UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban’s remarks following his fifth visit to Gaza and the West Bank

As delivered by UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban’s remarks following his fifth visit to Gaza and the West Bank

NEW YORK, 26 January 2026 - “Carl Skau from WFP and I have just returned from Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, where we spent the entire last week, and I am speaking to you with both hope and concern after this visit. 

“This was my fifth visit to the State of Palestine since the war began. For the first time in many months, there are signs that an imperfect, fragile but vital ceasefire is making a difference in the lives of over one million children.

“Since the agreement took hold, we have seen improvements impacting children’s lives. More truckloads of lifesaving aid are entering Gaza, albeit not yet sufficiently to meet the magnitude of needs.

“Commercial goods have reappeared in markets, we saw vegetables, fruits, chicken and eggs. The food security situation has improved, and famine has been reversed. Recreational kits designed to help children deal with their stress and trauma have finally started to reach children who have not played freely in over two years. Food availability has increased significantly in several areas.  

“UNICEF and our partners have reached more than 1.6 million people with clean drinking water, we have reached 700,000 people with blankets and winter clothes to help with the cold of winter and we recently managed to restore essential life-saving pediatric intensive care services at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.  As people have moved closer to their places of origin, where they’re allowed to do so, their homes almost entirely destroyed, we are there with wash and dignity kits, warm clothing for children and essential health and nutrition services.  The second round of a Gaza wide catch-up campaign for routine immunization is currently underway and vaccinating many children who missed these lifesaving vaccines during the war. Since October last year, with the ceasefire, 72 UNICEF-supported nutrition facilities have been established, bringing the total to 196 across the Strip.

“Carl will also speak to what WFP and their partners have achieved since the cease-fire as well. These gains matter. They show what is possible when the fighting pauses, political commitment is sustained and humanitarian access opens.

“But the situation remains extremely precarious and deadly for many children.

“More than 100 children have been reported killed in Gaza since the ceasefire of early October. Despite the progress with food security,100,000 children remain acutely malnourished and require long term care.  

“1.3 million people, many of them children, are in urgent need of proper shelter. Families are living in tents and bombed-out buildings, battered by heavy rain, strong winds and freezing temperatures. It really is miserable in those tents. I met parents who are burning scraps of plastic and wood to keep their children warm. Tragically, we received reports of at least 10 children dying of hypothermia since winter started. 

“This is still an extremely precarious situation with survival at the edge.

“I want to express my deep concern about the implications of the de-registration of international NGOs, which risks undermining humanitarian operations and sharply limiting the delivery and scale-up of lifesaving assistance across Gaza and the West Bank.

“We of course rely a lot on local partners but there are key actors which are truly essential.

“And yet, in the midst of this fragility and destruction, there is also hope. UNICEF and partners in the education sector are supporting over 250,000 children to resume learning.   I spoke to a little girl at a Temporary Learning Centre run by UNICEF in Deir El Balah, named Aya, who was immersed in her learning. 

“She told me that she was so glad to be learning again, to be with her friends and that she dreamed of being a nurse to help all the people who were ill or had been injured during the war. She dreamed of a Gaza at peace with homes rebuilt, schools working, places to shop and parks to walk in.

“In the past months, we have been working to bring children back to learning and I have been so glad to see dozens of children in our Temporary Learning Spaces with huge smiles as they are getting non-formal education. For children in Gaza, returning to classrooms is not only about learning. It is a critical element of mental health and psychosocial support. More than 700,000 school-aged children across the Gaza Strip have been out of formal education since October 2023 and we will be announcing a major Back to Learning campaign this week.

“There has been some progress but a lot more to be done

“UNICEF and WFP are among the leading agencies delivering for Gaza’s children.

“Since the start of the ceasefire, UNICEF and WFP have brought more than 10,000 trucks of aid into Gaza, representing 80% of all humanitarian cargo. Together, we are leading an accelerated nutrition response. We are working together on learning activities with WFP providing nutrition bars for children attending temporary learning spaces. We are also working together on digital cash assistance, reaching over 1 million people over time.

“If we are serious about creating an enabling environment for children in Gaza, one that helps getting closer to Aya’s dream, three things are essential.

“First, the ceasefire must hold and move forward. Phase 2 is not just a political milestone but a humanitarian necessity. We are thankful that the remains of Ran Gvili were recovered which helps us move towards Phase 2. It is a chance to turn fragile improvements into something more durable, including with mass reconstruction and a safer environment for children.

“We met with the Israeli authorities and asked them to open more routes for humanitarian and commercial supplies. We need to allow people to move in and out safely for medical care, family reunification, and essential services. We call for the Rafah corridor to be opened again for two way traffic as announced and for it to remain open, so children who need urgent medical evacuations can have a better chance of treatment.

“The same applies to Kerem Shalom, Zikim, Kissofim, Erez East and Erez West. All available crossings must operate simultaneously, with safe corridors via Jordan and Egypt. Internally, reopening Salah Al Din Road would transform transport efficiency.

“We need large-scale improvements in shelter, including winterized tents and more durable temporary housing. We need temporary learning spaces so children can resume some form of education. We need urgent repairs to water systems and electricity networks to restore basic services.

“Second, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) represent a real opportunity to improve humanitarian access and move towards early recovery and reconstruction if it is fully operationalized and supported giving Palestinian agency to the road ahead .

“Third, humanitarian operations need predictability and can be used to jump start early recovery and reconstruction. Essential items required for water and sanitation including so-called dual use items which we can fully account for and supplies related to learning and education need to be allowed in. We have indications today that some of the learning materials are starting to get the necessary approvals. It is also the case that UN humanitarian actors on the ground have the contacts, know the contexts of where systems are broken and what needs to be done to fix them and are therefore best placed to support early recovery and reconstruction plans in line with international norms and standards.  

“WFP and UNICEF are ready to scale up all of this. We have supplies positioned. We have our great staff doing good work on the ground. We have plans that can be activated immediately if access is granted and we move decisively into phase two.

“The children of Gaza and the State of Palestine including the West Bank which is also experiencing a wave of violence do not need sympathy. They need decisions now that give them warmth, safety, food, education, and a future.

“We have an opportunity, a window, to change the trajectory for these children. We can’t waste it.

“Thank you”