UNICEF Brings Critical Health & Education To Gaza

UNICEF Brings Critical Health, Education Supplies To Isolated Palestinians In Gaza

More than 5,000 Palestinians in a completely isolated area in the Gaza Strip, nearly half of them children, are receiving critical health, sanitation and education supplies under a series of shipments by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) which began this week.

"Reaching the un-reached is a key element in ensuring that all children's rights are met," UNICEF Special Representative in the Palestinian Territory Dan Rohrmann said of the deliveries to the Al-Mawasi enclave. "Two thousand children in one of the most difficult to reach areas will have essential supplies to learn, to stay healthy and to be able to play."

The first shipment, the first of many to follow over coming days, included generators for two schools that will allow students to continue learning during frequent power cuts, infant delivery kits sufficient to last for four months for all normal and complex deliveries, and health kits covering the needs of all children and families for six months. Two refrigerators were also delivered.

In addition, UNICEF distributed water kits to ensure 500 families have access to safe water during closures. Other items included educational supplies for 800 students along with uniforms, school bags and teaching aids used during and outside school hours.

The assistance was made possible through the generous support of many donors, including, most recently, the Governments of the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden, and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Al Mawasi, one kilometre wide and 14 kilometres long, was once an agricultural and fishing community but has become almost inaccessible over four years of violence in the Gaza Strip. Many families live in shacks, no sewage or water networks are currently available and electricity supply is spotty at best. Restrictions on movement mean that children's right to education and health is severely restricted.

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