This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF Communication Officer Salim Oweis – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today’s press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva
“The unrelenting war in Gaza continues to inflict horrors on thousands of children, keeping far too many separated from their loved ones. On Saturday, I met 8-month-old Yahya. Four days and several attempts later, after a long and dangerous drive together, through military check points to the North of the Gaza Strip, Yahya met his father, Zakaria, for the first time.
“Little Yahya was born at Kamal Adwan hospital on 27 November 2023. The boy was born prematurely and was transferred to Shifaa hospital for neo-natal medical care. Shortly after, a military operation took place around Shifaa hospital, and he was evacuated to Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah – the middle of the Gaza Strip. But his parents were forced to stay in the north.
“Once well, Yahya was eventually placed into temporary care and kept safe with the support of UNICEF and partners, who managed to stay in touch with his family. Finally, the time came to reunite him with his mother and father, who had to endure months of uncertainty and fear before being able to hold him in their hands.
“The successful mission included seven children from four families and was a rare moment of joy in an otherwise bleak environment. But it wasn’t without its complexities. Our mission has been denied access three times before, despite pre-coordination and initial approvals. Just two weeks earlier, another UNICEF car on a reunification mission was hit by three bullets, while waiting at a holding point on its way to the north. But our small win – seeing Zakaria cry with joy and relief – is why we persist despite the many challenges.
“I was shocked by the depth of suffering, destruction and widespread displacement in Gaza. The footage the world sees on television gives an important peek into the living hell people are enduring for over 10 months. What it does not fully show is how behind the crumbled buildings – whole neighborhoods, livelihoods and dreams have been levelled to the ground.
“When you see an image of a displaced mother carrying her child and all their possessions on her back, you do not see hundreds of uprooted people following her up the road.
“One lost child, like Yahya, is really the story of thousands.
“The life of a child in Gaza, in month ten of this conflict, is not a life. We cannot say it enough – there is no safe place, and everything is running out – food, water, fuel, medicines. Everything.
“When you walk through the mazes of makeshift shelters, you struggle to climb the sand they lay on and you smell the strong odour of sewage filling the paths around. You are struck by the many children hovering around asking one question “Mr. when will the war end?”
“Water and waste are a huge problem.
“In Deir al-Balah, where the bulk of displaced people have fled in recent months, the partially functioning sanitation system is estimated to be overloaded by seven times its capacity due to these massive waves of displacement to the area. Consequently, the decades old sewage network is mostly clogged, and leaking.
“Families urgently asked me for soap and hygiene supplies. They are using water and salt to clean their children or boiling water with lemons to try and treat skin rashes. They tell me doctors don’t have the capacity or medicines to treat them, with more serious medical cases arriving every hour and no supplies on the shelves. And so, the rashes spread.
“There is also a serious lack of medicine for children with pre-existing conditions like cancer and congenital ailments.
“At Al-Aqsa hospital I met 10-year-old Abdel Rahman, who suffered a leg injury during an airstrike. His leg never healed, and after following up with doctors he was diagnosed with bone cancer. His mother Samar said to me with a broken voice: “I wish my child would die and not to be suffering as he is now – can you believe that I wish that now?”
“A child with a disease in the Gaza Strip has been handed a sentence to a slow death because he cannot receive the treatment he needs, and he is unlikely to survive long enough to make it out.
“Their only hope of survival is a ceasefire. The children of Gaza are still clinging to the belief that this day will come, and UNICEF shares this hope. Achieving a ceasefire is still possible, more necessary now than ever and way overdue, and everyone must do everything in their power to advocate for it.”
