At least four children have been reported killed and many others injured in the Gaza Strip over the past five days, while attacks have also destroyed a warehouse containing nutrition supplies and severely damaged a UNICEF-supported water facility, further undermining access to the essential services that children and families rely on.
The children reported killed include two boys, aged two and four years, in separate strikes, a 10-year-old girl hit by ground fire while inside her tent, and a 16-year-old boy who died from serious injuries sustained in a previous strike. On 25 August, three children aged eight, ten and seventeen were reported hit by live ammunition fire and two 11-year-olds by shrapnel following strikes, suffering life-changing injuries.
On the same day, a warehouse containing more than US$770,000 worth of UNICEF nutrition supplies was destroyed by a nearby strike. The vital nutrition supplies were intended to support more than 40,500 vulnerable children, aged between 6 and 23 months, as well as 4,900 pregnant and breastfeeding women.
Just one day earlier on August 24, a UNICEF-supported water well and desalination facility in the Deir Al Balah area was also severely damaged by a nearby strike. More than 4,000 people, including around 2,000 children, rely on safe drinking water from the facility. UNICEF and partners are providing emergency water trucking to affected families to help maintain access to safe water while the facility is unable to operate.
"Children are being killed and injured, while those who survive are seeing essential services and supplies that they depend on destroyed," said UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Edouard Beigbeder. "Beyond the loss of life, the destruction of vital supplies and damage to essential services continue to deepen the suffering of children and families already struggling to survive."
Access to safe and sufficient water is especially critical for children's health and wellbeing during the peak summer months. With 70 per cent of Gaza's water and sanitation infrastructure damaged, 63 per cent of people are unable to access even six litres of drinking water per person per day.
UNICEF calls for full respect for international humanitarian and human rights law, including the protection of children's lives and rights, for civilian infrastructure and essential services critical to children's survival and wellbeing to be safeguarded, and for rapid, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access.
