Briefing journalists in New York, UN Spokesperson St\u00e9phane Dujarric said conditions were still \u201cdire\u201d for hundreds of thousands of families across the Gaza Strip who remain in urgent need of assistance.<\/p>\n
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UN health partners have expanded basic services in recent days. As part of a catch\u2011up vaccination campaign launched last week, more than 6 000 children under the age of three have now received vaccinations to protect against preventable diseases.<\/p>\n
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On food security, the UN and its partners are now providing daily bread rations to at least 43% of the population. These are either free or sold at a heavily subsidised rate of less than $1 for a two\u2011kilogramme bundle.<\/p>\n
This support is supplemented by monthly household distributions of wheat flour, reaching 1.2 million people this month.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Shelter and winter\u2011related assistance has also increased. Over the past week, humanitarian partners delivered tents, tarpaulins, sealing\u2011off kits, mattresses and blankets to more than 7 500 families, while 1 400 children received winter clothing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cSince Wednesday, our partners have reached over 2 300 families with cash vouchers and in\u2011kind winterisation support. They have also provided mental health and psychosocial support and case management assistance to hundreds of people,\u201d Dujarric said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
More than one million people still urgently require shelter support, he added, stressing the need for long\u2011term solutions such as home\u2011repair tool kits, communal heating spaces and equipment to clear debris and rubble.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Children remain among those most profoundly affected. According to the UN Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF), years of educational progress in Gaza have been wiped out.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAlmost two and a half years of attacks on Gaza\u2019s schooling have left an entire generation at risk,\u201d UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder said. About 60% of school\u2011aged children currently have no access to in\u2011person schooling, while more than 90% of schools have been damaged or destroyed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To address this, UNICEF is expanding its Back to Learning programme to reach 336 000 children this year through temporary learning centres that will also connect them with health, nutrition and sanitation services.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Elder also underscored the urgent need to reopen the Rafah crossing, describing it as a \u201clifeline\u201d for medical evacuations, family reunification and the delivery of essential services.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He said families across Gaza remain \u201cdesperate\u201d for the reopening, warning that extended closures are worsening an already critical humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15634,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-23017","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Despite a slight increase in humanitarian aid deliveries, the situation in Gaza remains \u201cdire\u201d, with children among the most severely affected by shortages of shelter, essential services and education, the United Nations (UN) warned on Tuesday.","published_date":null,"news_description":"Despite a slight increase in humanitarian aid deliveries, the situation in Gaza remains \u201cdire\u201d, with children among the most severely affected by shortages of shelter, essential services and education, the United Nations (UN) warned on Tuesday.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26124,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23017\/revisions\/26124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=23017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}