An adult man and children standing amongst rubble with hands in the air

Gaza and the West Bank

Post ceasefire, War Child and our partners are rapidly scaling up our essential mental health care, education, and protection for children to tackle the humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories.

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War Child is currently rolling out our largest ever humanitarian response in Gaza and West Bank.

For decades, children in Gaza and West Bank including East Jerusalem have routinely faced violence, detention without trial, harassment and discrimination under Israel’s occupation. The devastating two-year war in Gaza has made the lives of Palestinian children indescribably worse.

An estimated 20,000 children have been killed, 42,011 injured and at least 21,000 children left permanently disabled. More than 17,000 others are estimated by the UN to be separated or left orphaned as parents and caregivers are killed, missing, or detained.  

For those who have survived the carnage, the situation is dire. In Gaza, the fragile ceasefire brings huge relief, but the challenges are immense.

4 children standing underneath rubble.

There is a man-made famine in parts of the territory putting children at risk of starvation. Families are falling sick from contaminated water because treatment infrastructure has been destroyed, and hospitals regularly run out of even the most basic supplies like painkillers, antibiotics and bandages. 

Fewer than 90 aid trucks are on average entering Gaza each day, far below the minimum of 600 trucks required under the ceasefire agreement.   

Children in Gaza have faced traumatic experiences every day. Almost every child now needs urgent mental health support, with many likely to require years of specialist care as they struggle with anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress. With education completely halted, it’s even harder for them to imagine a hopeful future. 

In the West Bank, children face daily challenges from movement restrictions, violence, and displacement. Checkpoint closures limit access to schools, healthcare, and other essential services, while home demolitions, settler violence and insecurity deeply affect their wellbeing, leaving many in urgent need of protection, stability, and emotional support. 

The current situation

  • 80 %

    of children in Gaza suffer from recurring nightmares

  • 17 K

    children separated from their parents or orphaned

  • 806 K

    children in the West Bank have had their education disrupted

I feel crushed… like I can’t breathe. It’s the things I’ve seen, the destruction, the loss, that keep piling up in my chest. My biggest hope is that we can live safely again. I want to go back to my home, even if it’s destroyed, just to be there. I miss my siblings who were killed. I wish I could talk to them again. More than anything, I just want them back.
Mohammed, 13, Gaza

How War Child and our partners bring safety and hope 

Mental Health

War Child provides counselling sessions for children and caregivers suffering from depression, trauma, and the deep psychological scars of war. We hold group sessions where children can speak, play, and begin to process their grief in safety. And when a child needs more specialised help, we connect them with specialist therapists who understand their experiences and their pain. 

In Gaza we are also working with our partners, other international organisations, and local teams to rebuild the child mental health systems, which collapsed under the weight of the conflict. 

Kids sat in two sets of rows with toys
War Child Alliance

Education

We are working with our local partners to expand our temporary learning spaces so that children can catch up on the vital lessons they have missed. These spaces were a lifeline for children during the conflict and play a vital role in helping us identify those children in the most serious risk and in greatest need of help.  

In these spaces teachers also receive training to understand and support children who have lived through trauma. Through War Child’s evidence-based programmes, teachers who have faced their own pain will be given the tools and emotional support they need to guide traumatised children with compassion and confidence.  

Children and teachers also receive bespoke literacy and numeracy materials and learning kits filled with pens, paper, whiteboards and other essentials that make learning possible.  

In Gaza, we also working alongside our Palestinian partners and communities to rebuild the education system from the ground up. We will be offering our expertise and support to make this happen as soon as possible. We are also working to ensure that children catch up on as much of the two years of teaching that they have missed.  

Two girls sat with books and pencils

Child Protection

The child protection system collapsed in Gaza due to the war, War Child, our partners and other agencies were the only remaining safety net. We are now prioritising rebuilding this system. 

War Child collaborate with communities to build systems that connect children and caregivers to the support they need, creating and strengthening community protection networks from the ground up. The work has been all the more vital as families have been displaced over and over again and now try to find a permanent home. 

Our child protection work includes equipping teachers, frontline works and community members with the skills to safely identify and refer children at risk to us or our trusted specialist partners.  

We also find and reach the highest at risk children first and ensure they receive specialised child protection, case management and psychological care.  

Working alongside our partners, we're expanding our play and recreational programmes. These are safe spaces where children can rediscover joy, and where staff can identify those who need deeper support. This can include one-on-one and group therapy, run by local professionals who understand the culture and context.  

We are supporting parents and caregivers, helping them process their own trauma and strengthen family resilience. 

Save Youth Future Society partner worker

Emergency Aid 

In Gaza, our local partners are ready to act immediately to deliver food, hygiene kits and the basic items families need to survive. They, like our War Child Gaza team, have been surviving this conflict alongside the communities we serve, and they know which communities and families are most in need.  

Our immediate focus is on those most at risk including separated and orphaned children, child-headed households and families caring for children with disabilities. Aid deliveries are still well below what is needed to end the famine and humanitarian crisis, and we are advocating for this desperately needed aid to be allowed in immediately. 

Humanitarian aid is the thread that keeps a child and their family alive. But it’s the psychological support, child protection and education that help them heal and rebuild their future. 

Save Youth Future Society partner distributing dignity kits to Mothers and children
Rebuilding the lives of a generation if children in Gaza and West Bank will take time - but we are not going anywhere.

Donate to War Child today and help us be there for every single child in Gaza, West Bank and around the world who is vulnerable, traumatised and in need of hope. With your support we will help them to process their trauma, find safety and regain the right to be a child again. 

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