The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
STORYLINE
“The Gaza Strip remains the most dangerous place in the world to be a child” – UNICEF
Amid the steady reported rise in the number of Gazans killed and injured during the Israeli military’s ongoing bombardment in response to the 7 October terror attacks by Hamas and other armed groups, UN aid veterans on Tuesday expressed alarm about the desperate situation in the enclave’s hospitals.
“The Gaza Strip remains the most dangerous place in the world to be a child and day after day that brutal reality is reinforced,” said James Elder, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), briefing reporters at the UN in Geneva. Referring to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Mr. Elder said that “over the past 48 hours the largest remaining fully functional hospital in Gaza has been shelled – twice.”
Mr. Elder said that injured people do not have basic supplies and children recovering from amputations are being killed in the ongoing conflict.
He was speaking ahead of a scheduled UN Security Council meeting to vote on a resolution calling for a pause in fighting in Gaza to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries for Palestinian civilians in need of food, water and medicine.
The UNICEF spokesperson emphasized that there were no “safe” zones in Gaza where children and their families could seek safety.
“The so-called ‘safe’ zones are only safe when they're not only free from bombardment, but when those conditions food, water, medicine and shelter are met. However, under the current besieged conditions, adequate supplies for such zones are impossible”, said Mr. Elder. “They are tiny patches of barren land or they're street corners in neighborhoods, or they have built buildings with no water, no facilities, no shelter from the cold and now the rain and certainly no sanitation.”
Today in Gaza there is around one toilet for 700 children and their families. Humanitarians remain increasingly concerned about rising hunger in the Gaza Strip, saying that child deaths from disease could well surpass those already killed in bombardments.
“Malnutrition is also soaring in Gaza's children. Therefore, things like diarrhoeal diseases are now deadly.” Mr. Elder stressed that “more than 130,000 of Gaza's most vulnerable children, that is newborns up to two years of age, are not receiving the critical lifesaving breast feeding or age-appropriate complementary feeding that they absolutely require. So that's also the scenario without sufficient safe water, food and sanitation, that only a humanitarian ceasefire would bring.”
According to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, between 7 October and 18 December, at least 19,453 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. About 70 per cent of those killed are said to be women and children. Some 52,286 Palestinians have been injured, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health. Many people are missing, presumably buried under the rubble, waiting for rescue or recovery.
In a strongly worded statement, Mr. Elder said that he was “furious that those with power shrug as the humanitarian nightmares (are) unleashed on a million children. I'm furious that children who are recovering from amputations in hospitals are then killed in those hospitals. I'm furious that there are more children hiding as we speak somewhere who will no doubt be hit and have amputations in the coming days…I'm furious that of all the senseless attacks, the only admittance of dumb is the use of dumb bombs. I'm furious that disease is as well-armed as the warring parties. But no, it gets absolutely no attention.”
According to the latest report by the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on 18 December, in the early morning, Al Shifa Hospital was struck again, including the entrance gate and the Surgery Building. Reportedly, the strikes killed five people, including children. At about 10.30am, the hospital was struck again where internally displaced people were sheltering, reportedly killing 26 Palestinians and injuring others.
Quoting her medical colleagues working in Gaza, Dr. Margaret Harris, spokesperson of the UN health agency (WHO) said, that “they talk about not even being able to walk in the emergency areas because for fear of stepping on people. And when they're not stepping on people, they're stepping on blood. It's a scene that none of my colleagues, all of whom are people experience with emergencies, are doctors, they've never seen anything like it. And what I hear in meetings is, ‘I have no words. I've run out of words. I don't know how to even describe the horror I'm seeing.’”
The WHO official described hearing from a colleague recounting how people were “lying on the floor in severe pain, in agony, but they weren't asking for pain relief. They were asking for water. That it's beyond belief that the world is allowing this to continue.”
As Israeli aircraft and artillery continued to bomb the Gaza Strip on the 74th day of their offensive, UN humanitarians reiterated their calls for “an immediate and long-lasting humanitarian ceasefire” as the only way to end the killing and injuring of children, and child deaths from disease.
“I think that what makes beyond the sheer numbers of children with amputations, the sheer number of children with amputations who have not yet been told that their parents also died in the attack, and, of course, that every single child is enduring these 10 weeks of hell and not one of them can escape,” said Mr. Elder.
Dr. Harris reported that getting the aid delivery into Gaza is already a big challenge, but to get to the hospitals inside Gaza is even more difficult since vehicles cannot access the severely damaged roads. Therefore, many patients are either carried by their relatives or transported in donkey carts.
“Vast numbers of people are sick now from other diseases. Vast numbers of people need health care way more than was needed in normal times and yet so little is either coming across the border,” she said. “But then even less can actually get to the hospitals because of the massive infrastructure damage.”
-ends-
STORY: Gaza Humanitarian Update – UNICEF, WHO
TRT: 3:57”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 19 December 2023 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot: UN building with UN flag, UN Geneva.
- Wide shot, press briefing room with moderator UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – James Elder, UNICEF spokesperson: “The Gaza Strip remains the most dangerous place in the world to be a child and day after day that brutal reality is reinforced. Over the past 48 hours the largest remaining fully functional hospital in Gaza has been shelled - twice.”
- Cutaway: Medium shot, press briefing room with spokesperson at the podium and journalists and speaker on the screens, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – James Elder, UNICEF spokesperson: “The so-called safe zones are only safe when they're not only free from bombardment, but when those conditions food, water, medicine and shelter are met. However, under the current besieged conditions, adequate supplies for such zones are impossible. I saw this for myself. They are tiny patches of barren land or they're street corners in neighborhoods, or they have built buildings with no water, no facilities, no shelter from the cold and now the rain and certainly no sanitation.”
- Cutaway: Wide shot, press briefing room with spokespersons on podium and journalists, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - James Elder, UNICEF spokesperson: “Malnutrition is also soaring in Gaza's children. Therefore, things like diarrheal diseases are now deadly. Consider this: more than 130,000 of Gaza's most vulnerable children, that is newborns up to two years of age, are not receiving the critical lifesaving breast feeding or age appropriate complementary feeding that they absolutely require. So that's also the scenario without sufficient safe water, food and sanitation, that only a humanitarian cease fire would bring. Child deaths due to disease could well surpass those already killed in bombardments.”
- Cutaway: Medium shot, journalists listening, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - James Elder, UNICEF spokesperson: “I'm furious. I'm furious that those with power shrug as the humanitarian nightmares unleashed on a million children. I'm furious that children who are recovering from amputations in hospitals are then killed in those hospitals. I'm furious that there are more children hiding as we speak somewhere who will no doubt be hit and have amputations in the coming days. I'm furious that of all the senseless attacks, the only admittance of dumb is the use of dumb bombs. I'm furious that disease is as well-armed as the warring parties. But no, it gets absolutely no attention.”
- Cutaway: Medium shot, camera people with UNTV colleagues, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Margaret Harris, WHO spokesperson: “They talk about not even being able to walk in the emergency areas because for fear of stepping on people. And when they're not stepping on people, they're stepping on blood. It's a scene that none of my colleagues, all of whom are people experience with emergencies, are doctors, they've never seen anything like it. And what I hear in meetings is ‘I have no words. I've run out of words. I don't know how to even describe the horror I'm seeing’ “.
- Cutaway: Wide shot, spokespersons on the podium, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Margaret Harris, WHO spokesperson: “One of my colleagues described people lying on the floor in severe pain, in agony, but they weren't asking for pain relief. They were asking for water. That it's beyond belief that the world is allowing this to continue.”
- Cutaway: close up, journalist watching cell phone, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - James Elder, UNICEF spokesperson: “So I think that's what makes beyond the sheer numbers of children with amputations, the sheer number of children with amputations who have not yet been told that their parents also died in the attack, and, of course, that every single child is enduring these ten weeks of hell and not one of them can escape.”
- Cutaway: Medium shot, journalists listening
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Margaret Harris, WHO spokesperson: “Vast numbers of people are sick now from other diseases. Vast numbers of people need health care way more than was needed in normal times and yet so little is either coming across the border. But then even less can actually get to the hospitals because of the massive infrastructure damage.”
- Cutaway: close up, journalist watching laptop screen, UN Geneva
- Cutaway: close up, spokesperson watching cell phone, UN Geneva
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Displacement on the rise in Yemen as fighting continues - UNHCR
As hostilities worsen in Yemen, more people have been fleeing their homes, further intensifying the humanitarian crisis within the region, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , OHCHR , UNFPA , UNOG , UNHCR , WHO
Yemen’s humanitarian crisis growing by the hour amid spike in displacement
Yemenis displaced by renewed fighting have described fleeing for their lives amid shelling and gunfire, aid agencies reported on Friday, while highlighting the dramatic increase in humanitarian needs in the country and in Djibouti, where thousands have sought shelter.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office issued on Friday a report documenting a shocking pattern of sexual violence amid Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine.
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | WMO
As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
ends
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
The deadly Ebola virus outbreak in DR Congo continues to spread across the vast country despite some success in containing it, aid officials said on Tuesday, in a renewed call for international support to help responders on the ground.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | WFP
‘Super El Niño’ and converging crises worsen hunger in South Sudan and across the region - WFP
South Sudan’s hunger crisis is becoming increasingly catastrophic as violence, extreme weather and dwindling aid leave millions without enough food, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
In war-torn Gaza, a growing number of women-headed households face “impossible decisions” every day, amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes and still-scarce resources, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk made the following remarks to the Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar at the 63rd Human Rights Council.
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk today delivered an update on the global human rights situation to the 63rdsession of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Repeated attacks on humanitarian warehouses put vital medical aid at risk in Ukraine - WHO
A new airstrike overnight damaged one of the main warehouses used by the UN health agency to store humanitarian medical supplies in the Kyiv region, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. This is the third attack to affect a WHO-used storage in the last three months.
2
2
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | WMO
Powerful El Niño heightens extreme-weather risks through 2027, as countries brace for impact - WMO
Fuelled by extraordinarily warm waters across the tropical Pacific Ocean, the El Niño climate pattern is expected to intensify in the coming months. Forecasters are almost certain that it will persist through February next year, with unusually warm conditions expected across the globe.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , IFRC , UN WOMEN , WHO
Nepal flood deaths near 1,000 as those spared struggle to survive – UN humanitarians
With the death toll in Nepal’s catastrophic flash floods inching towards 1,000, rescue workers are facing harsh conditions while survivors lack access to food, safe water and health care, humanitarians said on Tuesday.