UNICEF Warns Gaza Blockade Puts Over a Million Children at Grave Risk
— April 6, 2025
UNITED NATIONS (AIA) The month-long blockade of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip is putting more than one million children at grave risk, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Saturday.
No aid has entered Gaza since 2 March, marking the longest blockade of humanitarian assistance since the start of the Israeli war, resulting in acute shortages of food, safe water, shelter, and medical supplies.
UNICEF said the absence of these essentials is likely to cause surges in malnutrition, disease, and preventable child deaths.
“We have thousands of pallets of lifesaving aid waiting to enter Gaza,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, in a statement. “Yet instead of saving lives, it is sitting in storage. It must be allowed in immediately. This is not a choice or charity; it is an obligation under international law.”
The agency also reported that 21 treatment centres – about 15 per cent of total outpatient facilities for malnutrition – have closed due to bombardments or displacement orders, putting treated children at further risk.
Only enough ready-to-use infant formula (RUIF) is currently available for 400 children for a month, while an estimated 10,000 infants under six months old need supplementary feeding. This could compel families to rely on alternatives mixed with unsafe water, posing further health risks.
UNICEF has also had to scale back services, including mental health and psychosocial support, mine education, and child protection case management, due to ongoing hostilities and mass displacement.
During the ceasefire, the agency had begun repairs to critical wells and water points, but the collapse of the truce has left many unrepaired or vulnerable to further damage.
Access to safe drinking water for one million people, including 400,000 children, has dropped from 16 litres per person per day to just six. If fuel supplies run out, this could fall below four litres, increasing dependence on unsafe sources and the likelihood of disease outbreaks, especially among children.
“For the sake of more than one million children in the Gaza Strip, we urge the Israeli authorities to ensure, at a minimum, that people’s basic needs are met, in line with their obligations under international humanitarian law,” said Beigbeder. “This includes their legal responsibility to ensure that families are supplied with the food, medical, and other essential supplies they need to survive.”
Meanwhile, UNICEF and partners maintain a critical presence in Gaza and continue to call on all parties to cease hostilities and reinstate the ceasefire. The agency stressed that humanitarian aid and commercial goods must be allowed to enter and move freely across the territory.