UNICEF has said that the trauma that Palestinian children in Gaza are suffering from Israel’s war is going to have post-generational challenges for them.
GAZA — After a year of Israel’s war on Gaza, the head of UNICEF warned that children there will face “post-generational challenges” due to the conflict.
“If you look at Gaza really through the eyes of a child, it is a hellscape,” UNICEF’s executive director Catherine Russell told CBS News‘ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, noting the toll of family deaths and displacements, as well as ongoing lack of food and clean water.
“They are so traumatised by what’s happening,” Russell said of the kids. “Even if we can get more supplies in there, the trauma that these children are suffering is going to have lifetime and even post-generational challenges for them.”
Russell said it remains “very dangerous” to move humanitarian aid in Gaza. However, she credited her organisation with a “success story” of vaccinating thousands of children for polio in the area.
On the latest Israeli military attacks in Lebanon, the UNICEF director said “the speed and intensity are shocking” and that “it makes it challenging for us” to reach the approximately 1 million displaced people there.
“I feel confident at this point that we can meet the needs but it is taking a tremendous amount of effort on our part to do it,” Russell said. — Reuters