UNICEF says war has deprived Gazan children of education, food
Spokesman describes ‘extreme impact,’ recalls child telling him of uncle’s horrific death, ‘saying things that a 10-year-old should not tell you’
Nearly a year of devastating war has left Gaza’s 2.4 million people enduring a humanitarian tragedy, with children in the territory the most vulnerable, a UNICEF official told AFP in an interview.
Jonathan Crickx, the UN agency’s spokesman for the Palestinian territories, has returned this month from a week-long mission to Gaza, still heavily impacted, even as Israel shifts its military focus to Lebanon.
He talked to AFP about the plight of Gaza’s children, some of whom he says have not had a single day of education since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7 with the terrorist organization’s unprecedented attack on Israel, when it killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostage.
“You see children who are not allowed to have the life of normal children, no education, no play, no joy,” Crickx said. “The faces of these children are… so sad.”
Many children he saw in the war-battered Palestinian territory were helping their families, as they no longer had classes to attend.
“So, you see a lot of children carrying these dirty yellow plastic jerrycans” with up to 25 liters of water, he said.
“I’ve seen children pushing these jerrycans with a broken wheelchair, trying to bring water, which is one of the major issues… in the Gaza Strip.”
Crickx said it was heartbreaking to see children, some as young as 5 or 6, trying to find food for their families.
They are “walking in huge piles of garbage and trying to get whatever they can,” he said.
“These children are extremely impacted by the violence and the bombings and insecurity they have been through for a year.”
‘They want to go to school’
Crickx vividly remembers his conversation with Ahmad, a 10-year-old Gazan boy who lived with his family in a displacement camp in southern Gaza.
The boy’s uncle had died a horrific death, Crickx said. Ahmad “was saying things that a 10-year-old should not tell you, how the body was in pieces, how the head was far away,” he recalled.
“This is extremely intense and difficult to hear from a 10-year-old child.”
Many children in Gaza have lost at least one of their parents, said Crickx.
Exact figures are unavailable, “but the frequency at which we meet with those children is very high,” he said.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 41,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s population as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
UNICEF estimates that there are 19,000 children who are unaccompanied or have been separated from their parents, Crickx said.
On top of that, not a single school is functioning across Gaza, he said, and 85 percent of all school buildings have been destroyed in the fighting.
The IDF has targeted a number of schools throughout the war, saying Hamas was regularly using the facilities as operations centers and for weapon storage. Though the schools have not been operating, many have served as homes for refugees.
Israel says Hamas chose these locations for its purposes for precisely this reason.
“You have the entire population of school-aged children who didn’t attend a single hour of class in the past 12 months,” Crickx said.
“What is really striking is how they want to go to school, how they want to play with their friends, how they want to see their teachers… education, learning give hope.”
‘Terrible recipe’ for disease
UN agencies and aid groups have warned of the spread of preventable disease and other health risks compounded by the war.
“With a very high level of density of people, extremely bad hygiene conditions, high temperatures, too little access to a bathroom, it’s the perfect, terrible recipe for the emergence of diseases,” Crickx said.
Many children are sick and need treatment, but most hospitals across Gaza are not functioning.
“This situation is really leading to children not getting the proper treatment that they need,” Crickx said.
He said he had met four children in northern Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital who were suffering from cancer or heart problems.
“These children actually need an immediate medical evacuation [or] they will not make it,” he said.
Throughout the war, Israel has, on a number of occasions, coordinated the evacuation of sick children to Arab countries for treatment.
