Save the Children is calling for an immediate ceasefire by all parties, as 58 children[i] in Gaza and two children in
southern Israel have been killed in the last week. More than a thousand people in Gaza, including 366 children[ii], have
also been injured. This amounts to almost three children injured every hour in Gaza since escalations began on the 14th
May between Israel and armed groups in Gaza. Dozens of people have been injured in southern Israel as well.
Khaled-, 10, in Gaza, told Save the Children:
"Every time there’s an airstrike we become scared. Every time we try to go out, when we get to the front door, there’s
another air strike and we run back inside as fast as we can. Every time I put my head on the pillow, there’s another
airstrike and I wake up terrified."
Life-saving services are at breaking point as power lines have been damaged in the bombardments. Fuel supplies, which
are the sole sources of power and electricity in the Gaza Strip, are low and Israel has closed the border through which
fuel enters.
Save the Children warns of a triple shock in Gaza. Bombardments are continuing and health facilities and civilian
infrastructure could soon be left without the power needed to deliver crucial supplies and emergency treatment. In
addition, critically ill and injured children are unable to leave Gaza for treatment.
Many of these services were already on the brink, grappling with a deadly second wave of COVID-19 and limited medical
supplies due to the blockade. According to the UN, the latest damage to infrastructure has left 480,000 people in Gaza
with limited or no access to water.[iii]
Jason Lee, Save the Children’s Country Director for the occupied Palestinian territory, said:
"Almost 60 children have been killed in Gaza in a week. How many more families need to lose loved ones before the
international community takes action? Where can children run to when airstrikes rain down on their homes? Families in
Gaza, and our staff, are telling us that they are at breaking point - they are living in hell with nowhere to seek
refuge and seemingly no end in sight. Now basic supplies and power are running low, compounding and further fuelling
this humanitarian catastrophe."
Save the Children is calling for the blockade on Gaza to be urgently lifted as children’s lives hang in the balance. The
Government of Israel and all parties must allow aid workers to reach children with life-saving support, as well as the
unimpeded entry of essential supplies and fuel.
Members of the UN Security Council and the rest of the international community should work with all parties to
facilitate an immediate ceasefire.
It is critical to seek a just solution that addresses the underlying causes of this violence, that upholds equal rights
for both Palestinian and Israeli children, and that will end the decades-long occupation as the only sustainable
resolution to the conflict. This will ensure that all children in the region can live in peace.
[i] Gaza Ministry of Heath update on 16th May, 2021.
[ii] Gaza Ministry of Heath update on 16th May, 2021.
[iii] OCHA report #6, 16th May, 2021: "The North Gaza Seawater Desalination Plant is not operational for the fifth
successive day, which undermines the access of about 250,000 people to drinking water. For the third successive day,
about 230,000 people from Gaza city and Khan Younis have limited access to piped water, due to increasing power cuts and
damaged networks."