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Gaza: A ceasefire that ‘still buries children’ is not enough, says UNICEF
Airstrikes, drone strikes and hypothermia are among the lethal conditions prevailing in Gaza despite the ceasefire, with more than 100 children killed since early October, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
“That's roughly a girl or a boy killed here every day during a ceasefire,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva.
“These children are killed from airstrikes, drone strikes, including suicide drones,” he said, speaking from Gaza City. “They’re killed from tank shelling. They’re killed from live ammunition. They’re killed from [remote-controlled] quadcopters.”
Mr. Elder pointed out that more children have died of hypothermia in the last few days. “We’ve now gone to six children who died of hypothermia just this winter,” he said. “I wish I could take a camera and show you 30, 40-kilometre [per hour] winds ripping through tents on the beach. It's bitterly cold. It's bitterly wet.”
The UNICEF spokesperson stressed that the ceasefire has allowed “genuine progress” in primary healthcare, with UNICEF and partners setting up the first health clinics in the north of the Strip and expanding immunization services. But desperately needed medical evacuations of children remain at a standstill.
Mr. Elder noted “no noticeable improvement” both on approvals to get children with life-threatening injuries out of Gaza and to have host countries take in those children.
He said that in his latest mission to the enclave, he spoke to many children and families denied evacuation despite completing an arduous, formal process, including a nine-year-old with shrapnel lodged in his eye who “will lose sight in an eye, maybe both”, and a girl in Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City who “may well die”.
The UNICEF spokesperson also highlighted the dangers of a recent Israeli ban on international NGOs, which will come into effect in the coming month and mean “blocking life-saving assistance”, he alleged. Mr. Elder also stressed the importance of allowing international media into the enclave, which has not been granted despite the ceasefire.
“There needs to be a lot more pressure on allowing international journalists to come in,” he said. “This is my seventh mission [to Gaza] and every time I see the 360-degree devastation, flattening of homes, my jaw drops.”
“It is absolutely as staggering yesterday as it was the first time I saw it more than two years ago,” he insisted.
Mr. Elder warned that two years of war have “left life for Gaza's children unimaginably hard,” explaining that “the psychological damage remains untreated, and it's becoming deeper and harder to heal, the longer this goes on”.
“A ceasefire that slows the bombs is progress, but one that still buries children is not enough,” he concluded.
-ENDS-
STORY Gaza ceasefire deaths – UNICEF
TRT: 2:59”
SOURCE: UNTV CH AND UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 13 JANUARY 2026 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND; 10 JANUARY 2026 KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA – credit UNICEF
1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.
2. Wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference, speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – James Elder, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): More than 100 children have been killed in Gaza since the cease-fire of early October. That's roughly a girl or a boy killed here every day during a cease-fire.”
4. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – James Elder, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “These children are killed from airstrikes, drone strikes, including suicide drones. They're killed from tank shelling. They're killed from live ammunition. They're killed from quadcopters.”
6. Medium shot: Journalists in the Press room.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – James Elder, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “We've had children die of hypothermia again in the last few days, so we've now gone to six children who died of hypothermia just in this winter. I mean, it's bleak outside now. I wish I could take a camera and show you 30, 40-kilometre winds ripping through tents on the beach, it's bitterly cold. It's bitterly wet.”
8. Medium shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference, speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – James Elder, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “I have spoken even in this last trip to many, many children and families, who either, if I think of yesterday, the child will have his leg amputated. The boy we mentioned today, Abid Al Rahman, he will lose sight in an eye, maybe both. The girl in Shifa hospital may well die. All three of those are absolute candidates for medical evacuation. All three of those have so far been denied.”
10. Medium shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – James Elder, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “There needs to be a lot more pressure on allowing international journalists to come in. And I say that because this is my seventh mission and every time I see the 360-degree devastation, flattening, flattening of homes, of homes, my jaw drops. It is absolutely as staggering yesterday as it was the first time I saw it more than two years ago.”
12. Medium-wide shot: Journalists in the Press room.
13. SOUNDBITE (English) – James Elder, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “Two years of war has left life for Gaza's children unimaginably hard. They still live in fear. The psychological damage remains untreated, and it's becoming deeper and harder to heal the longer this goes on. A cease-fire that slows the bombs is progress, but one that still buries children is not enough.”
14. Various shots of journalists in the Press room.
15. UNICEF B-Roll: 10 January 2026, Medium shots: Nasser Hospital, Khan Younis: Abid Al Rahman, nine years old, with a shrapnel injury in his eye – credit UNICEF.
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