Today, 29 November, is International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. On this occasion, CIDSE draws attention to the devastating impact of the humanitarian aid shortage on children in Gaza. The blockade and the ongoing conflict in Gaza since 7th October 2023 further compound the humanitarian crisis, hindering the delivery of aid and exacerbating the suffering of children.
The war and siege on Gaza have caused one of the most pressing humanitarian crises of our time. With 2.1 million inhabitants, Gaza remains one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Children, who comprise approximately 47% of Gaza’s population, are hit especially hard by the humanitarian crisis.
Over the course of more than a year of the war on Gaza, civilians have been disproportionally targeted, attacked, displaced and killed by the Israeli army. More than 43,391 Palestinians have been reported killed, among them 17,000 children. Thousands of children have been injured on average, more than ten children a day have lost one or both legs in Gaza since the outbreak of the war. Moreover, over 21,000 children are estimated to be missing, many still under the rubble, detained, or buried in unmarked graves.
Since the beginning of the war, Israel has imposed strict measures hindering the arrival of humanitarian aid, particularly to the northern Gaza Strip, causing widespread starvation and disease. The situation has deteriorated severly after the invasion of the Israeli army into Rafah in May. Ever since the only crossing between Egypt and Gaza has been destroyed and closed, and no aid is entering from there. This month even marked the lowest number of truckloads of aid in 11 months entering the Gaza Strip with an average of 22 trucks a day, where humanitarian organisations say at least 600 would be needed. There has also been systematic targeting of humanitarian workers and institutions, as at least 300 aid workers have already been killed and the number is still increasing. Most of them are employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip proves to become even more catastrophic now that Israeli Knesset decided to ban UNRWA operations, making the provision of services more difficult.
The shortage of humanitarian aid has affected Gaza’s children disproportionately and is putting them in grave danger. UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Chaiban has called the war on Gaza a “war on children” and emphasized that “the Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child”.
Humanitarian aid shortages in Gaza have resulted in severe consequences for children, including malnutrition, lack of access to education, limited healthcare resources, psychological distress and trauma due to exposure to violence and displacement and increased vulnerability to exploitation.
Starvation and Malnutrition
Due to the lack of provision of aid, starvation and malnutrition are rampant in Gaza. According to Save the Children, acute malnutrition and a risk of famine-related death characterise emergency circumstances of food insecurity for almost 745,000 adults and children in Gaza. [1] Already 34 people, the majority of whom are children, have died from malnutrition.
According to UNICEF, in Gaza “nearly 16 per cent – or 1 in 6 children under 2 years of age – are acutely malnourished”. Widespread disease and malnutrition put pregnant women and infants at risk. Infants are at risk of life-long chronic illnesses as their immunity is weakened due to lack of proper nutrition, limited access to treatment and clean water. One of the displaced women in the Shifa Hospital who reported to our Partner DCI-P said:
“My son cried all night from hunger. His temperature rose and he started having convulsions. He passed away four days later”.
Lack of Access to Healthcare: Impact of Infectious Diseases
The deliberate targeting of hospitals and healthcare workers by Israel has brought the healthcare system in Gaza to collapse. Only 18 of 36 hospitals in Gaza are still partially operating. Wounded children are not properly treated due to the lack of adequate medical care, which leads to further health complications, and in many cases the loss of young lives. The scarcity of medical supplies leaves children to be treated without pain relief, resulting in children undergoing surgery and even amputations without anesthesia. In addition to the Israeli orders to evacuate hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, which puts the lives of doctors and patients, especially children, at risk.
Poor sanitation and overcrowded living conditions led to the rapid spread of infectious diseases which were exacerbated by a lack of adequate medical care. In August the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that recently polio, which had been eradicated in the Gaza Strip, has resurfaced. Due to the current circumstances, the Palestinian Ministry of Health has declared the entire Gaza Strip a polio epidemic zone after detecting the virus in sewage samples. Two rounds of vaccination campaigns were established in which 556,774 children under the age of 10 received the polio vaccine under extremely difficult circumstances. That included a truce only for the agreed-upon vaccination locations within only 9 hours in a day, which put the work crews under great pressure and constant danger during movement and reaching all the displaced.
Displacement
Around 1.9 million people in Gaza are displaced from their homes, half of them children. Now, most of them are concentrated in a very small area, in Deir Al Balah in the Middle of the Gaza Strip, and in Khan Younis Al Mawasi, which makes it difficult to access and distribute humanitarian services effectively. 9 in 10 of Gaza’s population have been displaced multiple times since the first day of the war and have been repeatedly displaced ever since. Families and communities have been shattered by their displacement, which has left many children without the safety and support of their parents or families.
17,000 children are believed to be unaccompanied exposing them to numerous dangers, including exploitation, abuse, and trafficking. Displaced children often live in overcrowded and unsafe conditions, with limited access to necessities such as food, clean water, and shelter. On top of the horrors of the war, the absence of a stable home environment has a long-lasting impact on their psychological well-being and development.
No Access to Education
Israel has been targeting the Gaza educational system to such an extent that 95% of all schools in Gaza have sustained damage. UN experts warned that “These attacks are not isolated incidents. They present a systematic pattern of violence aimed at dismantling the very foundation of Palestinian society,” All schools in Gaza have been closed for an estimated 625,000 students, and now most of them are used as shelters for the displaced people, despite this, many of them were targeted by the Israeli army.
The destruction of schools and the lack of access to education have long-term implications for Gaza’s children. The inability to attend school due to insecurity, damage to infrastructure, or displacement severely disrupts the educational journey of many children. Education is a critical component of a child’s development, providing not only knowledge but also a sense of normalcy and hope for the future, and this is what Gaza’s children are deprived of.
Long-term Trauma
The continued bombings and ground offensive by the Israeli military, the blockade, and the resulting humanitarian shortage have a devastating impact on mental health of children, causing extremely high levels of anxiety, post traumatic stress, loss of appetite, and depression and sleep disturbances. The constant exposure to violence, loss, displacement and instability has resulted in widespread trauma among them. 500,000 children in Gaza needed psychological and social support already before the war, but now around one million children are believed to need mental health support.
Partners’ Response
In response to the current and future risks facing Gazan children, CIDSE members’ partners have put in significant efforts to mitigate these effects. Defense for Children International Palestine for example, has been collecting testimonies and documenting violations of child rights through their field workers in Gaza. Other partners, like Theatre Day Productions (TDP), provide psychological relief to Gaza’s children and youth through theater. Despite the destruction of TDP’s headquarters, the organisation conducted over 20 drama, storytelling and free expression workshops for displaced children since the beginning of the war to help the children cope with the unbearable situation. One of TDP drama teachers said:
“I felt that the atmosphere was not war. I was going to help the children relieve pressure and vent. I discovered that I was also venting with them”.
One of the children who participated in a workshop of TDP stated:
“I really enjoyed the drama workshop. It was nice to work on a big project. I made new friends and got to know old friends better. It feels like I have changed mentally. When my family came to watch the performance, I saw I thought they were proud of me.”
The work of organisations like TDP is vital to provide a sense of normality and hope to the children and support them psychologically as much as possible under such circumstances. But what is direly needed for the sake of the children in Gaza is an immediate end to the war and international political change that will allow them to thrive and hope for a brighter future in which their fundamental rights are respected.
Note
[1] Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Phase 4
About the author
Ahmed Al Aydi, is volunteering at Broederlijk Delen, one of the Belgian CIDSE members. He is a Palestinian lawyer, human rights activist and researcher and holds a master’s degree in Human Rights and Democracy from the institute of Political Science at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. He works on advocacy and lobbying issues related to children’s rights and has defended and promoted human rights in Palestine and in the Middle East.
The views expressed in the article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of CIDSE.
Cover image: People waiting by a bakery in Khan Younis to get some bread. Credit: Tareq Dahlan