UNICEF’s role in Israel and Gaza

1. What is UNICEF’s humanitarian role during armed conflict?
2. What are the universal humanitarian principles that guide UNICEF’s operations and advocacy?
3. Does UNICEF’s commitment to neutrality and other humanitarian principles prevent it from speaking up against violations of children’s rights?
4. Has UNICEF spoken out on the violations committed against children in Israel and Gaza?
5. How does UNICEF operate in Israel?
6. How does UNICEF operate in Gaza?
7. Why is aid being stopped from getting into Gaza?
8. Why should I donate if aid can’t be delivered? What is UNICEF doing to help people in Gaza?
9. Why did UNICEF confirm famine 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 grave violations committed against children on every side of violence. Our mandate is to conduct humanitarian advocacy for sustained, unimpeded access to all children in need, and to do so in line with humanitarian principles. How and where we speak out is determined by risk assessments that prioritize the ability of humanitarian workers and emergency supplies to reach children caught in conflict.  

Children bear no responsibility for war. We persist in pressing world leaders on every occasion to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, which afford 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

UNICEF continues to call on parties to cease hostilities and reinstate the ceasefire. The blockade of humanitarian aid is having terrible consequences for one million children across Gaza. 

Like many others, UNICEF has unequivocally called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire from the earliest days of escalating hostilities in the Gaza Strip. UNICEF has pleaded for the killing of children to stop. We have pleaded for an end to the bombardment of schools, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. 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.

The delivery of aid is a matter of life or death for children in Gaza. The needs are immediate and immense in terms of water, food, medicine and fuel. UNICEF urgently calls on the parties to fully respect their obligations under international law – including by taking immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and to facilitate the unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip through multiple crossings.

Public statement on violations against children in Israel 

UNICEF calls for the immediate, safe and unconditional release of all hostages being held captive in Gaza. Hostage-taking is a war crime, prohibited by international humanitarian law in all circumstances. Every hostage must be released immediately and safely. Release must not be made conditional on any other demand. 

UNICEF has publicly pressed for the release of hostages since October 9, 2023 and will continue to do so through private advocacy and public statements. During the same period, UNICEF has called for the release of abducted Israeli children in over 360 public statements, remarks and interviews with press, as well as across social media.

UNICEF’s Executive Director and Deputy Executive Director have also travelled to Israel to meet with the families who experienced unspeakable violence on October 7, including those who had child relatives and other family members taken hostage.

We will continue to call for the immediate, unconditional, and safe release of all hostages in Gaza.   

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?

Aid 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 have either reached aid crossing or offloaded goods at aid crossings. Some of the good collected have included vaccines, nutrition supplies, diapers, and hygiene kits.  

In July, UNICEF delivered 147 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.  

However, the aid that is entering Gaza is 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. An immediate ceasefire and end to the conflict is critical to allow unimpeded, large-scale humanitarian response that can save lives. 
 

8. Why should I donate if aid can’t be delivered? What is UNICEF doing to help people in Gaza?

On May 15, 2025, following a nearly three-month long blockade, it was announced that limited aid would enter Gaza. Despite the extremely challenging humanitarian and security situation, UNICEF is keeping a critical presence in Gaza.

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

• Safe water to approximately 1.5 million people through water trucking, repairs to damaged water systems, and support provided to desalination plants.
• Primary healthcare access to 242,329 children and over 55,878 women in the first half of 2025.  
• Screening 113,718 children for malnutrition across Gaza in June 2025.
• Providing education through 76 learning centers, reaching 44,035 children.
• Helping families recover financially by providing cash assistance transfers to 26,381 individuals including 14,603 children and 5,131 female-headed households between June and July 2025.  

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.