UNRWA plays a crucial role in delivering essential services like education and healthcare: UK statement at the UN Security Council
Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki, UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on Children in Gaza.
First, following the terror attacks of 7 October and 15 months of appalling conflict, we stand with Palestinians and Israelis in relief and hope that the ceasefire and hostage release deal can bring lasting peace.
The children of Gaza did not choose this war, yet they have paid the ultimate price.
A third of identified bodies are children.
At least 25,000 children are thought to have also sustained injuries. And in the last four months of 2024, nearly 19,000 children were hospitalised with acute malnutrition.
Gaza has become the deadliest place in the world to be a child.
The psychological scars of fear, pain and deprivation are clear.
Nearly half the Palestinian children surveyed by one NGO in late 2024 expressed a desire to die.
That is a truly shocking statistic. We must ensure that the needs of children are front and centre of efforts to rebuild in Gaza.
As this Council heard in September from Dr Harlev of the Schneider Children’s Medical Center, the events of 7 October also exacted a dreadful toll on Israeli children, who were killed, gravely injured and abducted.
Some of whom have still not returned to their loved ones.
It is unimaginably cruel of Hamas to take children hostage, and still to be holding them a full fifteen months later.
They must be released.
Second, President, we welcome news that aid is now flowing in at scale.
And as USG Fletcher said, this must continue. Humanitarian actors must be allowed safe and unfettered access throughout Gaza, including the north and alongside this we need to see a massive increase in commercial delivery.
The rollout of the polio vaccine to children in Gaza last year was an example of what can be achieved when there is political will.
We urge the parties to enter this new phase in that same spirit and to prioritise those in desperate need.
The ceasefire deal should be an opportunity to get more, not less, aid in.
And for this reason, my Foreign Secretary has urged Israel to ensure UNRWA can continue its lifesaving operations and give the fragile ceasefire the best chance of success.
Finally, the conflict has meant that the 1.1 million children of Gaza have been out of school for over 15 months.
We cannot allow a generation of Palestinians to be deprived of education and their right to a better future.
To do so risks further suffering and a continued cycle of violence.
This is in neither Palestinian nor Israeli interests.
Once again, UNRWA plays a crucial role here. We must ensure its delivery of essential services such as education and healthcare can continue until such time as a Palestinian state can take over these functions.
President, in conclusion, this Council has a clear Children and Armed Conflict mandate to ensure that we protect children from the scourge of war and violence, wherever that may be.
And yet grave violations against children are at an all-time high. We must do much more to reverse this appalling trajectory.
We call on all parties to adopt and implement concrete and time bound action plans to end and prevent grave violations against children.
The UK will do all we can to turn the current ceasefire in Gaza into a lasting peace based on a two-state solution, where Palestinian and Israeli children alike, can enjoy a safe and prosperous future.