War in Gaza

The announcement of an impending pause in hostilities in Gaza signals a hopeful reprieve on the horizon for children and families. While the pause in hostilities is a crucial respite for children, it is not enough. While the pause in hostilities is a crucial respite for children, it is not enough.

Children in Gaza have been paying the heaviest price for a war they’ve played no part in. They have lost their homes, loved ones, and the safety to which they have a right. They are still dying because of hunger and disease. More than 20,000 children have been killed.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian families are living in rubble and bombed out buildings, that are ill equipped for colder temperatures. 

Against unimaginable odds, the Save the Children team has been working tirelessly to respond to the devastating scale of humanitarian needs in Gaza since the war began and has provided lifesaving support and aid to 1.6 million people in Gaza, over half of whom are children. 

The urgency now is to urgently open more crossings so that we can provide shelter, water, food and medical supplies to hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza who have lost their homes and loved ones and are struggling daily to survive with the shadow of famine hanging over Gaza and the entry and delivery of humanitarian aid heavily restricted.

More must be done to protect children from the physical and mental harm caused by ongoing violence. 

A famine is now taking place in parts of the Gaza StThis 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. There is no alternative.

We’ve been working around the clock to find ways to deliver aid to children. Despite immense challenges, Save the Children and our partners have reached more than 1.6 million people in Gaza over the past two years, over half of them children, with lifesaving health, nutrition, education, protection, food, and shelter support.

Our response extends beyond Gaza: we have supported tens of thousands in the West Bank, evacuated patients and families to Egypt, and reached over 300,000 people in Lebanon.

Save the Children has been supporting Palestinian children since 1953 and has maintained a permanent presence in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) since 1973. Our response has significantly scaled up since October 2023, leveraging our existing footprint, technical expertise, and partnerships to address the evolving humanitarian crisis. 

In February, a total of 1,341 children, were vaccinated in our Primary Healthcare Centre in Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis as part of the third polio vaccination campaign.

We have also distributed essential items such as mattresses, pillows, blankets and plastic tarps to families that have returned to northern Gaza, while continuing to provide healthcare services at our two primary healthcare centres and mental health support at our child friendly spaces. Despite this, the needs are vast and ever-growing.

Alongside local partners, we’re distributing vital supplies to families across shelters and households – drinking water, food, hygiene products, mattresses, blankets, learning materials, toys, and games.

We stand ready to scale-up and adapt our response to ensure that we can support and deliver life-saving supplies and treatment to more children who desperately need it, wherever they are in Gaza. To be able to do that, a sustained surge in lifesaving humanitarian aid must be allowed to enter Gaza. 

With the current reprieve and potential lasting ceasefire on the horizon for families, this funding is more crucial than ever to enable us to scale up our support.

We are by children’s sides in Gaza and we’ll keep calling for a world that respects their right to survive and be protected. But we can’t do it without your support.

• The pause in hostilities must become an immediate and definitive ceasefire.
• The lifting of the siege and full, safe, unimpeded humanitarian access.
• The release of children arbitrarily detained in military detention.
• Accountability for all grave violations against children.

Tima* (26) found out she was pregnant in July 2023. She was excited to be having her second child. Then in October 2023, the war in Gaza started and everything changed.

Tima* and her family now live in a tent in central Gaza. She was very worried about where she would give birth safely until she found Save the Children’s new maternity unit, set up by our Emergency Health Unit.

Tima ended up giving birth there and her daughter Lana* became the first baby to be born in our maternity unit.

Although baby Lana was healthy when she left the hospital, after three days she developed a fever, refused to breastfeed and had blood coming from her umbilical cord. Baby Lana had contracted sepsis due to the tough living conditions in Al-Mawasi where her family lives in a tent.

If left untreated, sepsis can easily kill a baby. But Lana was lucky to be treated in time at our hospital and has now made a full recovery.