Yesterday, a day we hoped would never come arrived. A ground assault in Southern Gaza is now forcing hundreds of thousands to flee and impeding aid efforts in Gaza’s “last refuge.”
For weeks, we’ve been warning there’s no feasible evacuation plan to lawfully displace and protect civilians. For weeks, we’ve been warning of the devastating consequences this will have for children and our ability to assist them in an already restricted response. For weeks, we’ve been calling for preventive action. Instead, the international community has looked away. They cannot look away now.
The incursion not only puts the lives of more than 600,000 children at risk, but will at best disrupt and at worst cause the collapse of the humanitarian aid response currently struggling to keep Gaza’s population alive. The aid response is concentrated in Rafah – the only crossing permitted for aid agencies like Save the Children.
The vital aid coordination system established there is now at risk of disruption. There’s nowhere safe in Gaza, and, under current restrictions, there’s nowhere people can access the basics they need to survive. Forcibly displacing people from Rafah while further disrupting the aid response will likely seal the fate of many children.
We’d already run out of words to describe how catastrophic the situation is in Rafah – but this next chapter will take it to indescribable new levels. More than half of Gaza’s population have fled to Rafah and are left with nowhere safe to go. Many are injured, or simply too old, ill or weak to flee again. Families are desperately trying to keep their children from starving, with malnutrition already claiming lives.
The entire population in Gaza is experiencing extreme hunger, and we know that the imminent incursion will impact children’s access to food, water and medical care when they need it most. Denial of humanitarian access is a grave violation against children – starvation must never be used as a weapon of war.
We call on all States to act now to protect civilians and prevent atrocity crimes in Rafah. Now more than ever, we need an immediate, definitive ceasefire, implemented by warring parties. There’s so much more that can and must be done to save children’s lives.
Our Children’s Emergency Fund allows us to provide immediate and long-term support to children affected by conflict, disaster and other crises. To learn more about how you can help aid our response in Gaza, click here: savethechildren.org/us/where-we-work/west-bank-gaza
