FILE PHOTO
UNITED NATIONS: The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said children in the Gaza Strip are enduring unspeakable atrocities following the Israeli war launched since October 2023.
“The children of Gaza are going through unspeakable atrocities,” Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner General, said in a post on X. He said the children “are living in trauma and shock due to 300 days of war, displacement, loss and pain.”
He said the UN agency had launched a learning program for the traumatized children as a first step focusing on activities that will give the children a refuge from the horrors they continue to live through.
Children make up half the population in Gaza, or more than one million people. They are “traumatized and shocked,” said Scott Anderson, UNRWA’s director in Gaza.
The Back to Learning programme was launched “to help children cope and just be children,” he said. “It will give them safe spaces to play, learn, grow, reunite with old friends and make new ones.”
The first phase will see an expansion of ongoing psychosocial support activities, focused on arts, music and sports, in addition to raising awareness on the risks of explosive ordnance.
The second phase will transition to include informal learning activities, with reading, writing and math lessons.
UNRWA plans to provide formal education for children in Gaza as soon as conditions permit.
“For this, Gaza urgently needs an immediate, durable ceasefire for the sake of children and their futures,” Anderson said.
Also on Thursday, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, warned that ongoing hostilities, repeated evacuation orders, access impediments and other challenges continue to hamper efforts to deliver aid in Gaza.
The World Food Programme (WFP) and other agencies are still unable to get enough food into and around the enclave due to the lack of border crossings, difficulty in getting authorisations for convoy movements and a lack of public order and safety.
Following evacuation orders issued last week in Khan Younis, WFP is distributing one food parcel per family, reaching about 8,000 so far.
“With increased needs and limited stocks, the agency is having to reduce rations to one parcel per family to ensure people get food to meet their most basic needs, but it is not enough,” OCHA said.
Additionally, only 12 of 18 bakeries in Gaza are operating, and those in middle areas only have enough fuel to last for a few days.
Comments are closed.