One month after an agreed pause in hostilities in Gaza, children and families’ lives remain in limbo, with people unable to start repairs to homes without equipment and many scared to move due to unexploded ordinance or the fear of further airstrikes, Save the Children said.
While the UN and other aid agencies are doing all they can to scale up assistance, the amount of aid entering Gaza is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of children and families facing their third winter since the war started, and Save the Children still hasn’t had its own supplies enter Gaza since March.
While the entry of commercial supplies means there is now some food, medicine and soap in the markets, many essential items remain scarce, and food prices remain higher than pre-conflict levels, particularly for freshly produced and key staple commodities such as rice and pulses, according to the World Food Programme.1
Renewed Israeli military airstrikes that killed more than 100 people including 46 children two weeks ago left communities terrified once more and distrustful that the pause will become a definitive ceasefire.
Recent UN satellite data showed that 198, 273 buildings - about 81% of buildings across Gaza - have been damaged, and several key roads also blocked by rubble. About 62% of the 198,273 damaged structures have been totally destroyed, the UN said. Meanwhile, much of the reconstruction materials and heavy equipment needed to repair damaged homes are not entering Gaza, leaving reconstruction at a standstill.
The extent of the damage has left children and families unable to return to any sense of normalcy. They remain without proper shelter or basic conditions in which it is fit for children to grow up in, Save the Children said. And as long as homes aren’t rebuilt, the skeletal remains of Gaza’s school buildings are still sheltering homeless families, putting education out of reach with children having missed more than two years of formal schooling.
The prevalence of unexploded devices among the rubble is also preventing families from returning home, with roughly 70,000 tonnes of explosives still undetonated, according to Palestinian Civil Defence. Already, the UN says that the war has led to Gaza having the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world, with a quarter of all injuries being life-changing and requiring rehabilitation.
As cold weather approaches, almost the entire population of Gaza is still living in tents, many of which have been battered and damaged by two harsh winters, including flooding last year that Save the Children said turned “camps into swamps”. People are using blankets and other materials they can find to patch up holes in their tents, the aid organisation said, with tents, other shelter supplies, and hygiene kits stuck in warehouses since March.
Shurouq, Multimedia Manager at Save the Children in Gaza, said:
“We are between life and death. We keep hearing about people still being killed or injured, and the resumption of war could resurge at any time, attacks could happen at any moment. This is one of the reasons people are not returning to the north – we cannot return until we see that things are better.
“Borders are still closed, so we are still under siege, trapped and blocked. Machinery, equipment and materials are still not entering Gaza.”
Save the Children said that the pause in hostilities must become an immediate and definitive ceasefire, as the only way to save lives in Gaza and end grave violations of children’s rights. For children to have access to essential humanitarian aid and services, Israeli authorities must lift the siege and ensure all border crossings are open and fully operational, aid restrictions reduced, and services resumed. Additional crossings need to be opened, including those providing direct access to the growing number of people in the north of the strip.
Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children’s Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, said:
“A month ago, people in Gaza had a cautious optimism. But instead of the Strip being flooded with aid and equipment to demine and rebuild, children and families remain in limbo. The absence of childhood normalities, like going to school, is felt even more strongly, with consequences that threaten the very fabric of Palestinian society for generations to come.
“Children in Gaza, now in their third year with no school, are staring into their futures. It is up to the international community to ensure these futures are filled with opportunity, hope, and fulfilment of their rights.”
Save the Children, alongside local partners, are delivering lifesaving services to children and families across the occupied Palestinian territory, running health clinics, nutrition points, water and sanitation services, child protection programmes including mental health support and case management, child friendly spaces, education in temporary learning spaces, and cash transfer programmes to support families whose livelihoods have been decimated.
With additional funding and access, Save the Children will be able to bring in more essential items, including shelter and winter kits, as well as cash provisions for families to buy whatever they need.
The aid organisation said that it has supplies in Egypt ready to go into Gaza as soon as it is granted access, including 10,000 hygiene kits and lifesaving medical items.
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MEDIA CONTACT: media.team@savethechildren.org.au