Children in Gaza are trapped, with no safe place to go
The majority of Gaza’s displaced population—more than 1.3 million people, including more than 610,000 children—are now crammed into an area of just 24 square miles, less than a fifth of the total land mass of Gaza. There is nowhere left to flee as Israeli attacks on Rafah, already one of the most densely populated areas in the world, intensify.
Overcrowding in shelters, a near-total collapse of basic sanitation and health facilities, a lack of medicine and medical supplies, the rising number of unburied bodies, and a scarcity of clean water is creating the perfect storm for major disease outbreaks and preventable illnesses to start also taking the lives of children.
Cases of upper respiratory infections, diarrhea, skin diseases, jaundice and meningitis are on the rise. Without sufficient vaccinations for newborns, children are exposed to the risks of severe cold, malnutrition and respiratory and skin diseases.