The children of Gaza need a ceasefire. They are now in dire need of the aid that will keep them alive Allison Griffin
IIn the past few days, we have witnessed celebrations accompanied by cautious optimism about a future for Gaza without bombs and bullets. This much-needed pause in hostilities offers children the opportunity to sleep without fear of drones overhead, air strikes on nearby buildings or fires starting in their tents. Families in Gaza are slowly returning to their neighborhoods and trying to salvage what they can from under the rubble.
But more importantly, what they still do not have is full and sustainable access to vital aid supplies and services. This is about the basic rights of children in the occupied Palestinian territory, which we have been demanding and defending since 1953.
The humanitarian situation on the ground remains catastrophic. Children and infants continue to suffer from malnutrition, and we are seeing an increase in cases of diarrhoea, scabies and pneumonia in our health clinics. Until these basic needs are met, Palestinians cannot begin to think about rebuilding Gaza.
Since the start of the cessation of hostilities, we know that some UN agencies and international organizations have been able to increase the entry of humanitarian supplies, but this has been nowhere near the scale we need to provide on an ongoing basis for children. Save the Children supplies have been repeatedly denied entry into Gaza since early March. At a minimum, Gaza needs at least 600 aid trucks and 50 fuel and cooking gas tankers. Children need help that matches their needs – and there should be no cap on truck deliveries. We have rationed existing inventory as a temporary solution. But we need immediate, long-term and unhindered access to nutrition supplies, food, water and hygiene supplies including soap, shampoo, laundry detergent and sanitary pads – along with fuel, cooking gas and other essential life-saving items.
We have seen first-hand what happens when aid is not delivered consistently. Nazik*, 30, a mother of four in Gaza, was pregnant with her youngest daughter during the first year of the war, and food was so scarce that she became malnourished. At seven months old, her youngest daughter, Nour*, was diagnosed with the disease Severe acute malnutrition. With support from Save the Children’s nutrition clinic, Nour’s condition has improved but remains fragile, and she often survives only on supplementary therapeutic foods known as Plumpy’nut. But what you need are high-energy, nutrient-rich foods continuously and for a long time.
As winter approaches, when temperatures drop to five degrees, shelter, blankets and warm clothes are also priorities. The scale of devastation in Gaza is beyond anything we could imagine – the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) reports that 92% of homes Has been damaged or destroyed. Pictures and videos do not express the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian families living under rubble and destroyed buildings, certainly ill-equipped for the cold temperatures.
Save the Children is calling for long-term unimpeded access as well as a permanent and final ceasefire. Ways to achieve this are being explored – with Moazzam Malik, CEO of Save the Children UK, recently calling for the establishment of an internationally mandated mechanism to provide aid at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. International management on both sides of the border can allow the movement of supplies at a rapid pace, and with transparent supervision.
We have supplies ready to go to Egypt, including 10,000 hygiene kits including soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, sanitary pads, life-saving medical items, including shelter and winterization supplies, as well as multi-purpose cash assistance. When granted access, we will work with UN agencies to expand the essential services we already manage, in particular expanding our nutrition support, including prevention, screening and treatment of malnutrition. Children need not only basic humanitarian supplies, but a range of services.
We also need to address the long-term impacts that this two-year war has had on children, which go beyond the immediate need for aid. In 2024, the United Nations concluded that the occupied Palestinian territories were The deadliest place on earth To be a child.
Children need professional mental health support to overcome the traumatic effects of senseless violence. In a child-friendly space run by Save the Children, one child wrote: “I wish I was in heaven where my mother is. In heaven there is love, there is food and water.” Children in Gaza are also now entering their third year of being out of school. An extended period without education significantly increases the risk that students will never complete their studies. With full access to and through Gaza, aid agencies can reopen temporary learning spaces to provide activities for 700,000 school-age children.
Gaza also has the largest number of children with amputees per capita anywhere in the world. Last January, the Ministry of Health reported that 800 children had been exposed to any of these diseases Amputation of upper or lower limbs Since the start of the war in Gaza, while the use of explosive weapons in Gaza in 2024 has left an average of 15 children per day with potentially lifelong disabilities. These children need specialist long-term support.
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Despite unimaginable difficulties, we have been working around the clock to respond to the man-made crisis in Gaza since the war began. We have provided life-saving support and assistance to 1.6 million people, more than half of whom are children.
Humanitarian aid is a right and a duty and cannot be replaced by political negotiations and political or military goals. Aid is a tool for relief, not control. Israel must allow all border crossings to open immediately. Anything less means that even with a permanent ceasefire, children’s lives and futures will remain at grave risk. Anything less is simply not enough.
* Not their real names