UNICEF’s role in Israel and Gaza

What is UNICEF’s humanitarian role during armed conflict?
What are the universal humanitarian principles that guide UNICEF’s operations and advocacy?
Does UNICEF’s commitment to neutrality and other humanitarian principles prevent it from speaking up against violations of children’s rights?
Has UNICEF spoken out on the violations committed against children in Israel and Gaza?
How does UNICEF operate in Israel?
How does UNICEF operate in Gaza?
Why is aid being stopped from getting into Gaza?
What is UNICEF doing to help people in Gaza?
Why did UNICEF confirm famine in Gaza?
What is this latest ceasefire deal in Gaza?

1. What is UNICEF’s humanitarian role during armed conflict?

UNICEF’s humanitarian mandate is to help alleviate the suffering of children, no matter who they are or where they live.

In certain situations, when resources are readily available to meet children’s needs during an emergency, we do this by offering guidance and support to decision-makers on the ground. In others, we mobilize UNICEF staff and supplies, in collaboration with governments and partners, to provide direct assistance.

UNICEF aims to deliver critical aid to children caught in crisis, as set forth in international humanitarian and human rights law, including the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ratified by nearly every country, the convention underpins UNICEF’s work in any context. In armed conflicts, it complements the universal principles that guide our humanitarian operations and advocacy.
UNICEF has been operating impartially and neutrally since 1946. Then, our mandate was to reach children on all sides of the war, regardless of the role their country played in fighting. Today, that mission remains the same. Impartial by procedure, we’re never neutral when it comes to aiding children in need.

2. What are the universal humanitarian principles that guide UNICEF’s operations and advocacy?

As an operational humanitarian organization, UNICEF holds itself accountable to the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. We aim to uphold these universal principles in every context, by action and by word.

Humanity: Human suffering must be addressed wherever it is found. The purpose of humanitarian action is to save lives, protect health and ensure respect for human beings. UNICEF seeks to assist and protect every vulnerable child, treating each with dignity and respect.
Impartiality: UNICEF allocates and delivers assistance based on needs and without discrimination for nationality, ethnicity, race, age, sex, language, disability, religious belief, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, political opinions or other.
Neutrality: UNICEF refrains from engaging in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature, and does not take sides in hostilities.
Independence: Humanitarian action must be autonomous from the political, economic, military or other objectives that any actor may hold with regard to areas where humanitarian action is implemented. UNICEF is independent of political, economic, military, security or other objectives.

Humanitarian principles are critical to fulfill our United Nations mandate. They guide UNICEF’s programmatic and operational decisions, while earning frontline workers the trust of the communities we seek to serve. In dangerous environments – and especially during armed conflict – the security of humanitarian workers depends on the acceptance of those involved in fighting. We cannot reach children without this.

Our humanitarian policies and advocacy follow the same principles. UNICEF is mandated to promote and protect the rights of all children, guided primarily by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols, as well as international humanitarian law. Humanitarian advocacy includes promoting adherence to international and regional legal norms, standards and principles.

UNICEF’s commitment to humanitarian principles has kept us operational in complex situations since our founding. Today, we’re on the ground in over 190 countries. Neutral and impartial, we’re never indifferent when it comes to caring for children.

3. Does UNICEF’s commitment to neutrality and other humanitarian principles prevent it from speaking up against violations of children’s rights?

No. UNICEF will continue to speak out against violations of children’s rights, including verified grave violations committed against children on every side of violence, in accordance with our mandate to advocate for the rights and protection of every child, everywhere.

Our mandate includes conducting humanitarian advocacy for safe, rapid and unimpeded access to all children in need, in line with humanitarian principles. How and where UNICEF speaks out in humanitarian contexts is determined risk assessments that prioritize reaching children caught up in conflict and effectively addressing grave violations of their rights.

Children bear no responsibility for war. We advocate with all relevant actors to uphold their obligations under international law, which affords children special protections in any circumstance.

4. Has UNICEF spoken out on the violations committed against children in Israel and Gaza?

Yes. In public and behind closed doors, UNICEF has spoken out on the violations committed against children in Israel and Gaza unequivocally, consistently and since the earliest days.

Even wars have rules. The killing and maiming of children is a grave violation condemned by the United Nations Security Council. Attacks on schools and hospitals are grave violations. The abduction of children – as an intentional act of violence or retaliation, to instill fear among populations, to sexually abuse children, and in absolutely any other circumstance – is a grave violation. The denial of humanitarian access to children is a grave violation.

We condemn every violation committed against children throughout this crisis: Armed conflict inflicts the most severe and heinous harm on them. Deprived of fundamental human rights, children living through war are also exposed to unconscionable forms of violence, including sexual violence – a grave violation – unlawful arrest, and detention.

We have appealed to world leaders throughout the conflict: Children on every side of fighting must be protected from further suffering. In any circumstance, at all times, they must not come under attack.

Public statement on violations against children in Gaza

From the earliest days of escalating hostilities in the Gaza Strip, UNICEF has unequivocally called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Like many others, we have pleaded for the killing of children to stop. Like many others, we have pleaded for an end to the bombardment of schools, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. Like many others, we have pleaded for the opening of all access crossings into the Gaza Strip, and for the safe, unimpeded movement of humanitarian workers and supplies across Gaza.

But today, the Gaza Strip is one of the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. And when fighting ends, it will likely remain that way – with the heaviest concentration of unexploded ordnance expected on the planet.

Public statement on violations against children in Israel

UNICEF called for the immediate, safe and unconditional release of all Israeli and foreign hostages held captive in Gaza – children, women and men. Hostage-taking is a war crime, prohibited by international humanitarian law in all circumstances.

UNICEF publicly pressed for the release of hostages from October 9, 2023 onwards. We reiterated these demands at the Security Council, imploring the adoption of a resolution that the release of all abducted children. For more information on UNICEF’s work to help protect children during humanitarian crises, read on.

5. How does UNICEF operate in Israel?

Similar to UNICEF’s presence in Canada, governments in high-income countries, such as Israel, generally have adequate capacity to respond to emergencies. In extraordinary circumstances, upon request from the government, UNICEF can extend support, such as psychosocial support for children.

In over 30 countries where UNICEF does not perform programmatic activities, National Committees for UNICEF serve as our dedicated voice, helping to raise funds for UNICEF’s work worldwide, to promote children’s rights, and to lift visibility for children threatened by poverty, disasters, armed conflict, abuse and exploitation. There is a National Committee for UNICEF in Israel, similar to UNICEF Canada, which was established in 2009 to raise awareness of children’s rights in Israel and fundraise for UNICEF’s life-saving work across the world.

You can learn more here.

6. How does UNICEF operate in Gaza?

UNICEF has been supporting Palestinian children in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since the early 1980’s. Following the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, UNICEF appointed its first Special Representative to serve Palestinian children.

With staff in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, we work to fulfil children’s rights and provide them with critical services and care. Our teams help keep children connected to water and sanitation, education, health care and protection services, while supporting social policy programs that shield children from the lifelong consequences of poverty and exclusion.

Learn more about UNICEF’s humanitarian response in Gaza here.

7. Why is aid being stopped from getting into Gaza?

UNICEF welcomes the ceasefire and calls for all sides to ensure the deal is sustained. Any ceasefire plan must prioritize child protection, ensure humanitarian access, and uphold the rights and well-being of every child.

UNICEF has 1,3000 trucks ready to bring in tents, nutrition items, essential medicines and vaccines, learning and recreation kits, and water and sanitation supplies. More than 40 UNICEF aid trucks entered Gaza on October 12. More trucks are cleared to enter but have not yet been permitted to deploy in the Gaza Strip. Supplies can only be increased if all crossings into Gaza are opened and if approvals are expedited. Currently, it is uncertain as to when this will happen.

Before this development, aid had stopped entering Gaza on March 2, 2025 after the end of the first phase of a ceasefire agreement that lasted from January 19 to March 1, 2025. The ceasefire officially collapsed on March 18, 2025. On May 15, 2025, it was announced that very limited aid would enter Gaza for the first time in months.

Since the end of the ceasefire in March 2025, 394 UNICEF trucks reached aid crossing or offloaded goods at aid crossings. Some of the good collected have included vaccines, nutrition supplies, diapers, and hygiene kits.

Between May and September, UNICEF delivered 647 trucks inside Gaza with nutrition supplies, including baby food, milk and high-energy biscuits. We are ready to increase this number and ensure more life-saving aid enters Gaza at the required scale and bring hope to an exhausted population.

As the agreement to secure a ceasefire moves forward. UNICEF is ready to scale up its response. Up until this point, aid entering Gaza has been nowhere near enough for the basic survival of its 2.1 million people. More than 62,000 metric tons of staple food and supplies are required per month to cover basic food assistance needs.

On August 22, 2025, UNICEF along with The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations World Food Programme and the World Health Organization confirmed famine for the first time in Gaza. This decision was based on an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis that found the three critical IPC thresholds were breached. Famine must be stopped at all costs.

8. WHat is UNICEF doing to help people in Gaza?

On October 9, 2025, an agreement to secure a ceasefire and end the war in the Gaza Strip was announced. Despite the extremely challenging humanitarian and security situation, UNICEF continues to keep a critical presence in Gaza.

Working with partners on the ground, UNICEF has been able to deliver essential aid and support, including:

Scaled up its Emergency Famine Response to provide treatment, and prevention of acute malnutrition among 180,000 vulnerable children, and pregnant and breastfeeding women.
Distributed nutritional supplements, including high-energy biscuits to 224,000 people.
Distributed over 2.1 million WASH items between January and May. These included hygiene kits, more than 1.5 million soap bars, sanitary pads, jerrycans, tarpaulins, and adult diapers.
Supported over 242,329 children with primary health services, including health consultations and vaccinations.
Provided 112,000 children, 51% of them girls, with learning materials, stationery and recreational kits distributed.
Screened more than 506,509 children for acute malnutrition and admitting 16,817 to Moderate Acute Malnutrition and 2,607 to Severe Acute Malnutrition treatment programs.
Delivered 110,684 sets of ready-to-use complementary food supporting 1,845 children, and Vitamin A to over 90,000 children and 43,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women.
Supported 421,000 people received with multi-purpose cash transfers.
Supported 1.5 million people, including 600,000 children, with access to safe water through water trucking, system repairs, and by keeping desalination plants and water facilities running.

See all our calls for action here.

9. Why did UNICEF confirm famine in Gaza?

Famine is the most extreme category of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) process. This is triggered when three critical thresholds – extreme food deprivation, acute malnutrition and starvation-related deaths – are breached.

On August 22, 2025, UNICEF along with The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations World Food Programme and the World Health Organization confirmed famine for the first time in Gaza. This decision was based on an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis that found the three critical IPC thresholds were breached.

UNICEF welcomes the news of an agreement to secure a ceasefire between the parties to the conflict in the Gaza Strip and is ready to scale up its response. UNICEF has the capacity to swiftly improve the nutrition status of 50,000 children below five years of age who are at high risk and 60,000 pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.

10. What is this latest ceasefire deal in Gaza?

UNICEF welcomes the ceasefire to end the war in Gaza and calls on all sides to ensure the deal is sustained. The ceasefire plan must prioritize child protection, ensure humanitarian access, and uphold the rights and well-being of every child.

The ceasefire brings hope to children and families who have suffered more than two years of ongoing violence, but the situation remains catastrophic for children in Gaza. Urgent action is needed to prevent the spread of famine and save lives from the deadly effects of malnutrition, disease, lack of safe water, and violence.

UNICEF has 1,3000 trucks ready to bring in tents, nutrition items, essential medicines and vaccines, learning and recreation kits, and water and sanitation supplies. More than 40 UNICEF aid trucks entered Gaza on October 12 and while more trucks are cleared to enter, they have not yet been permitted to deploy in the Gaza Strip. Supplies can only be increased if all crossings into Gaza are opened and if approvals are expedited. Currently, it is uncertain as to when this will happen.