UNICEF: Children in Gaza Face Harsh Humanitarian Reality With No Protection Amid Continued Bombing

UNICEF: Children in Gaza Face Harsh Humanitarian Reality With No Protection Amid Continued Bombing
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The United Nations Children’s Fund has warned that conditions for children in the Gaza Strip continue to deteriorate, saying it has become extremely difficult to provide them with protection amid ongoing bombardment and a deepening humanitarian crisis.

UNICEF spokesperson Louise Wateridge said there is “no safe childhood in Gaza,” stressing that children’s suffering goes beyond child labor and reflects the collapse of basic conditions needed for childhood.

She said children who should be in schools or playgrounds are instead spending their days searching for food, water, and medicine in order to survive. Wateridge added that they have endured an inhumane reality for more than two and a half years, with fear becoming part of daily life.

She noted that the scale of the tragedy exceeds the ability of humanitarian reports to document it, as each report of children being killed or wounded is followed within hours by new incidents, including during ceasefire periods.

Wateridge said trauma has become part of life for Gaza’s children, who remain trapped in a cycle of displacement, hunger, fear, illness, and death. She called for children to be protected and returned to their homes, stressing that this cannot happen while bombing continues, security is absent, and humanitarian aid and supplies remain restricted.

Figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Education, up to April 20, showed that 19,061 students had been killed and 28,337 others injured. The data also recorded the killing of 801 education workers and the injury of 3,291 others, as the war continues to devastate Gaza’s education sector.