Israeli blockade endangers lives of 1 million children in Gaza

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
18 Mar 2025 14:40
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UNICEF’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa has stressed that depriving Palestinians of food, water, and medicine violates international humanitarian law.

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Palestinian children play in the rubble of a destroyed building in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 (AP)

After a four-day visit to the occupied West Bank and Gaza, a senior UNICEF official described the catastrophic impact of "Israel's" complete blockade on humanitarian aid, leaving around 1 million children in Gaza without basic necessities.

Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, stated that during his latest visit to Gaza, he saw firsthand how "1 million children are living without the very basics they need to survive—yet again," following "Israel’s" decision in early March to block all aid as part of its effort to pressure Hamas into accepting a US-brokered prisoner deal.

Beigbeder condemned the blockade, emphasizing that the restriction of food, water, medicine, and other critical supplies is a violation of "international humanitarian law."

1 million children in #Gaza are struggling to survive without basic necessities.

Hundreds of thousands lack clean water and sanitation. Water is a basic human right that no one should be denied.

UNICEF and partners are working to deliver life-saving aid, but only a lasting… pic.twitter.com/mpgsnIsoNK
— UNICEF MENA - يونيسف الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا (@UNICEFmena) March 17, 2025

“Civilians’ essential needs must be met, and this requires facilitating the entry of lifesaving assistance whether or not there is a cease-fire in place,” he stated.

“Any further delays to the entry of aid risk further slowing or shuttering essential services and could fast-reverse the gains made for children during the cease-fire,” Beigbeder stressed.

Gaza's water crisis deepens as blockade cripples infrastructure

The blockade has severely impacted essential infrastructure, including a water desalination plant in Khan Younis, which now operates at only 13% capacity due to lack of electricity, leaving hundreds of thousands without access to clean drinking water and sanitation.

Beigbeder also highlighted the crisis facing Gaza’s most vulnerable, particularly premature newborns and children under two who require urgent medical care. He warned that vital vaccines and medical equipment have been stranded in delivery trucks just outside Gaza for over two weeks.

While UNICEF has managed to deliver 30 CPAP machines to assist premature newborns with acute respiratory distress syndrome, Beigbeder cautioned that “approximately 4,000 newborns are currently unable to access essential lifesaving care due to the major impact on medical facilities in the Gaza Strip.”

Echoing this alarm, Oxfam issued a dire warning about Gaza’s worsening humanitarian crisis, revealing that no medical supplies have entered the enclave in over 17 days.

The UK-based anti-poverty organization condemned the blockade, stating, “Seventeen days of collective punishment have passed, and not a single supply has reached Gaza.” It further warned that hospitals in the Strip are on the brink of collapse, with conditions deteriorating rapidly.

This warning comes as "Israel" has resumed its aggression on Gaza with intense airstrikes, resulting in an initial toll of 426 martyrs and 600 injuries, including many in critical condition, the enclave's Health Ministry said on Tuesday, declaring a state of emergency.

The Media Office said the Israeli occupation is violating the ceasefire agreement and continuing its genocide against civilians, in blatant disregard for all international and humanitarian conventions.

It stated that these brutal massacres are taking place amid a catastrophic and suffocating siege, with all border crossings completely blocked, as more than 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza are deprived of the most basic necessities of life, including food, medicine, water, baby formula, and essential supplies. Israeli media reported that "Israel" has shut down the Rafah border crossing.

Due to the dire security conditions and the paralysis of the transportation sector, the transfer of a large number of martyrs to hospitals has been hindered, the Government Media Office in Gaza noted. It emphasized that most of the martyrs and missing persons are women, children, and elderly individuals, describing the ongoing events as acts of genocide targeting people, land, and history.

The office stressed that the latest massacres reaffirm that "Israel" knows only the language of killing, destruction, and genocide and expose its true intentions to shed innocent blood without any moral or legal restraint.