Women and children are bearing the brunt in terms of deaths and injuries as Israeli troops battle Palestinian militants across the enclave, with nowhere safe to go, and aid distribution stymied by war, insufficient access and insufficient supplies crossing into the Strip.

Adele Khodr, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement on Saturday that Gaza was “the most dangerous place in the world to be a child…Entire neighbourhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them.”

Staff from the UN children’s agency report that close to one million children have now been forcibly displaced since the cycle of violence began on 7 October.

“They are now being pushed further and further south into tiny, overcrowded areas without water, food, or protection, putting them at increased risk of respiratory infections and waterborne disease”, warned Khodr.

“The restrictions and challenges being placed on the delivery of lifesaving aid going into and across the Gaza Strip are another death sentence for children,” she added.

She said the whole humanitarian system is buckling, particularly under the extreme strain caused by the measures imposed by Israel as it’s offensive continues.

“An immediate, long-lasting humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to end the killing and injuring of children”, she said.

On Friday (December 8, 2023), the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire, arguing that ending the fighting now would just leave Hamas in place, which is “a recipe for disaster”, according to the US Ambassador Robert Wood.