The two agencies have brought More than 10,000 aid trucks to Gaza since the October 10 truce. between Israel and Hamas, which account for about 80 percent of all humanitarian shipments.
Famine reversed
Three months later, “the food security situation has improved and famine has been reversed,” said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director of Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations.
Carl Skau, WFP deputy executive director, added that most families he met “ate at least once a day,” sometimes twice.
Commercial products have reappeared in Gaza markets, including vegetables, fruits, chicken and eggs. They now have recreational kits in their hands to help children recover from the stress and trauma of two years of war.
‘These profits matter’
UNICEF and its partners have provided drinking water to more than 1.6 million people and distributed blankets and winter clothing to 700,000. They have also restored essential life-saving pediatric intensive care services at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The second round of a Gaza-wide “catch-up campaign” for routine childhood vaccinations is currently underway, while a further 72 UNICEF-supported nutrition centers have been established, bringing the total to 196.
“These advances are important,” Chaiban said. “They show what is possible. When fighting stops, political commitments are maintained and humanitarian access is opened.”
Hot meals and school snacks.
The WFP has also greatly expanded its capacity in the last 100 days, Skau said, speaking from Rome. The teams have reached more than a million people each month with full rations for the first time since the war began.
They are “serving” 400,000 hot meals every day and delivery of school snacks to some 230,000 children in 250 temporary learning centers”, in addition to operating hundreds of distribution points and about 20 warehouses.
Other humanitarian organizations are bringing tents, blankets, mattresses and other essential items thanks to WFP’s shared logistics services.
The agency is also helping to facilitate more regular aid convoys and is expanding common storage facilities so that more aid can be placed closer to the population. It has also increased cash support to approximately 60,000 households.
Displaced Palestinians live in makeshift tents along Gaza beaches amid flooding and harsh winter conditions.
The situation remains deadly
Although more aid is arriving in Gaza, the amounts are still not enough to meet the immense needs. Besides, “The situation also remains extremely precarious and deadly for many children.”said Mr. Chaiban.
“More than 100 children have been reported dead in Gaza since the ceasefire in early October. Despite progress in food security, 100,000 children continue to suffer from acute malnutrition and require long-term care. 1.3 million people, many of them children, urgently need adequate shelter.”
Families shiver in canvas tents and bombed-out buildings amid frigid temperatures that have killed at least 10 children this winter season.
Sklau met a young woman with a 10-day-old baby who “was sitting on a wet mattress in this cold tent on the beach,” and described her situation as “absolutely brutal.”
Hopes for a better future
However, hope flourishes in the Gaza Strip. UNICEF and its partners are supporting more than 250,000 children to resume their studies – a critical element for the mental health and psychosocial support of more than 700,000 students who have been out of school for two years.
Skau recalled a conversation with girls in a temporary learning space who “were happy to be learning again and eating more regularly,” she said.
“They could once again see a future as a nurse, engineer or restaurant owner, and they seemed incredibly confident and determined to build a future for themselves.”
change the trajectory
Aid workers need to be allowed essential items – such as water and sanitation supplies, as well as educational materials – into Gaza, which can help boost recovery and reconstruction.
Chaiban said WFP and UNICEF are ready to expand operations.
“The children of Gaza and the State of Palestine, including the West Bank, which is also experiencing a wave of violence. I don’t need sympathy. They need decisions now that provide them with warmth, security, food, education and a future.“, said.
“We have an opportunity, a window, to change the trajectory of these children. We cannot waste it.”