In Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Yamen, 9, celebrates the news of a ceasefire.
Emergency Response

Ceasefire Brings Hope to Gaza's Children

Despite the extreme hardships they have experienced and the long road ahead, children in Gaza are holding fast to their dreams of a better future. UNICEF is ramping up support to help families begin to rebuild their lives. 

Right now, the lives of the most vulnerable children hang in the balance as conflicts and crises jeopardize the care and protection that they deserve. Dependable, uninterrupted and effective foreign aid is critical to the well-being of millions of children. Please contact your members of Congress and urge them to support ongoing U.S. investments in foreign assistance.

UNICEF estimates 1 million children need urgent support in Gaza

After more than 15 months of war, virtually Gaza's entire population — including about 1 million children — have been displaced and are dependent on aid for survival. Tens of thousands of families are streaming into northern Gaza, only to find piles of rubble where their homes once stood. 

At a distribution center set up by UNICEF and partners in Nuseirat in central Gaza, humanitarian aid workers hand out high-energy biscuits to malnourished children making the long trek home on foot with their families, and share information with children and caregivers on how to avoid unexploded ordnance. They also distribute identification bracelets — an essential precaution against family separation.

"Whenever you have massive population movements like this, you have very high risks of children being separated from their parents," says UNICEF's Jonathan Crickx, reporting from Nuseirat. "We are delivering bracelets with a name tag and a phone number, so if children are getting separated from their parents, it's easier to catch up and to reunite them with their parents."

VIDEO: As families return home, UNICEF and partners are there to help

Dreaming of home and reunions with loved ones

The needs are immense, but that hasn't stopped Gaza's children from holding fast to their dreams of once again experiencing the everyday things that many kids around the world take for granted: seeing their friends and grandparents, returning to school, playing with their toys and having a safe place to live.

The thing I miss the most is my grandfather, my uncles and my grandmother. And my aunts ... I pray to God that we find them. — Saber, 11

Eleven-year-old Saber is hoping he can find the toys he left behind when his family was displaced from their home in the north in 2023. "I have many toys of different shapes," he says. "I used to play with them every day. As soon as I return home, I will search for them."  

He's also looking forward to being with extended family again. "The thing I miss the most is my grandfather, my uncles and my grandmother. And my aunts," Saber says. "As soon as I return, I want to hug them, greet them, kiss them and everything. I pray to God that we find them. God willing."

VIDEO: Children in Gaza share hope and heartbreak

"If we return to our home and find it destroyed, we will put up a tent in its place," says 11-year-old Lian, whose family was displaced from Beit Lahia to southern Gaza. "It's okay. We will manage. The important thing is to return to our homes."

On Jan. 21, 2025, Jana stands amid the rubble of her destroyed home in Rafah, holding a hat — one of the few objects recovered from the debris.
On Jan. 21, 2025, Jana stands amid the rubble of her destroyed home in Rafah, holding a hat — one of the few objects recovered from the debris.  "When we used to go to the sea, we wore this cap to protect us from the sun," she recalls. © UNICEF/UNI724431/El Baba

UNICEF is scaling up its response, surging critical aid to children

More than 350 UNICEF trucks entered from crossing points at both the north and south ends of the Gaza Strip during the first week of the ceasefire, delivering water, hygiene kits, malnutrition treatments, warm clothes, tarpaulins and other critical humanitarian aid for distribution to families in need.

UNICEF aims to deliver 50 trucks a day in this first phase of the ceasefire and has hundreds of pallets with aid prepositioned at the borders of the Gaza Strip, with more on the way, prioritizing items local communities and humanitarian partners have identified as most urgent. 

Service delivery for children and their families, including mental health and psychosocial support and critical water, sanitation and nutrition services, is also being ramped up on the ground.

Learn more about UNICEF's emergency response during the first phase of the ceasefire. 

Children and their families wait in Al Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, for the green light to begin their journey back home to Gaza City and the northern areas, after 15 months of displacement.
On Jan. 25, 2025, children and their families wait in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, for the green light to begin their journey back home to Gaza City and the northern areas, after 15 months of displacement. © UNICEF/UNI726118/El Baba

Putting children's needs first paves the way for longer-term peace

Aid delivery alone won't be enough to ease the suffering of children. Commercial trucking operations must be allowed to resume to meet the enormous needs of returning families. UNICEF continues to call on the international community to prioritize children’s well-being in recovery efforts, and ensure that humanitarian agencies are well-funded and humanitarian corridors remain open and secure.

In a Jan. 27, 2025 statement, UNICEF welcomed the release of the 12 children as young as 15 years old from detention in Israel, as well as young adults who were first detained as children. UNICEF has called to end the detention of children in all its forms. UNICEF renews its call for the release of all hostages from the Gaza Strip, especially the two remaining Israeli children.

“This ceasefire offers a window for initial recovery that we hope paves the way for longer-term peace,” says UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “It is critical that the renewed flow of aid is sustained and that humanitarians are assured safe and unimpeded access to help meet the huge level of need.”

A child stands in front of a makeshift tent in the Gaza Strip in January 2025.
Nine-year-old Sama is dreaming of seeing her mother again after being separated from her for more than a year by the war in Gaza. © UNICEF

A child's eye view of war and recovery

Every child in Gaza has experienced the trauma of war. It will take time for hearts and minds to mend. In the meantime, children are looking for reasons to smile. 

"I am very happy because the war has ended, and there is no more bombing," says 9-year-old Yamen in Deir al Balah. "We will no longer hear the planes and rockets. We will return to sleep in our beds in our own homes."

Sama, 9, hasn't seen her mother since the start of the war. She has been thinking about their reunion for a long time now.

"Finally, I will head to Gaza City and throw myself into her arms," she says. "We will return to our home, go back to school, and live as we used to. I feel joy and happiness. I remember how my mother used to hug me, help me put on my clothes, brush my hair before going to school, and give me a kiss." 

 

TOP PHOTO: In Deir al Balah, central Gaza, 9-year-old Yamen reacts to news of a ceasefire. "I am very happy because the war has ended, and there is no more bombing," he says. © UNICEF. Video edited by Tong Su for UNICEF USA.

HOW TO HELP

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