Call to Action for Palestinian Children in the West Bank and Gaza

Okay, so good afternoon, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. And before we start, I would like to apologize on behalf of the organizers for the ticket issue, especially for civil society members who didn't have a grand pass. So this is unfortunately entirely in the hands of UN services. Welcome to the UN. So I'm Adla Masood, and it's an honor for me to moderate again this year the call to action for Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank. So a child should be able to fly a kite without fear. Yet after children flew kites in Gaza, Israel threatened to expel Palestinians from the areas where they were flown. That small moment of play, Israel threatened to expel Palestinians. Oh, no, sorry. Even that small moment of play has become a reminder of how little safety these children have. Even after the ceasefire announced in October 2025, one child was reportedly killed every day for the next 300 days. In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, children face escalating violence, displacement, and detention. According to the Israeli Prison Service, at least 355 Palestinian children from the West Bank are being held in Israeli military detention. Nearly half are reportedly held without charge or trial. We often speak of children's resilience, but children should not have to be resilient to survive what adults have failed to stop. Expressions of deep concern are no longer enough. Children need protection, food, healthcare, and education. They need the freedom to learn, to play, and to dream. Above all, they need the chance to grow up. They need the international community to move on beyond empty words and act. And so we begin today by hearing from those whose voices must be at the center of this conversation, the Palestinian children themselves.

Hi, my name is Luna. I'm here to deliver a statement that reflects the thoughts and stories shared by my friends and our lives were already difficult before the war started and they have become even more challenging since. We know that at any moment we could be killed. We understand what is to watch violence shape our lives. The Israeli occupation affects everything we do. Whenever we leave our homes to go to school, visit family, and even get a with our friends, we come face to face with soldiers, checkpoints, or Israeli settlers. if even staying at home doesn't not feel safe anymore. Just the other day, soldiers raided the home of one of us. They took her and her sibling into the bathroom and pointed a machine gun at her head. She was so afraid. She is still afraid. Everything in our lives revolves around the occupation. Every day we ask ourselves, is it safe to go to school, or to go out with our families, or to leave our town to see a doctor? We don't feel safe. We feel worried, threatened, and angry all the time. This affects every part of our lives. including our mental health, our well-being, and our ability to learn and focus in school. What we've seen in Gaza makes us feel helpless, angry, and afraid. The whole world saw what was happening to children in Gaza, and no one stopped it. It's made many of us feel that Palestinian children don't matter, that our lives are somehow worth less than others. We are scared because we know that what happened to children in Gaza could happen to us. We know how quickly everything can be taken away. Our message to the international community and world leaders is that we need you to protect children's rights. We ask you not only to look at us, but to truly hear us. We ask you to act, not just repeat kind words. We are asking for nothing more than our right to live, to be safe, and have the chance to build the future.

As Chair of the High Level Meeting on the Middle East Peace Process, I am pleased to open today's meeting. I first give the floor to His Excellency Ayman Safadi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Jordan.

Thank you so much. And may I call for a moment of silence for all the Palestinian children whose lives have been wasted by Israeli war and aggression. Thank you. Dear colleagues, first of all, I'd like to thank my co-sponsors, co-organizers, the EU and Belgium, for staying the course in our joint effort to keep awareness of the suffering of Palestinian children alive. Last year, we met here in the midst of the genocide. where the number of Palestinian killed then stood at 63,000. One year later, the number of killed is 73,000, among them over 20,000 Palestinian children. As Palestinian children in Gaza suffer deprivation, hunger, cold, Palestinian children in the West Bank are being subjected to all kind of measures that are taking their lives hostage, their dreams hostage. They are suffering in Israeli jails without trials, without due legal course. This is the reality that we are here to address today. The massacre has stopped, but the targeting killing has not. The starvation has not. The denial of the Palestinian children to go to school, to go to a play yard, to enjoy a toy, has not stopped. Why? I think His Majesty said it all yesterday in his address to the UN General Assembly. Because we have not taken action, because we have not used the tools that international law avails for us to stand up for our collective humanity, to stand up for our collective values, to stand up against injustice and against oppression. I can tell stories of tens of hundreds of Palestinian children who are suffering. You all watch it on your TVs, on your mobiles. These are stories that this world should not have to watch. These are tales of misery that must end. We must act, and we must act fast. Gaza, 2 million people, 2 million people. are squeezed into a wasteland of hopelessness, of despair. Mothers cannot feed their kids. Children are suffering during cold nights. Winter is upon us again. What kind of life are those people going to have as the rain starts falling and the wind starts blowing? We all, last year, endorsed a plan by President Trump for the stabilization of Gaza. What we're asking for now is implemented. The future of the children of Palestine cannot continue to be hostage to the radical, racist, expansionist policies of the Israeli government. The least that can be done is allow the aid that's expiring on the shelves in storehouses in Amman, the aid that all of you have donated, allow it to go into Gaza so it can feed children. And that, as an international community, we're not being able to do. UN organizations are trying over and over again to do their job. Not only are they not allowed to do their job, but they're risking their lives and they're facing tremendous obstacles that is not allowing them to fulfill their humanitarian mandate. This is the reality with which we have to deal. On the West Bank, things are deteriorating in ways that the world has not woken up to yet. Settlements are expanding. There is an average of over six settler terrorist attacks against Palestinians every day. Over 6,000 attacks have taken place last year. That is terrorizing children. Imagine a child waking up to settlers surrounding his house and beating his doors and cutting down his olive tree. What kind of future are we allowing to develop before our eyes? When children have no dreams, when children have no hope, when they have no education, when they have no sufficient nutrition, what kind of world are we willing to allow to continue to evolve before our eyes? So, dear friends, Again, I think we are all aware of the atrocities that are being committed. We all see the suffering to which Palestinian children are being subjected. We all know why that's happening. We all are watching international law crumbling in Gaza and on the West Bank. Now, where do we go from here? We need to act. Again, the tools are there. Let's just implement them. Let's just work for a future. in which both Palestinian children and Israeli children live in peace. And that future cannot be realized unless we speak against injustice, unless we work together to change this horrific reality in Palestine, unless we stand for international law, unless we again use every possible tool to stop those atrocities and to create a better life for Palestinian children so that the whole region, the whole world, can have a future of peace, can have a future of dignity. The Israeli government has to face consequences for its illegal, immoral, inhumane actions. It has to face consequences for keeping the Middle East hostage to conflict. It has to face consequences for depriving this young girl who spoke today from living like any other child anywhere in the world, in all our countries. That is what we need to do. Again, in Jordan, we're going to continue to work with all of you to speak against injustice, to work for a just and lasting peace, to make sure that we provide aid to Palestinian children who need it. But unless we all come together, unless we all say enough, Israel is not going to listen. This Israeli government is acting on an ideological doctrine, expansionist. Israeli ministers continue day in, day out, calling, dehumanizing Palestinians, calling for the displacement of Palestinians, taking pride and denying Palestinian children their right to the life that all children anywhere in the world should have. Thank you.

I now give the floor to His Excellency Maxime Prévost, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Development Cooperation of Belgium, who will be speaking with us via video.

Excellencies, dear colleagues, and dear friends. We have just observed a minute of silence. But silence cannot be our response. We spend a great deal of time discussing Gaza and the West Bank in political terms. For a child, the following questions are much more immediate. Can I go to school? Can I see a doctor? Will my family still have a home next month? Am I safe tonight? These are very basic questions, and far too many Palestinian children still cannot count on the answer being yes. That is why Belgium, wanting to bring this call to action back to New York. We need children to remain part of the political conversation, also when international attention moves elsewhere. And we need to pay much more attention to what their lives actually look like. whether aid gets through, whether schools can function, whether medical care is available, whether families have somewhere safe to live. Belgium has been closely engaged with the Palestinian people for many years. In our development cooperation, we made a deliberate choice to invest in young people, in education, in training, and in opportunities for them to build a life. Our current bilateral program has youth empowerment, including education and employment, as one of its two main pillars. And that choice matters even more today because humanitarian assistance can help a child through today, but children also need it tomorrow. Losing years of school, growing up with repeated displacement, or living with the consequences of trauma cannot simply be repaired once the fighting ends. Since July, Belgium also chairs UNRWA's Advisory Commission. We take that responsibility seriously. We want to use it to keep donors, host countries and the agency talking to each other and to deal openly with questions of funding, reform and the conditions UNRWA needs to carry out its mandate. for many Palestinian children. That mandate is very concrete. It is a classroom, a health center, help for a family that has lost almost everything. And there is another point which should not require a long debate. The rules are there. International humanitarian law provides for the protection of civilians, including children. What matters is that those rules are respected in practice. So I hope we use this meeting to be very specific. Where is help still being blocked? What is missing? What can donors do it differently? And where are political decisions needed? Because for children, waiting has a cost of its own. I thank you.

Thank you very much. It's always difficult to take the floor after you, dear Aymen, with your... But I would like to start by sharing with you a conversation I had last week with Rama, a young Palestinian girl. Here is a small window of her life, please.

Welcome to my home. My house, it had an open area, so this is why a lot of rats come from there. The most difficult thing is when the night comes, when I just want to sleep, I was really afraid. My dream is to study in Harvard University and I really hope to complete it. And I want to be in the future an architect who designs useful buildings for my country. Today I'm going to show you my favorite place, it's Khentib Anet. Come on with me. It's difficult to just find a school that will accept you because all of the schools right now were full. Here in Gaza, it's really difficult to find a place you will be safe there. Someone listen to you and your friends. So actually, I'm really that happy to found this place. And this place, it's the girls' tent. It's a safe place. And I see all of my friends there. And actually, this place gives me a good energy.

If there is one wish that you can make today that it will come true, what it will be?

So I want to just be like any girl my age, just go to school. And when I just come back to school, learn what I study there. I'm really full of these things. And I miss it.

I understand your message that I will convey your message to the donors and to the member states of the European Union and other countries who support UNFPA. But I understand that the means are very, very large and important. I wish you all the best and to realize your dream. One thing that touched me in my conversation with Rama was the fact that she doesn't want anything special. If she had the same ambition to become an architect in Europe or in the United States, it would have been totally normal. But she lives in Gaza, and that makes the difference. That changed everything. As you have seen, the whole strip is destroyed. Nearly the entire population of Gaza is now squeezed into less than half of the strip, overcrowded and unsafe. For children, this is really heartbreaking. Too many are going without enough food, medicine, or shelter. Too many are out of school, denied the most basic thing a child needs, the chance to simply be a child, to grow, learn, and live in safety. Clean water is scarce. Sanitation is appalling. Families are living with rats. And winter is coming. We saw last year what winter does to families without a proper roof over their heads. We cannot let these children face another ice-cold winter of disease and displacement. And despite the ceasefire in October, children are still being killed, still being injured by airstrikes and other attacks. It has already been said, but it must be repeated loudly, angrily. By early August, at least 300 children were killed in the 300 days since the ceasefire was announced. One child for every single day. In the West Bank, the situation is also getting much worse. Military operations, demolitions, movement restrictions and settled violence that no one should accept. People are being cut off from water, from healthcare and from their jobs, and children are being cut off from school. The European Union and its Member States have stood with Palestinian children throughout this crisis. We have provided nearly 700 million euros in humanitarian assistance, much of that directly for children through education and mental health support. But money alone cannot open a closed crossing. Money alone cannot make a road safe for an aid convoy. And money alone cannot protect a child from a bomb. Humanitarian needs humanitarian access. And access takes courage, courageous political decisions. Our message to Israel is clear. Humanitarian aid must be allowed into Gaza, and it must reach people fast and without obstacles. And our message to all parties is equally clear. Respect international humanitarian law. Protect children. These are obligations. Now we need to turn our call into action. More food reaching hungry children, more medicine reaching hospitals, more safe shelter before winter hits, more children walking back into classrooms, and no parents burying their sons and daughters. That is how we will know if we have succeeded. Palestinian children do not need more sympathy. They need us to apply more pressure so more aid reaches their families. Our responsibility to Palestinian children is simple. Give them back what this war has taken. A safe, a normal childhood, a school, an education system strong enough to give the children of Gaza a future, and who knows, perhaps, even some architects, Gaza will certainly need them. Thank you.

We will now hear from Dr. Nahdine Ahmad, who just returned from a mission in Gaza on September 15, and she was working there as a pulmonary ICU specialist. Dr. Ahmad, the floor is yours.

Thank you, your excellencies. Can you hear me? Yeah. Thank you, your excellencies and colleagues, for the opportunity to speak. As was mentioned, I just returned from Gaza last week. This was my fifth deployment. This was my second since the ceasefire in October 2025. What I witnessed was worse than the last few visits, and that's a testament to the fact that there's so much not being let in and so much that we're not able to do. I come to you as a doctor, as a humanitarian, and as just a human. And what I want to tell you is what I witnessed. And the stories that you're going to hear, they're children that I met, whose hands I held. You hear the number 21,280 children, that that's the number of children that have been killed by Israeli attacks, while tens and thousands have life-altering injuries. This number doesn't tell the whole story. It doesn't tell the story about the deaths that are happening because of the intentional destruction of the healthcare system. It doesn't tell the story of the deaths that are happening because of pediatric specialists that have been imprisoned, like Dr. Husam Abu Safia, whose expertise is greatly needed on the ground. It doesn't tell the story about the children who are dying from preventable diseases and preventable situations because there are supplies sitting at the border, and because of political will, those supplies are not entering. When we talk about numbers, We are stripping the storytelling, we are stripping the identities, and we make it all too easy for people to ignore the human impact. And so today I'm going to tell you some stories about the children that I met. I want to tell you about Aya, the 11-year-old girl who I saw at Aqsa Hospital. She was still in her pajamas when she came in, and the pajamas had kittens on them. It's a detail I remember fixating on because it was such a clear visual representation of her innocence. She was sleeping in her tent when a bullet went through her head, and two days later she succumbed to her injuries. I want to tell you about Moaz, a 15-year-old boy who I met, who looks 10 years old due to severe stunting. He suffers from a congenital disease that has suppressed his immune system, and he has celiac disease, which is a digestive disorder for which you need special foods, which he never had access to in the entirety of this conflict. He is currently at Aqsa Hospital and has been for weeks because his bone marrow was affected by the disease that he has. He's getting transfused. every day. He's been on the wait list to be medically evacuated for six months. For six months. I am really worried every day that I hear updates from him. He is on the brink of death, and I worry he will not survive until evacuation. I want to tell you about Dawu, the four and a half year old boy who was shot in the head by a quadcopter. The bullet remained in his brain. The CT scan is an image I have on my phone. That image is so harrowing it should give you all nightmares. It certainly does for me. One day I noticed Dawoud was making a repetitive motion with his hand. I wasn't sure if it was reflexive or if he was scared and reaching out. So I put his tiny hand in mine and he grasped it, surprisingly, and he wouldn't let go. I was feeling his tiny, helpless hand in mine and all I could think was, what dreams did he have? What were his favorite toys? Is he feeling any of the pain that he's experiencing in this moment? I sure hope not. Two days later, I reentered the ICU and his bed was empty. 00 AM that morning with no family there. I want to tell you about Fadi, an 11-year-old boy who required a lower limb amputation after his injuries from an airstrike. There are no rehabilitation options for him. There are no prosthetics anywhere in Gaza. There are wheelchairs sitting at the border that are rejected along with other health supplies. For whatever reason, I could not tell you. And those health supplies are incredibly needed. I want to tell you about Iyad, a four-year-old boy with the most beautiful curly hair, who was playing alongside the road. Many of the tents that people live in are right next to the road. There are no safe spaces for children to play. He wasn't in school because there was no school to go to. And a car ran over Iyad, four-year-old boy. Front tire of the car ran over his tiny chest. He suffered severe injury to his lungs and due to chronic malnutrition, which continues to be a problem, and children are an inch away from falling back into severe acute malnutrition. But due to chronic malnutrition, he was susceptible to other complications. And sure enough, he developed severe pneumonia in both of his lungs. Because of his delayed improvement, he required a tracheostomy. This is a very standard procedure. It's a small tube. It's where we move the breathing tube from the mouth to the neck. He nearly died during this procedure because we didn't have pediatric sized tracheostomy that is incredibly unacceptable. Two days later, his heart stopped because his oxygen levels dropped because he had mucus in the lungs and we didn't have the right sized catheter to suction it out. One day later, his heart stopped again because the ventilator stopped working, a common problem in the ICUs across Gaza. As of this morning, Iyad remains alive, but I have no idea what state he will return to, and there are not nearly enough support in order to support his recovery. I want to tell you about Salma. She's a 12-year-old girl who witnessed her mother being shot in the head in front of her while they were at home one evening. By the way, their home was on the safe side of the yellow line. Anytime there are gunshots, tank fires, or airstrikes, which is happening on a daily basis, every single day, she worries and panics. And I spoke to her directly. She worries about her sole remaining parent. And lately, we're hearing stories about young people drinking pesticide and rat poison to commit suicide. I worry about Salma as I worry about all the other children who are carrying such heaviness. Lastly, I want to tell you about Fares. Fares' mother was pregnant with him, having difficulty gaining weight. Her blood counts were low due to malnutrition, limited access to antenatal care, and the inability to get the vitamins she needed during her pregnancy. She gave birth to Fares at seven months gestation, as many women in Gaza are giving birth early. which is truly a problem. Firas was born underweight and he was noted to have severely low oxygen levels. Turns out one of his heart valves was completely destroyed. This is a medical emergency that needs to be addressed within hours to a day at most when a child is born. Firas waited months on the evacuation list, months on the evacuation list, and unfortunately a few days back he died. As of September 17th, 136 patients were supposed to be evacuated. All of them approved to be evacuated, only 61 were allowed to cross. These stories that I witnessed highlight several issues. They highlight the fact that there's ongoing violence and that needs to stop. It's a ceasefire by name only. They highlight the fact that chronic malnutrition and acute malnutrition are constant. There's stunting of growth that I've seen in children. I've not seen one child who looks their stated age. It highlights the fact there's no specialized pediatric supplies at scale, and it highlights the fact that specialists like Dr. Hassam Abu Safia are imprisoned without charge and their expertise is greatly needed. But it increasingly highlights the fact that it's been almost a year since the ceasefire and things are worse, not better. Aya, Dawood, Iyad, Fares, Moaz, the more than 20,000 children that have been killed, and it's probably much more than that. They have names, they had dreams, they're not just numbers as the adults in the room. We really need to act, and we need to act now. Thank you again for your time.

Thank you, Ahmad. I give the floor now to Christian Saunders, Acting Commissioner General of UNRWA.

Thank you, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you in particular to Dr. Ahmed, for your service, and I fear that everything that I will say after that is going to come across as very banal and bureaucratic. Today's call to action is, at its heart, a call to safeguard the future of Palestinian children. The children of Gaza will carry the physical and psychological scars of the war for many years to come. They have lost precious time in education, time that cannot simply be restored. Many continue to live without the security of a home, reliable access to adequate nutrition, or the medical care that they need. In the West Bank, too many children continue to witness and experience violence and insecurity. Their education is repeatedly disrupted, and too many families live with the fear of displacement and the loss of their homes. Across the occupied Palestinian territory, UNRWA and our partner agencies continue to serve as a lifeline for these children and their families. In Gaza, the school year began just a few days ago, and we are supporting more than 300,000 children to continue their education through temporary learning centres and others online. We should, however, be clear that online learning is not a substitute for a classroom, nor can it be the answer to a generation's educational needs. Our shared objective must be to restore safe, stable and dignified learning environments for every child. We've also provided psychosocial support to more than half a million children, young people, and caregivers. And we continue to help families access primary health care, clean water, sanitation, and shelter, essentials that no child should have to live without. In the West Bank, more than 48,000 children have likewise begun a new school year in UNRWA schools. Displaced children from the closed camps in the north are being accommodated in other schools. At the same time, we're supporting affected families through cash assistance, livelihood support, and other essential services. Children must remain at the heart of our collective efforts in the occupied territory. Their rights, their dignity, and their future are not matters for tomorrow. They are responsibilities we bear today. But commitment alone is not enough. It must be matched with action. We must insist that there is sustained and meaningful humanitarian access. We must ensure that humanitarian organizations can reach those in need safely and effectively. And those with the greatest capacity to influence events must use that influence to advance meaningful political progress towards a future in which Palestinians, Israelis, and all the peoples of the region can live side by side in peace, security, and dignity. The measure of our collective resolve will be whether we can give Palestinian children more than our sympathy, whether we can give them the opportunity to learn, to heal, to grow, and ultimately to build a future defined not by war, but by hope and peace. That is the responsibility before us, and that is the action we must take. Thank you. Thank you.

I now invite Vanessa Fraser, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, for a special address.

Thank you. Distinguished Chairs, Excellencies, dear colleagues, I thank you for the opportunity to be with you today and to contribute to this important discussion about the situation of children in the occupied Palestinian territory. It is critical that we keep our collective and dedicated attention to on the plight of Palestinian children. the staggering levels of violence affecting them, and the denial of even their most fundamental rights. They have been through unimaginable violent experiences, have witnessed their parents, siblings, families, friends, communities, homes, schools, wiped away, sometimes in minutes. This certainly leaves traumas, nightmares, and scars for life. In the Gaza Strip, they now live in dire humanitarian conditions, threatening their well-being and healthy development, with their access to healthcare and education jeopardized. In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the protection environment for Palestinian children is deteriorating by the day as violence is on the rise to levels rarely seen before. I would like to recall that in 2025, as per the report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory was the situation with the highest number of grave violations against children verified by the United Nations, which represented a third of all violations verified globally in the 23 situations on the children and armed conflict agenda. Killing and maiming was one of the most prominent violations, with 5,646 Palestinian child casualties verified, a number that sadly represents only the tip of the iceberg, since, as of June 2026, almost 63,000 children have been reported as either killed or injured, for which verification by the UN continues. close to 90% of these child casualties were verified in the Gaza Strip, where the most incidents were caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas used by the Israeli armed and security forces, for which children suffer permanent and disabling injuries and incomensurable psychological distress. Meanwhile, a significant increase of child casualties was documented in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and an increasing number of incidents attributed to Israeli settlers. Denial of humanitarian access to and for children was another striking violation, with over 5,940 incidents, of which 70% were verified in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Those denials were multiform and related to impediments to access, attacks on humanitarian personnel, facilities or aid seekers, attacks on water and sanitation infrastructure, as well as denial of children's access to specialised medical treatment and obstruction to medical care of critically injured children. As we heard, Dr. Nahreen so eloquently described, and thank you for elevating these cases to us. The year 2025 also witnessed a substantial increase in the number of attacks on schools and hospitals, particularly in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as we just heard also, where the safe access of Palestinian children to schools and education is reducing rapidly. I would like to emphasize that we know that Palestinian children have also been suffering from violations committed by the Palestinian armed groups, for which some of these groups have been listed by the Secretary-General. Reports of such violations are difficult for the United Nations to verify, owing inter alia to lack of access or fear of reprisals by the community. Now, turning to 2026, we already witness concerning trends, particularly in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, where intensifying violence seriously affects the daily lives and protection of Palestinian children. We must reassert loudly and clearly that children are entitled to the special protections afforded by international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and that civilian objects, including schools and hospitals, must be protected. I would like to take this opportunity for commending you for raising the voices of children and the video testimonies we heard today, because you are humanizing the numbers we are talking about. I, myself, carry a dove which has a message from a child. We put these messages into the shape of an origami dove because in Japanese folklore, 1,000 origami doves grants a wish for peace. We have thousands of them. It's time to grant a wish for peace for Palestinian children. We owe it to the Palestinian children to stand beside them and for them. We have a collective responsibility to do our utmost to improve the dire conditions they live in, to address the multiple risks and threats they face daily so that they can grow, thrive, and more importantly, enjoy their childhood in a safe, protected, and dignified environment. We owe this to them. Thank you.

Director of the World Food Program.

Thank you, Madam Moderator, Excellencies, colleagues. I'm among the few that has the possibility to travel to Gaza, and I've done so frequently since the war started, speaking to my colleagues working there on the front lines, but also speaking to people across the Strip. to be able to bring their voices to meetings like these. And on my last visit to Gaza, it was clear to me that the children of Gaza aren't getting enough peace dividends of this so-called ceasefire. What I saw was that kids are still dragging jerry cans of water, struggling with bags of relief food on broken carts back to flimsy tents. where their families live, knowing that if they spill the food or if it gets stolen, their siblings, their parents, grandparents wouldn't be eating that day. But I also saw some light for Gaza's children, which I hope signals a brighter days ahead. Because thanks to UNRWA, UNICEF, and some NGOs, there are now temporary learning spaces up and running. bringing some normalcy to some 700,000 children who have been out of school since the war started. WFP is actively supporting this effort by providing nutritious snack to all these children in those temporary learning centers. And I had opportunity together with Ted a few months ago to visit some of these learning centers. And I must say, the dedication to education among the children of Gaza is just impressive. We often talk about school meals as being a way of bringing kids to school. Well, certainly that was not needed there. The queues lining up outside these temporary shelters were long. Everyone wanted to get back to school. And we met children who were delighted to be learning again, rediscovering the ability to dream about their future. A group of schoolgirls that we sat down with told us with great certainty that they would grow up to be doctors, to run their own businesses, and look after their families. So Gaza's children now deserve to return to normal life, to go to proper schools and every day, rather than these temporary learning centers that are hot, stifling tents that they can only attend on alternative days. But that will take a big change because there is a long road ahead to create full normalcy. Most children entirely depend on relief food handouts. Only one quarter eat some diverse or healthy diets on a daily basis because not enough commercial food is getting in. And the market prices are very high, and there is not enough on the markets to buy. WFP hot meals kitchens are filling some of that nutritious food gap, providing some 250,000 meals per day, but this is relatively small scale. The food security gains we have seen since the ceasefire demonstrate what we can do with humanitarian assistance. WFP has assisted almost the entire population every month since the ceasefire started. But these gains are very fragile because of funding constraints, we are now set to scale down to about half of that, being from October only able to reach some 1 million people in Gaza. And as always, unless this is addressed and reversed, it is the children that will be hit the hardest from these cuts. Delegates, as Minister Safadi pointed out, the situation on the West Bank is also extremely difficult. Food insecurity has doubled. during this war. Around 900,000 now struggle to put food on their tables, more than a quarter of the population on the West Bank. And this is in a land famous for its farm outputs. West Bank households are increasingly dependent on cheap, highly processed, and sugary foods, not nutritious, but affordable. With UNICEF, we are working to combat the deterioration in diet of the poorest households, we are together running a multi-layered program to support the first 8,000 days of life of the children in the West Bank. So, colleagues, Member States, today we really urge you to help us in this effort. First, to protect the marginal gains that have been made on food security in Gaza, ensuring that we have adequate funding to continue to deliver food and cash to all families in urgent need. Second, to sustain and scale up nutrition response in both Gaza and the West Bank. And third, to make a push, financial and political, for children beyond emergency, making nutrition, education, and child protection a core pillar of everything you do. Because investing in children is investing in Palestine's future. Investing in protecting children today is laying the path for a peaceful future, giving them prospects for decades to come. I thank you.

I now give the floor to Inger Ascheim, CEO of Save the Children International.

Thank you. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, thank you to the EU, Belgium and Jordan for convening us today. We meet again at a moment of profound crisis for Palestinian children and their futures. When we gathered last year, there was not yet a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. Children were living through daily attacks on their homes, tents, and schools. In just a few weeks, it will be one year since that agreement. Yet for children in Gaza, daily life remains defined by danger, displacement, and deprivation. Just last week, a previously bombed building collapsed in Gaza. My colleagues described rescuers searching through the rubble with their bare hands while restrictions on the entry of heavy machinery and rescue equipment hampered efforts to reach those trapped beneath it. It is a stark reminder that a ceasefire must deliver tangible improvements in children's lives, safety, humanitarian access, and the ability to rebuild a future. Today, I want to focus on one part of that future that receives nowhere near enough attention, education, which has been mentioned by some of my fellow panelists. For generations, education has been a cornerstone of Palestinian society. Yet, Palestinian children are now entering a fourth consecutive year of severely disrupted learning. In Gaza, nearly every school has been damaged or destroyed. Teachers and students have been killed or displaced, and hundreds of thousands of children have lost access to formal education. Think about what this means. A nine-year-old in Gaza has spent almost their entire primary school life without the stability of a normal classroom. And yet, when I meet children, when I talk to children, they tell me that they want to learn. They want to become doctors, teachers, engineers, architects, as we just heard. 13-year-old Amjad put it simply, "For me, school is not just math and Arabic. School is life." Across the West Bank, children face checkpoints, movement restrictions, settler violence, and other threats that disrupt their journeys to school. Some learn in classrooms under demolition orders. Others leave their home each morning unsure whether they will reach school safety. The loss of education today will shape opportunities and futures for years to come. Schools provide much more than learning. It offers protection, routine, friendship, hope, normalcy. They help children imagine a future beyond conflict. A year from now, we cannot meet again and describe another year of lost childhoods and lost learning. Palestinian children need safety. They need functioning schools. They need sustained investment in education. And above all, They need their rights, including their rights to learn, to be respected. Because education is not only about what children learn today, it is about the future that they are able to build tomorrow. And that is the measure against which progress needs to be judged. Thank you.

I give the floor to Alexandre de Greux, Administrator of UNDP.

Thank you. The future of hundreds and thousands of children are being destroyed just under our eyes. And I think that, Dr. Ahmed, you -- we can all talk about numbers, and you gave the examples of what is behind those numbers, what are the names, what are the lives behind those numbers. And listening to what you said, if this is what human civilization is like in 2026, none of us should rest. None of us who come here at the United Nations General Assembly and all the events around it, if we still believe in civilization, if we still believe in why the United Nations were created, I think in everything we do, in everything we stand for, in everything we call out for, we should be extremely clear this is unacceptable. Things like this should not happen in 2026 and definitely should not happen in environments which tries to call upon civilization. The level of inhumanity that, and Carol, you talked about going to Gaza, and I was there months ago as well. It is sheer inhumanity that we see happening under our eyes. And unfortunately, one priority is survival, is helping more children to survive, to have shelter, to have a ceasefire, which is a real ceasefire, which is obviously not the case. What is happening, what is happening today? We see so many children whose future is stolen because the children that survive, how many of them have lost parents, have lost friends, have seen destruction around them. Destruction is daily life in the lives that they live in, in Gaza. But next to survival, We must, at this moment, also already work on recovery. Futures cannot be stolen away. And working on recovery is very difficult in the circumstances in which organizations such as ours have to work. It means removing debris. Hundreds of thousands of tons of debris have been removed, but it's a fraction of what needs to happen. It's removing waste. We have been able to almost completely clean the main square of Gaza City. But that's just one very symbolic place. And the reason why it is so difficult, Carl, you talked about financing. Financing is crucial. But even more crucial than financing is just sheer access, just access. Endless discussions about dual use, discussions that we should not have. I think our organizations have proven that you are responsible, have proven that we know the difficult environment in which we work. The children with whom we work, they deserve better than just survival. And we cannot, unfortunately, undo what this war has taken from them. But what we can do is refuse that their future will be taken from them as well. Thank you.

Thank you very much, and thanks to our co-hosts for calling us once again to action in the face of continuing devastation for Palestinian children. Much has been said, and it's sometimes numbing to hear numbers over and over again, but the facts are so shocking in the case of the state of Palestine that they bear repetition. Dr. Ahmed spoke about many children that she met. and our team this week met. Return. Who had shrapnel in her head and an attack that killed her mother and her grandfather. She faces an uncertain recovery. Carrying trauma. No child should. Endure. In Gaza. Since the ceasefire. So this is since the ceasefire. One child on average has been killed every day. with a ceasefire in place. In the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the situation continues to deteriorate, and between January 2024 and mid-September of this year, 178 Palestinian children were verified as killed by the UN. That's a child killed every week. You heard the figure of over 22,000 children who have been reported killed in the state of Palestine since October 2023, with tens of thousands more suffering life-altering physical injuries and severe psychological harm. This time last year, when we were sitting in this room, Gaza faced famine. This was reversed as a ceasefire reached last October facilitated access for humanitarian and commercial supplies. This shows what can be done when blockades are lifted, humanitarian access is allowed, and we combine our humanitarian efforts with your diplomatic support. On September 19th, just a few days ago, the school year started in Gaza, bringing some hope after three years with no formal schooling. While UNICEF and partners are supporting over 450,000 children with some form of learning, we must aspire to children's full recovery in Gaza, offering hope beyond mere survival. And we also must do more in the West Bank. While more than 850,000 children returned to school this month, some 180,000 face daily barriers to accessing classrooms due to settler violence and movement restrictions. And so I leave you with three requests. First, we ask member states to do everything possible for all parties to respect international law and protect children from grave violations. Second, we call on Israel to ensure rapid, safe, and sustained humanitarian access and the flow of humanitarian and commercial supplies. This must include dual-use items that are critical to support recovery efforts, such as equipment to repair water, sanitation, and health facilities, and to prepare for the upcoming winter. We need to move decisively on recovery. And finally, our ultimate objective must be to turn the fragile ceasefire into a durable peace and stop the ongoing dispossession of Palestinians from their land. We need Member States to use your collective leverage to advance diplomatic solutions. We cannot let the devastation of these last three years continue to define the lives of Palestinian children. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Shaiban. And now I invite Mohammad Yahya, Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Thank you very much. First, thanks to Dr. Ahmed for that powerful testament of what you've seen. Children's biggest dreams should not be about survival. Lorna, the video we've seen, her friends should be thinking about school, about what they want to be when they grow up. And what we see today, it's something that is devastating. And your story, I think, brings reality to what's happening on the ground. Last year, the Emergency Relief Coordinator spoke here, and he feared that we will meet again to think about new words to describe the suffering of Palestinian children. Yet here we are. Palestinian children continue to live in fear. Not fear of their first day at school or difficult exams, but fear of bombs, fear of bullets, fear of being separated from families. The suffering of Palestinian children is not inevitable. We are not powerless. It's preventable. International law requires it, that dignity preserved, suffering minimized, Yet the stories you hear today and the stories you hear from Dr. Ahmed and others is that humanitarian efforts have been constrained, access limited and unpredictable. Restrictions on entry of essential materials persist. Critical actors, some of them here, UNRWA, INGOs working to protect children, face systematic obstacles that impede the very delivery of critical assistance. This year's humanitarian appeal remains 60% unfunded. The space available for families to seek continues to shrink. This preventable tragedy in Gaza also is now extending to the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The situation there is severely deteriorating. increased insecurity, demolitions, movement restrictions, subtle violence that is fragmenting communities and families. Just this year, an average of eight children have been displaced every day, which is twice the number of last three years. I won't repeat all the numbers, but it's worth remembering, and the CEO of Save the Children pointed out that this year, as children start a new school, it should represent a sense of stability and opportunity and hope. Instead, increasingly, it's shaped by disruption and uncertainty. Across the occupied Palestinian territories, humanitarian organizations remain on the ground and delivering in a very difficult situation. to provide drinking water, nutrition support, health protection, education assistance, and much more. We know these efforts are making a difference. We have seen some improvement on food security indicators, but more needs to be done. More than two years ago, the call to action set out what needed to happen. It asks, are not very ambitious or complicated. What does it ask for? Respect international law. Protect children. Ensure humanitarian access reaches whoever needs it. Allow them a chance to live, learn, and grow. Wouldn't we expect that for our own children? Yet in Gaza and in the West Bank, children are still denied those basic rights. Excellencies, I hope when we meet again, we're not searching for new words. to describe their suffering. Let's instead speak of schools reopened, homes rebuilt, rights respected, lives protected, and let's hope, finally, we will show the children of Palestine that the world did more than just talk and meet. It acted. Thank you.

Thank you. I would like to give the floor now to the permanent observer of the State of Palestine, Ambassador Riad Mansour.

Thank you, Madam Moderator. And also, the State of Palestine would like to express our gratitude to the organizers of this event, Belgium, Jordan, and the European Union. And also, we want to express our gratitude to those who spoke. from the humanitarians who are with us, providing our people for the basic minimum things to allow those who are still alive to continue being alive, whether it's UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNRWA, Save the Children, all of you. We are very grateful for what you do. And we cannot continue to survive without your noble, heroic assistance to the Palestinian people. And let me also begin by saying 22,000 children have been taken away from us as a result of this genocide. We will never forget and we will continue working, and I hope you will work with us, to go after those criminals who committed this genocide against them, to face justice, to render justice to their families, and to make them pay the price for committing such crimes and genocide against our people, so that when we say again Never again. It means that we don't want to see such a genocide committed against any group of children in any place under the sun. Those that we lost, we cannot bring them back. Our task today and as we move on is what we can do in order to save the 1 million children in Gaza who are still alive, and the one million plus in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, who are still alive. Are we just only going to provide them with the basic minimum so that their progress and evolution as children to be deformed, or are we going to do much more than that so that they can live like normal children with normal lives and without being deformed and scarred from the vicious things that happened to them and has happening to them today. His Majesty the King of Jordan spoke from the bottom of his heart when he said what we say normally Abide by international law, call it talking to Israel. Behave like a normal government. They're not listening to us. A radical transformation has taken place. So therefore, the answer has to be radical transformation of what we should do. We need action. We need implementations of steps, each and every one of us, every government, the international community, they can do more. They should do more. We appreciate the solidarity and support extended to our people and our children, but we must all do more. This is not a normal moment. We crossed that line. Therefore, we have to act in an abnormal way, above normal, if we want really to save the Palestinian people and to defeat the criminal plan of the Israeli government, which wants to erase the Palestinian people from existence and to deny our national rights. So therefore, we support what the Europeans are opening the beginning of the door of sanctions, not sending weapons to Israel to kill our people and to continue subjugating us. To do everything practical possible, let's open that door wide. Let's build on it. Let's make it so strong And I support my brother, Aiman, when he said in one of the meetings that we were together, we need to scare this Israeli criminal government to stop what they are doing. We are grateful to the UN and to the listing of Israel where it should be and all the things and to the brave doctors who go and serve our people in the Gaza Strip in spite of the difficulties that they face. But this moment is a historic moment. We cannot go back to the situation that existed before October 2023. We need to put an end to this illegal occupation. We need to live in freedom as Palestinian people. We don't want to continue living on charity. We are grateful to UNRWA that helped us to stand on our feet from the beginning of the Nakba. We don't need more UNRWA to keep us standing on our feet for another 100 years. We need to live in freedom. We are resilient people. We are brave people. We are people that all of you respect us, but we need to put an end to this occupation and to have freedom. The call now is a call for action, practical steps, whether Israel likes it or not, to put an end to what they are doing. And we need to put an end to the tragedy of the Palestinian people. I thank you very much.

Thank you, Ambassador. I now would like to invite to the floor Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia.

Organizers for this convening us here and two years ago we came together behind a call to action and for all of the reasons we have heard today that call remains critical the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is beyond anything that humanity can ever accept I don't others have in much more eloquent terms describe the reality of the tens of thousands of children killed or wounded and those that carry trauma. And of course, in the West Bank, the situation is worsening. In the first six months of this year alone, settler violence has driven more than 15,000 children from their homes, children who did not choose this conflict but who are paying its price. We reaffirm our commitment, our belief that every child should be able to grow up safely with a home, with food, with dignity. And that is true in Palestine as it is anywhere in the world. Colleagues, Australia will continue to be part of those, the international pressure for peace and for unrestricted humanitarian aid. And since October 23, we have committed more than $160 million in humanitarian assistance to support Palestinians in Gaza and Lebanon through partners like UNICEF. and we continue to direct much-needed aid to women and children in the West Bank. But as others have reminded us again and again, aid that cannot get through cannot save lives. So we again call on Israel to do what is right and to allow safe, unhindered aid access to Gaza at scale. Colleagues, we also cannot protect children in conflict zones if we do not protect the humanitarian workers trying to reach them. And today, Jordan and Australia are convening a meeting of signatories for the Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel. It now has 130 signatories, more than two thirds of the UN. We urge every country to join us to help drive practical action for humanitarian workers everywhere and for the children they serve. Thank you.

I now invite the Minister of State for International Cooperation of Qatar.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to begin by extending our sincerest appreciation to the co-organizers for convening today's timely event We value this opportunity to bring the urgent humanitarian situation and its devastating impact on the children of the West Bank and Gaza to the center of our discussion during this high-level week of the 81st session of the General Assembly. The State of Qatar reiterates its support to the call of action for the Palestinian children in the West Bank and Gaza, and we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to safeguard the rights and well-being of Palestinian children. The call to action outlines key action points. The call on parties for reaching an immediate ceasefire, the respect of international law and international humanitarian law and humanitarian law, an end to any grave violation against children, including killing and maiming. The situation in the West Bank and Gaza serves as a tragic example of how children continue to bear the heaviest burden on endure immense hardship, in conflict zones, as highlighted in the latest humanitarian situation report of OCHA. As the new academic year begins across the occupied Palestinian territory, children continue to face barriers to safe learning due to displacement, insecurity caused by airstrikes and other attacks, damaged facilities, and persistent access restrictions. The international community must continue its restlessness efforts to ensure accountability and take urgent action to protect children. The state of Qatar signed an agreement with the United Nations to deliver approximately 1.3 million liters of fuel to Gaza Strip as an urgent aimed as sustaining critical health services and essential humanitarian operation. The State of Qatar remains firmly committed to supporting children worldwide through various humanitarian and development initiatives aimed at providing essential services, including education, healthcare, and protection of vulnerable children. And outreach hub of the Office of the SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict, Doha, plays crucial role in promoting research, collaboration, and capacity building efforts to support protection of children in conflict zones. I'm here to reaffirm the state of Qatar's steadfast and supportive position towards the Palestinian cause and the rights of the brotherly Palestinian people, including their right to establish their independent state of the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as a capital in coordination, in accordance with the international legitimacy resolution and the two-state solutions. In closing, guided by our principles and long-standing commitment, the State of Qatar will continue to be at the forefront of international efforts to support the Palestinian people, including Palestinian children and children around the world. I thank you.

I now give the floor to the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

It's often said that it takes a village to raise a child, but when it comes to Palestinian children, it takes the world to protect them, and the world, we, are failing. And it's shameful to see a movie in which a kid is saying that she fears for her life every day, a kid who lives in the world's largest, most dangerous open-air prison. It's even more shameful since this is not about a natural disaster. It's because of Israel blocking aid, hindering humanitarian organizations, and doing everything it can to make life in Gaza as rotten as possible. And it's completely unacceptable. We should call it as it is. It's a disgrace. Israel has an obligation under international law to allow in aid unhindered and to allow organizations, humanitarian organizations, to do their work. And while I appreciate the moment of silence, we cannot be silent. We need to speak up and we need to adhere to the call to action. And the Dutch government has decided to do three things. We have national measures to ban products from Israeli settlements, and we're grateful to see other countries join us in that action. because the settlements must go. Secondly, we're calling for the suspension of the trade part of the association agreement between the EU and Israel. We do not yet have a majority, but we will keep on calling on this. But lastly, when it comes to these kids, sick and injured kids in Gaza who are deprived of aid, We're joining the initiative of King Abdullah II to try and get a thousand kids out of Gaza to medically evacuate them to Jordan. The Netherlands will try and take responsibility to at least 250 of them. And we hope other member states will follow suit. Because if we cannot get aid to Gaza, we must get the children to their treatment. Thank you very much.

Floor now to CEO and President of Oxfam, Abi Maxman.

Colleagues, thank you to Jordan, Belgium, and the European Union for again convening this vital group and call to action. As children in Gaza return to school, we're seeing attacks on children increase. Just on Monday, Reuters reported that Ismail al-Bardawil, was shot in the chest by Israeli forces who opened fire on tents in Al-Mawasi. He later died from his injuries at the hospital, and he was only 11 years old. This wasn't in 2023, 2024, or 2025. This was this week, almost one year after the October 2025 ceasefire was announced and Security Council Resolution 2803 was adopted. These agreements were supposed to mean that children could stop running from bombs, could go to school, play outside, sleep safely, and grow up with a future. They could access desperately needed aid now and grow up in a world where aid is no longer needed. And instead, they face bombardment, malnutrition, disease, unsafe water, and the loss of safe spaces and basic, dignified shelter. And now we're seeing these same dynamics spread across the West Bank, where children are increasingly subject to violence and forced displacement and denied access to education, health care and community. Oxfam and our partners remain almost completely restricted from bringing in aid. Israel has rejected our request to enter aid into Gaza while ending our Israeli registration, obstructing our ability to support Palestinian children. This event is one more reminder. Children are still being killed, deprived, and robbed of their childhoods. They are growing up amid destruction, hunger, forced displacement, and fear. Member states must take greater responsibility for the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and act collectively to effect real change. It is clear now that only concrete and coordinated measures can achieve this. And so our message to member states remain the same. Act now to protect Palestinian children and guarantee an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Ensure full, sustained, and unhindered humanitarian access. suspend arms transfers that risk violations of international law, safeguard humanitarian and civil society organizations. As we stated last year, these are not radical measures. They are the bare minimum needed to save Palestinian children. They are also legal and moral obligations as affirmed by resolutions, advisory opinions, and international humanitarian law. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Maxman. Now I give the floor to Norway's Minister of International Development.

Good afternoon, everyone. One year ago, on October 9th, I were in Rafah, and I heard the applause from the Palestinian children when the ceasefire and peace agreement was announced. Now, one year later, we are all disappointed. We are not where we thought we will be one year ago. We are now entering into a new cold winter, and a clear demand from the Norwegian government, together with other colleagues, is full humanitarian access. For the more than one million children living in Gaza, access to safe water remains uncertain from day-to-day. Norway have therefore today decided to provide an additional 2.5 million US dollars to support UNICEF's response to the acute water crisis in Gaza. Thanks also to those many that are mentioning what's happening in the West Bank. The situation in the West Bank is really having coming in the shadow of everything else that's happening in the world. In the West Bank, more than 200 children has been killed and thousands has been displaced from from their families since October 2023. Children live with fear from settler violence and and from from settler violence. Many children are left without proper access to education and to health care. Dear friends, we are talking about to rebuild Palestine after years and decades of wars and conflicts. We are talking about enormous amount of money. to yes, it will cost a lot. It will cost a lot to build up schools, houses, hospitals and so on. But that is the easy part. To rebuild Palestine is to also to rebuild the people and especially the children. More than 1 million children are living in Gaza. All of them is are traumatized. Excellencies, colleagues, the international community, we have failed to protect the children of Palestine. We all have the responsibility to support them, protect their rights, and help them rebuild their future. Every Palestinian and every Israeli child deserves to grow up in peace, security, and dignity. I therefore completely agree with what we heard from the Palestinian ambassador. The core message from us is that the occupation and the war must end. This is why Norway remains committed to a negotiated two-state solution This is the only path to a just and lasting peace for everyone. Thank you.

Floor back now to the Co-Chairs for closing remarks. Thank you.

Thank you so much. We're about 15 minutes late, and I understand that there's another event, and we have to vacate the room. So I just very, very briefly say thank you all. Thank you for your commitment. Thank you for standing on the right of justice. Thank you for standing for the right of Palestinian children to live in dignity. I want to thank all the humanitarians for the tremendous work that they're doing. I want to just echo my colleague from Australia, the importance of the initiative we're launching together for the protection of humanitarian personnel. I want to recognize the leading effort of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and others in among our partners who have taken action. Action is what's needed. Action is what we're here to hopefully do so that we create a better future for all of the region. So thank you all so much. I thank my colleagues, the EU, Belgium, and I hope we meet in better times next year. Thank you. Thank you so much.

How much is this?