"Two weeks ago, the start of the latest ceasefire in the Gaza Strip delivered long-awaited relief for families, where it offers a vital chance for the survival, safety and dignity of children.
"The conversations I had in the Gaza Strip during the last week all echoed the same message - the ceasefire must hold and it must deliver more than calm, it must deliver action.
"Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have resulted in wholesale devastation. Words and numbers alone cannot convey the scale of the impact on children that I saw - an impact that will last for generations. Children have endured unimaginable suffering; more than 64,000 children have reportedly been killed or injured and more than 58,000 have lost a parent during the conflict. Entire cities have been flattened and critical systems destroyed. One million children have endured the daily horrors of surviving in the world's most dangerous place to be a child, leaving them with wounds of fear, loss and grief.
"UNICEF's humanitarian scale-up following the ceasefire is underway. We are racing against the clock to save children's lives from preventable threats, like malnutrition, disease and the winter cold. We are expanding nutrition treatment in the face of famine, trucking safe water to families in their places of refuge and equipping them with blankets, clothes and shelter.
"On Tuesday, I met 8-month-old Hoor, who has severe acute malnutrition. Through UNICEF-provided treatments, she is recovering, and cash assistance is helping her family afford food in local markets.
"We have also started supporting local partners to begin repairing and rebuilding Gaza's essential services. These lifesaving systems must be revived and sustained. This means rebuilding and re-equipping health facilities with the staff, spaces and tools they need to save lives, resuming routine immunization, repairing community water networks, restoring energy supply to critical infrastructure, training local partners to prevent disease and malnutrition, expanding cash-for-work programmes for youth, and much more.
"The importance of restoring education in this early recovery work cannot be overstated. After two lost years, families know that a return to proper education will provide a foundation for learning, healing, hope, and long-term social cohesion in their communities.
"UNICEF succeeded in bringing more than 100,000 children back to face-to-face learning during the war and now aims, together with education partners, to return all 650,000 school-age children to school.
"UNICEF is assembling semi-permanent classrooms and repairing damaged schools as we prepare to rebuild inclusive schools that combine multiple services under one roof - from safe drinking water to integrated mental health and psychosocial support and child protection services to promote emotional recovery and safety, for every child.
"The long road to recovery is already being paved by Palestinian families - with the support of the international community - but certain commitments must be upheld, urgently, to accelerate and expand this critical work.
"We have seen an increase in the amount of UNICEF aid allowed into the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire, but it is not yet sufficient.
"We call for the safe, rapid and unimpeded movement of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and for Israeli authorities to enable this by:
- The simultaneous opening of all crossings into the Gaza Strip, with improved, faster clearance procedures.
- Allowing relief to move through all feasible supply routes including through Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank.
- Permitting the urgent entry of a variety of aid supplies, based on assessed needs, including items previously denied or restricted. UNICEF education kits and mental-health and psychosocial support have been blocked for over a year. We need these kits to enter, immediately.
"UNICEF calls for all parties to fully uphold their obligations under international law and the ceasefire agreement. Civilians, especially children, must be protected at all times. Displaced people must be allowed to move freely and voluntarily return to their homes safely, as soon as conditions allow. Humanitarian actors must have safe, sustained and unhindered access to families wherever they are. Children who require specialized, urgent care not available in the Gaza Strip must be medically evacuated without delay, together with their caregivers.
"A fragile hope is returning to Gaza as critical recovery work begins. The world cannot allow this ceasefire to fail. It will take time, but an inclusive future that prioritises the rights of Gaza's one million children is possible with peace, action and collective will."
