MoSD and Ministry of State for Relief Stress the Urgent Need for Action to Prevent the Worsening Humanitarian Catastrophe Threatening Children in the Gaza Strip

Ramallah – The Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of State for Relief warned of the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian conditions facing children in the Gaza Strip. They affirmed that the threats confronting children today are no longer limited to the direct consequences of the aggression, but have developed into a multidimensional crisis endangering their lives, health, development, and future amid continued restrictions on the entry of aid and the decline of health, nutrition, water, education, and protection services.

Recent United Nations and international reports indicate that children in Gaza continue to bear the heaviest toll. More than 21,000 children have been killed since October 2023, while the number of children sustaining permanent disabilities and life-altering injuries continues to rise. Children also remain at risk from unexploded ordnance, which has caused hundreds of incidents, injuries, and deaths.

Food security and nutrition data reveal an extremely alarming situation. More than 74,000 children under the age of five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition, including over 11,000 children facing severe acute malnutrition. Only approximately 30.3% of children aged 6–23 months receive the minimum level of dietary diversity, while just 22.4% receive a minimum acceptable diet.

The nutrition crisis cannot be separated from the collapse of children’s living environment. Estimates indicate that approximately 90% of water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged, while a significant proportion of families face water insecurity. Many residents are unable to access even the minimum quantity of water required for their daily needs, increasing the risk of skin, intestinal, and respiratory diseases and further exposing children already suffering from malnutrition and weakened immunity.

The crisis also affects education and children’s psychosocial development. More than 625,000 school-age children have been deprived of formal education for the third consecutive year. Many lack access to in-person learning and continue to endure repeated displacement, bereavement, fear, and family instability, leaving long-term psychological and developmental consequences.

In response to this reality, the Ministry of Social Development, in partnership with local and international organizations, continued to implement integrated child protection and care interventions during the first half of 2026. These interventions combined humanitarian relief, protection, case management, psychosocial support, alternative care, and family follow-up.

In the field of child protection, Ministry teams and partners received 316 reports concerning children in need of protection and assessed 181 cases. They responded to 144 cases involving children exposed to violence and physical abuse, 59 cases involving children exposed to sexual abuse, and 140 cases involving children exposed to severe neglect. They also followed up on 258 cases after the necessary interventions had been provided and intervened in cases involving 208 separated and unaccompanied children.

Alternative care interventions included admitting 50 children to the SOS Children’s Village and Al-Awda Shelter Centre and three children to the Palestinian Orphanage. The Ministry and its partners also followed up on 342 children in residential care institutions, monitored the situation of 111 children following their reunification with their families, and followed up on 173 children placed with foster families, in addition to coordinating and networking with organizations working in child protection.

In the area of psychosocial support, thousands of individual and group psychological support and counselling services were provided. Referrals were also coordinated among organizations to ensure that cases could access the appropriate services. Child-related relief interventions continued as well, including the provision of food, clothing, vouchers, and essential supplies.

The Ministry also placed special priority on supporting orphans. Thousands of sponsorships and food, health, and in-kind assistance packages were provided, while 5,650 newly orphaned children were added to the orphans database. Support was also extended to families caring for orphans, and interventions were carried out for unaccompanied orphaned children, including the provision of food, milk, clothing, mattresses, vouchers, and healthcare services.

In parallel, the Ministry and its partners provided more than 4.4 million units of humanitarian and relief assistance in the Gaza Strip during 2026. These included approximately 4.36 million units of food and drinking-water assistance, in addition to around 128,000 units of shelter assistance and essential supplies, including tents, blankets, mattresses, health kits, and hygiene and childcare supplies.

The Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of State for Relief warned that continued restrictions on the entry of food, medicine, nutritional supplements, infant formula, and health supplies, together with the decline in water, education, and protection services, risk turning the current crisis into permanent consequences for an entire generation of children. These include stunting, delayed physical and cognitive development, increased acquired disabilities, and worsening psychological and social problems.

Accordingly, the two ministries call on the international community, the United Nations, humanitarian organizations, and donors to exert genuine pressure to ensure the full and sustained opening of crossings and the unrestricted entry of humanitarian assistance. Priority items include food, nutritional supplements for children and pregnant and breastfeeding women, infant formula, medicines, vaccines, medical and therapeutic supplies, and the equipment required to remove unexploded ordnance and rubble.

They also call for urgent and sustainable funding for child protection, psychosocial support, alternative care, orphan sponsorship, education, nutrition, rehabilitation, and healthcare programmes for children with disabilities and serious injuries. Such funding is essential to ensure the continuity of services and strengthen families’ ability to protect and care for their children.

The two ministries affirm that protecting Gaza’s children cannot wait. Every day that access to humanitarian assistance and essential services remains disrupted means more hunger, illness, loss, and deprivation—and further harm that may become impossible to reverse.