News / Palestine

One million children in Gaza ‘struggling to survive’, UNICEF warns

Monday, 17 March 2025 7:04 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 17 March 2025 7:04 PM ]

A Palestinian girl struggles as she and others try to get donated food at a distribution centre in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, on March 16, 2025. (By AP)

The United Nations agency for children, UNICEF, has warned that “one million” Palestinian children in Gaza are “struggling to survive” amid Israel’s blockade of aid shipments and power supply to the besieged strip.

“One million children in Gaza are struggling to survive without basic necessities,” UNICEF said in a post on X on Monday.

The UN agency noted that hundreds of thousands in Gaza “lack clean water and sanitation services.”

Noting that desalination plants are operating at a much reduced capacity, UNICEF said water is a “basic human right that no one should be denied.”

Speaking from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, UNICEF regional director Edouard Beigbeder said “it is urgent to allow at least some water and electricity” into the strip.

UNICEF said only “a lasting ceasefire” and “unrestricted” aid access can truly save lives.

Last week, Israeli media said the regime’s energy and infrastructure minister Eli Cohen ordered the Israel Electric Company to stop transmitting electricity to Gaza “immediately.”

Power has already been cut off for over 16 months, since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.

The UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, warned of Israel’s decision to cut the flow of electricity to Gaza, saying it will impact water supply to the besieged strip.

The Israeli decision means “no functioning desalination stations, ergo: no clean water”, she said.

Iran blasts Israel’s move to halt food, aid deliveries to Gaza as ‘crime against humanity’

Iran says the Israeli regime’s move to halt food and aid deliveries to the besieged Gaza Strip amounts to crime against humanity.

Israel launched the campaign of genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023. It has killed at least 48,577 Palestinians there so far.

In January, the Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas given the regime’s failure to achieve any of its objectives, including the “elimination” of the Palestinian resistance movement or the release of captives.

The 42-day stage of the truce, which was marred by repeated Israeli violations, expired on March 1, but Israel is refraining from stepping into talks for the second stage of the agreement.

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