UNICEF: Children in Gaza Cannot Be Protected While Bombs Fall on Them

SadaNews - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) stated that it is impossible to provide protection for children in the Gaza Strip while "bombs continue to fall from the sky."

According to the organization's spokesperson, Louise Wateridge, there is no safe childhood in Gaza, and concerns about child labor in the region cannot be separated from the broader collapse of childhood itself.

She added in an interview with Al Jazeera, "We see children who should be in classrooms and playgrounds with their families and friends, but instead, they find themselves having to search daily for food, water, and medicine just to survive."

The UN spokesperson considered that even one day of life in this reality is "inhumane," and that children in Gaza live this way day after day and month after month for more than two and a half years, stating, "Terror has become completely normalized."

Bombs Falling

The spokesperson pointed out that the organization's reports are no longer able to keep up with the scale of suffering; "Every time we write or report about children killed or injured, a new horror emerges within just hours, and this happens even during so-called ceasefire periods."

According to her, "The 'shock' today has become part of the very fabric of childhood itself, and children remain trapped in a never-ending cycle of displacement, hunger, fear, illness, death, and uncertainty, emphasizing that these children need protection and their homes back."

The UNICEF spokesperson continues, stating that protection cannot be provided to children while "bombs continue to fall from the sky," and children cannot return to their school desks if there are no schools, if there is no safety, and if resources and supplies are limited.

She added that UNICEF is doing everything it can for children and families in the Gaza Strip, but that is not enough; "The population is now crammed into only 40% of the area of the Strip, and the health situation is deteriorating and is so grave that rats are now biting children while they sleep at night."

She affirmed that no humanitarian response can replace the safety that children need, the cessation of violence, the flow of aid, and the restoration of life-saving services, adding, "Children in Gaza need their childhood to be restored."

According to the Information Unit at the Gaza Ministry of Health, 21,638 children were martyred during the recent war, accounting for nearly 30% of all martyrs, and more than 45,000 children were injured, including about 1,000 with amputations.

Data from the Palestinian Ministry of Education reveals that as of April 20, 19,061 students were martyred, and 28,337 others were injured, in addition to 801 martyrs and 3,291 injuries among educational staff. While 179 public schools were destroyed, shelling and destruction impacted 105 schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).