By IPS Correspondent
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 8 2024 – Since October 2023, 625,000 children enrolled in schools across Gaza have had no access to education, and more than 370 schools have sustained damage from attacks, according to the United Nations.

Now, in support of efforts to provide girls and boys with access to quality educational opportunities and mental health services, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) announced today a USD 2 million First Emergency Response Grant in Gaza.

“2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza are in the midst of an epic humanitarian catastrophe, facing inhumane conditions. There is unprecedented violence in modern times, starvation, famine and disease. Desperation and scarcity have led to a total breakdown of the lives of children and adolescents,” Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait, the Global Fund for Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises within the United Nations, said when announcing the fast-acting 12-month grant.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which aims to improve learning conditions for children and adolescents in Gaza, will deliver the grant through its ongoing Better Learning Programme in Palestine.

“Today, we are calling on world leaders to support diplomatic efforts to ensure the unconditional release of all hostages now, create a lasting ceasefire, provide safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid, ensure full adherence to international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict, and a realization of a political and peaceful solution,” Sherif said.

Jan Egeland, the NRC’s Secretary General, committed the council to supporting the children of Gaza.

“The children of Gaza continue to face unimaginable horrors. It has taken an appalling toll on young people, many of whom have lived through numerous previous conflicts, leaving many thousands dead, injured and orphaned. This grant from ECW will enable the first steps in restoring mental health and learning services. But it represents a drop in an ocean of needs in Gaza. The children and young people who have suffered during this unprecedented conflict must not be forgotten—they will need sustained support for years to come, and NRC will do all it can to provide this. We call on funders to prioritize children in Gaza in order to protect their futures,” Egeland said.

The grant brings ECW funding in the State of Palestine to approximately USD 36 million.

Even before the start of the recent unprecedented hostilities, an estimated 800,000 children in Gaza—three-quarters of its entire child population—had already been identified as needing mental health and psychosocial support, ECW said in a press statement.

“By investing in a minimum continuation of learning and mental health and psychosocial support for the children and adolescents of Gaza, we are trying to do what we possibly can to mitigate their suffering and bring whatever hope we can to these young people,” Sherif added.

United Nations reports indicate that grave human rights and humanitarian law violations against children are rampant in Gaza. Hundreds of girls and boys are reportedly being killed or injured every day. “Right now, the Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child,” according to UNICEF.

The grant brings the total ECW funding in the State of Palestine to approximately USD 36 million, including a USD 10 million First Emergency Response Grant.

ECW has provided continuous funding for education in the State of Palestine since 2019.

ECW joined United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in calling on donors to scale up funding to meet the critical needs of 3.1 million people across the State of Palestine. We must bridge the funding gap to secure the needed USD3.42 billion.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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