Humanitarian Workers Risk Their Lives to Protect Gaza's Children
In the middle of the brutal conflict in Gaza, humanitarian workers embarked on the mission of a lifetime: vaccinate 600,000 children against polio in an active war zone. A new documentary film offers a stark portrait of conflict's toll on children's health — and a tribute to the courage of all humanitarian workers who put their lives on the line to save and protect children in crises.
The ideal conditions for a major disease outbreak
There's a reason the vast majority of polio cases occur in children living in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable countries. Overcrowded conditions and lack of access to safe water, sanitation and health care are the perfect conditions for the spread of deadly diseases. Children under 5 are particularly at risk.
Since the start of the war in October 2023, over 80 percent of Gaza's health, water and sanitation infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged by military operations. The vast majority of the population, including over a million children, has been displaced, many families multiple times.
In July 2024, Gaza's Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed what public health experts had long feared: the highly contagious poliovirus had been identified in sewage samples collected by UNICEF in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah, putting displaced people living in close quarters without adequate water and sanitation at heightened risk of contracting the lifelong crippling disease.
On Aug. 22, 2024, the first case of polio in the Gaza Strip in 25 years was confirmed.
New documentary chronicles heroic efforts of humanitarian workers in Gaza
A new half-hour documentary film, "Gaza’s Silent Threat," follows Dr. Younis R. Awadallah, UNICEF's longtime top public health specialist in Gaza, and Fairuz Abuwarda, UNICEF Coordinator in Gaza, as they lead a high-stakes immunization campaign to protect vulnerable children from the spread of polio in September 2024.
Learn more: Polio Vaccines Protect Children in Gaza Strip
Watch the film:
To eliminate polio, every child in every household must be vaccinated
Delivering vaccines in an active war zone is one of the most complex and urgent challenges faced by humanitarian workers, demanding extraordinary skills, courage and resilience.
Amid brief ceasefires and recurrent security threats, through logistical obstacles and with limited access to health services, humanitarian workers delivered for children across Gaza. Their courage underscores a vital truth: when humanitarian principles are upheld, and when workers are protected and granted safe, timely access, lives can be saved, even in the most fragile settings.
Nowhere in Gaza is safe
Today, that fragility has deepened. More than 18,000 children have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. Child malnutrition has reached emergency levels; one in three people are going days without food.
Only a trickle of aid bas been allowed into Gaza since May, after a total blockade that lasted nearly 11 weeks. Thousands of trucks loaded with therapeutic food and other lifesaving supplies are lined up at border crossings, waiting permission to enter. Over 1,000 people have reportedly been killed while seeking food; aid convoys have come under attack. Humanitarian workers themselves are collapsing from hunger.
Related: Pressing for More Access, UNICEF Delivers Urgently Needed Supplies to Gaza
A call for principled action and international accountability
"Gaza's Silent Threat" not only pays tribute to the courage of families and health workers striving to care for one another in devastating circumstances. It's also a powerful testament to the impact of war on children's health, reinforcing the urgent need for principled action and international accountability.
"We need to remember that humanitarian pauses are not a ceasefire. We hope that the parties can agree on a ceasefire and the return of all remaining hostages by Hamas and other armed groups. This has gone on for far too long," said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban, who recently returned from a five-day mission to Gaza and Israel. "What is happening on the ground is inhumane. What children need — children from all communities — is a sustained ceasefire and a political way forward."
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HOW TO HELP
There are many ways to make a difference
War, famine, poverty, natural disasters — threats to the world's children keep coming. But UNICEF won't stop working to keep children healthy and safe.
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories — more places than any other children's organization. UNICEF has the world's largest humanitarian warehouse and, when disaster strikes, can get supplies almost anywhere within 72 hours. Constantly innovating, always advocating for a better world for children, UNICEF works to ensure that every child can grow up healthy, educated, protected and respected.
Would you like to help give all children the opportunity to reach their full potential? There are many ways to get involved.
