GENEVA: An official of the United Nations’ children’s agency said on Tuesday it was “inhumane” to expect hundreds of thousands of children to leave Gaza City as camps further south were unsafe, overcrowded and ill-equipped to receive them.
Israel announced on Tuesday the start of its long-awaited ground operation into Gaza City, the main urban center in the enclave where Israel has ordered residents to flee. So far, more than 140,000 have already fled south from Gaza City since August 14, UN data shows, of a population of around 1 million people.
“It is inhumane to expect nearly half a million children, battered and traumatized by over 700 days of unrelenting conflict, to flee one hellscape and end up in another,” Tess Ingram, a UNICEF spokesperson, told reporters by video link from the sprawling tent camp of Mawasi, Gaza.
Conditions there are so desperate that some people who fled Israel’s new offensive on famine-struck Gaza City in recent days are heading back toward the falling bombs, they told Reuters.
“People really do have no good option — stay in danger or flee to a place that they also know is dangerous,” she said, adding that some children had been killed at the Mawasi camp while collecting water.
Ingram described seeing large numbers of people fleeing down the main road out of Gaza City this week. One mother, Israa, made the journey on foot accompanied by her five hungry, thirsty children including two with no shoes, said Ingram, who met them.
“They were walking into the unknown — no clear destination or plan — with little hope of finding solace,” she said.
‘Inhumane’ to expect Gaza City’s children to flee, UN agency says
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‘Inhumane’ to expect Gaza City’s children to flee, UN agency says
- Tess Ingram, a UNICEF spokesperson, told reporters “it is inhumane to expect nearly half a million children, battered and traumatized by over 700 days of unrelenting conflict, to flee one hellscape and end up in another”
Sudan now has highest number of people in need ‘anywhere in the world,’ UN warns
- Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric presses states to provide urgent financial support to help meet humanitarian needs that have reached ‘extraordinary levels’
- 34m people expected to need aid this year; UN response plan calls for $2.9bn of funding to provide food, nutrition, clean water, health and protection services, and education
NEW YORK CITY: The UN on Friday pressed member states to provide urgent financial support to help stave off further suffering in war-torn Sudan, where nearly 34 million people are now expected to need assistance this year — the highest number anywhere in the world.
Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that despite the “extraordinary humanitarian needs,” operations remain perilously underfunded and aid workers face mounting risks.
The UN’s 2026 Humanitarian Response Plan for Sudan calls for $2.9 billion of funding to provide more than 20 million people with life-saving food, nutrition, clean water, health and protection services, and education. But funding lags behind needs, complicating efforts to scale up deliveries of aid.
The civil war between rival military factions in the country, which will enter its fourth year in April, is driving several overlapping emergencies, including acute food insecurity and outbreaks of disease.
According to the UN’s World Food Programme, more than 21 million people in Sudan face high levels of acute hunger, and famine conditions have been confirmed, or are feared to be present, in several regions.
Humanitarian workers continue to face “grave danger,” Dujarric said. In recent months, 92 of them, mostly Sudanese, have been killed, injured, kidnapped or detained, he added, and more than 65 attacks on healthcare providers and patients have been recorded.
Aid groups also warn that conflict-related obstacles, including blockades, drone strikes, and sporadic access restrictions, continue to hamper distribution efforts.
The UN has highlighted the fact that amid the growing displacement of people in North Darfur and North Kordofan, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have been uprooted, water and sanitation services are collapsing in affected areas.
The humanitarian crisis is compounded by regional spillover. Neighboring Chad has closed its border with Sudan amid security concerns, complicating the cross-border flow of aid and threatening already fragile refugee-support systems.
Dujarric warned that without increased donor support and improved access, the skills and commitment of aid workers will not be enough to keep pace with spiraling needs.
“Delivering aid at this scale requires flexible funding and guaranteed humanitarian access, so that workers can reach people in need and they can reach them safely and rapidly and without any obstruction,” he said.
