![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.unicef.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/press_release_feature\/public\/UNI485696.webp?itok=f99kbEBY\")
<\/div>\n\u201cThe Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. And day after day, that brutal reality is reinforced.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the past 48 hours, the largest remaining fully functioning hospital was shelled, twice. That hospital \u2013 Al Nasser in Khan Yunis \u2013 not only shelters large numbers of children who had already been badly injured in attacks on their homes, but hundreds of women and children seeking safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the weekend, UNICEF shared the story of 13-year-old Dina. When her house in Khan Yunis was completely destroyed, she was injured and later her right leg was amputated. She lost both of her parents and two brothers. But Dina hadn\u2019t lost hope. She told us about her dreams of being a lawyer. She said, \u2018I feel injustice; when I grow up, I will become a lawyer so that I can enjoy my rights and the rights of all children\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cDina was one of the people killed at Nasser Hospital on Sunday, the day after she shared her story of hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so where do children and their families go? They are not safe in hospitals. They are not safe in shelters. And they are certainly not safe in the so-called \u2018safe\u2019 zones.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me explain why these so-called safe zones are anything but safe.<\/p>\n
Parties to the conflict have, of course, an obligation to take all feasible precautions to protect the civilian population. In this case, one of the precautions being taken is evacuation. That is, moving to so-called \u2018safe\u2019 zones.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the UN said over a month ago: these zones cannot be safe nor humanitarian when unilaterally declared.\u00a0 In addition, under international law, the place where you evacuate people must have sufficient resources for survival \u2013 medical facilities, food, and water.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is, these so-called safe zones are only safe not just when they are free from bombardment,\u00a0but<\/em>\u00a0when these conditions \u2013 food, water, medicine, protection – are also met.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, under the current besieged conditions, adequate supplies for such zones, are impossible. I have seen for myself this reality.<\/p>\n \u201cThese zones are tiny patches of barren land, or street corners, or half-built buildings, with no water, no facilities, no shelter from the cold and the rain.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd critically no sanitation.<\/p>\n \u201cCurrently in Gaza, there’s on average around one toilet for 700 children and families. Relocate families to places where there is no toilet and it’s tens of thousands of people resorting to buckets, or open defecation.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so without water and sanitation, nor shelter, these so-called safe zones have become zones of disease.<\/p>\n \u201cDiarrhea cases in children are above 100,000. Acute respiratory illness cases in civilians are above 150,000. Both numbers will be gross undercounts of the woeful reality.<\/p>\n \u201cWith malnutrition soaring among Gaza\u2019s children, diarrheal diseases are becoming deadly.\u00a0\u00a0Consider this: More than 130,000 of Gaza\u2019s most vulnerable children (those aged 0 to 23 months) are not receiving the critical life-saving breastfeeding and age-appropriate complementary feeding practices, including micronutrient supplementation.<\/p>\n \u201cWith such a scenario – and without sufficient safe water, food and sanitation that only a humanitarian ceasefire can bring – child deaths due to disease could surpass those killed in bombardments.<\/p>\n \u201cParents are painfully aware that hospitals are not an option for their sick child \u2013 both because hospitals are getting hit, and because hospitals are overwhelmed with children and citizens with the ghastly wounds of war.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a parent of a critically sick child told me: \u2018Our situation is pure misery. I am overwhelmed. My son is very sick. I told my wife we have to lower expectations. All we have is hope. I don\u2019t know if we will make it through this. Please tell the world.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs we speak, the delivery of aid is a matter of life or death for children in Gaza and the conditions to provide that aid are not being met. An immediate and long-lasting humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to end the killing and injuring of children, and child deaths from disease, and enable the urgent delivery of desperately needed lifesaving aid.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" December 19, 2023 This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder \u2013 to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today’s press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva UNICEF\/El Baba \u201cThe Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. And […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[2105],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1769,1945,1829,2265,2033,2005,2533,1857,6245],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[],"class_list":["post-291782","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-release","document-source-united-nations-childrens-fund-unicef","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-casualties","document-subject-ceasefire","document-subject-children","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-health","document-subject-incidents","document-subject-violence","entity-united-nations-system"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/291782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/291782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":291859,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/291782\/revisions\/291859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=291782"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=291782"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=291782"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=291782"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=291782"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=291782"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=291782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}