into effect on January 19, but was interrupted by some shelling. Israel has blocked the entry of all humanitarian aid into Gaza since March 2.
“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,” Beigbeder said.
“We need to deliver these supplies for children, including newborns, before it is too late. And we must keep essential services running,” he added.
Beigbeder said he 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% of its capacity, depriving hundreds of thousands of people from drinkable water and sanitation services,” he said.
In the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, Beigbeder said 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.
“Tens of thousands of children have been killed and injured. We must not go back to a situation that pushes these numbers higher,” the UNICEF Regional Director noted.
