New Delhi, April 12: More than one million children in the Gaza Strip have been cut off from humanitarian aid for over a month, marking the longest interruption in assistance since the onset of the conflict, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said this week.
The agency described the situation as a spiraling humanitarian disaster, with growing shortages of food, clean water, medicine, and shelter now threatening a surge in preventable child deaths.
“No aid has been allowed into Gaza since March 2,” UNICEF stated, urging the immediate resumption of humanitarian deliveries. “Most of this aid is lifesaving – yet instead of saving lives, it is sitting in storage,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “This is not a choice or charity; it is an obligation under international law.”
The agency currently has thousands of pallets of emergency supplies stalled at Gaza’s borders, awaiting clearance from Israeli authorities. Among the most urgent needs is nutritional support for infants and young children.
UNICEF reported that stocks of ready-to-use infant formula are critically low, with enough available to feed only 400 infants for a month, far short of the estimated 10,000 children under six months who require supplementation.
In addition, families are forced to resort to unsafe feeding practices, often mixing food items with contaminated water leading to more diseases.
UNICRF says, 21 treatment centers, approximately 15 percent of Gaza’s outpatient facilities have shut down due to conflict or displacement orders.
Access to clean water is a luxury. The average daily supply per person has fallen from 16 liters to just six and could drop below four if fuel reserves run dry. UNICEF warns that such conditions sharply increase the risk of waterborne illnesses among children already weakened by hunger.
Mental health services, mine risk education, and child protection programmes have also been scaled back due to ongoing violence. Repairs to critical water infrastructure initiated during the brief ceasefire remain unfinished and now lie in jeopardy following the collapse of the truce.
UNICEF, alongside its humanitarian partners, continues to operate on the ground under increasingly difficult conditions and has renewed calls for an immediate ceasefire and unfettered access to deliver aid across Gaza.
At a press briefing on Friday, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric highlighted the gravity of the situation. Citing data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), he noted that over two-thirds of the Gaza Strip is now either under active displacement orders or designated as “no-go” zones.
“That leaves Palestinians with less than a third of Gaza’s territory and that remaining space is fragmented, unsafe, and barely liveable,” Dujarric said. Shelters remain overcrowded and in poor condition, and service providers are stretched to the breaking point.
“Today marks 40 days since Israeli authorities imposed a full closure on the entry of cargo into Gaza,” Dujarric said. “Since then, no one — not even humanitarian organizations — has been permitted to bring in supplies, regardless of how critical they are. Bakeries have shut down, life-saving medicines have run out, and water production has been drastically reduced.”
Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated that Israel bears legal obligations under international law. These include ensuring access to food, medical care, and basic health services for civilians.
UNICEF stressed that the flow of humanitarian and commercial goods must be restored to prevent further catastrophe. “For the sake of more than one million children in Gaza, we urge the Israeli authorities to ensure, at a minimum, that people’s basic needs are met,” said Beigbeder. “This is not about politics — it is about survival.”
