<\/p>\n
Seven children were reportedly killed and at least 33 seriously injured in air strikes, drone strikes and gunfire across Gaza during the past two weeks. Two other boys died from injuries sustained earlier. \u201cFor families mourning the loss of their children, those terrible statistics do not equate with a ceasefire,\u201d UNICEF Spokesperson Ricardo Pires said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
About 800 000 children remain displaced, with most living in tents or damaged buildings offering little protection from approaching winter conditions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Families have been filling empty flour bags with sand to prevent rainwater from entering tents.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
UNICEF also warned that damaged sanitation and drainage systems posed a serious threat as seasonal rainfall approached. \u201cThere are vast pools of wastewater, such as the Sheikh Radwan stormwater basin that is half-full,\u201d Pires said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the winter rains fast approaching, we\u2019re running out of time to pump this out.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pires warned that contaminated water could overflow into residential areas, threatening children and families.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
UNICEF said children had previously drowned in water contaminated by sewage.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An estimated 60 000 children have lost one or both parents during the war or since the ceasefire, while nearly every child requires some form of mental-health support.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The agency also stressed that uninterrupted entry of humanitarian and commercial supplies remained essential to sustaining recovery and preventing another severe hunger crisis. \u201cWe can\u2019t go back to a situation where children and families are not getting all the supplies, goods and services that they require,\u201d Pires said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
UNICEF has helped more than 560 000 children return to education since the ceasefire, including through more than 200 supported learning centres.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The agency has also provided digital cash assistance to more than 380 000 people and supplied safe water to 1.2 million people.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pires said children needed reliable access to food, water, shelter, education and healthcare to survive and retain hope for the future.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":44419,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-48223","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"More than 340 children have reportedly been killed in Gaza since a ceasefire was announced over a year ago, while hundreds more have been injured, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says.","published_date":"","news_description":"More than 340 children have reportedly been killed in Gaza since a ceasefire was announced over a year ago, while hundreds more have been injured, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48223","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":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48230,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48223\/revisions\/48230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=48223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}