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By Deborah Castellano Lubov

"Over 18,000 children have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war. That鈥檚 an average of 28 children a day, the size of a classroom, gone. Children have lost loved ones, they are hungry and scared, and they are traumatised..."

UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban gave this chilling reminder following his recent travel to Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, as he insisted, "What children need - children from all communities -  is a sustained ceasefire and a political way forward."

Mr. Chaiban, who serves as UNICEF's Executive Director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, discussed the humanitarian crisis hitting new extremes following his most recent travel there, warning that Gaza is on the verge of famine and needs are enormous.

UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children, works to protect children's rights everywhere, and does so across more than 190 countries and territories.

Grave risk of famine

"Gaza now faces a grave risk of famine," the UN agency official stated, acknowledging that even if this has been building up, two indicators have now exceeded the famine threshold.  "One in three people in Gaza are going days without food, and the malnutrition indicator has exceeded the famine threshold, with global acute malnutrition now at over 16.5 per cent [in Gaza City]."

"Today," he decried, "more than 320,000 young children are at risk of acute malnutrition."

While UNICEF is doing everything possible to address the situation, including supporting breastfeeding, providing infant formula, and treating children with severe acute malnutrition, he cautioned, "the needs are enormous after 22 months of war and two months of a blockade." Even if that blockade has now been eased, he said, it is still having an impact, for "the aid is not getting in fast enough or at the required scale as of yet."

Failure to protect civilians and children

In the midst of all this, he said that despite many having suffered devastating personal losses, their staff in Gaza continue to work day and night.

UNICEF is delivering safe water, some 2.4 million liters per day in northern Gaza, which reaches some 600,000 children; but, he laments, this is still far below survival thresholds.

Mr. Chaiban added that they have pressed for a review of their military rules of engagement to protect civilians and children.

"Children," he underscored, "should not be getting killed waiting in line at a nutrition centre or collecting water, and people should not be so desperate as to have to rush a convoy."

In addition, he shared, "We called for more humanitarian aid and commercial traffic to come in - moving closer towards 500 trucks a day - to stabilize the situation and reduce the desperation of the population." 

He said this was important to try to prevent or reduce cases of self-distribution, when the population goes after a convoy, and looting, when armed groups go after it because the price of food is so high.

"In order to address that, we need to flood the strip with supplies using all channels and all gates," he reasoned, warning, "This is not going to be achieved through humanitarian aid alone, and so we also pushed for commercial goods to get into the strip -  eggs, milk and other essential supplies that complement what the humanitarian community is bringing in."

Devastating heat, risk of disease outbreak looming

Speaking on other infrastructure issues, he decried, "It is very hot in Gaza - 40 degrees  -and water is in short supply, with the risk of disease outbreak looming everywhere.

In this dramatic scenario, he said they pressed for 'dual-use' items and more fuel to be allowed in so that the water system can be repaired, including pipes, fittings, and generators, and "will continue to advocate so that the humanitarian pauses do not lead to further displacement, pressing the population into an ever smaller area."

The UNICEF Director remembered witnessing the children under threat during his recent visit to the West Bank, but said he would continue discussing Gaza where the suffering is most acute and where children are dying at an unprecedented rate.

Need for real ceasefire and return of all remaining hostages

"We are at a crossroads," he candidly expressed, suggesting, "The choices made now will determine whether tens of thousands of children live or die. We know what must be done and what can be done."

"The UN and NGOs that form the humanitarian community," he reminded, "can address this, along with commercial traffic, if the measures are in place to allow access and eventually have enough goods in the Strip that some of the issues that are there with law and order abate."

The UNICEF official also acknowledged that UNICEF's appeal for Gaza is "critically underfunded" as "only 30 percent of health and nutrition needs are covered."

"We need to remember that humanitarian pauses are not a ceasefire," Mr. Chaiban noted, saying, "We hope that the parties can agree on a cease-fire and the return of all remaining hostages by Hamas and other armed groups."