War has separated families in Gaza: you can put them on the Road to Recovery

Imagine being a parent in Gaza. Amid the chaos of the bombs and forced evacuations, you have been separated from your child. Now they are lost, wandering through a perilous landscape of rubble, hunger, and disease.

Picture your child shivering in a cold, wet tent, surrounded by strangers, without the love and care they need to survive. Thousands of children and parents who are trapped in these situations need urgent help today.

UNICEF is the only organisation in Gaza reuniting families, working non-stop since the war began.

By joining Gaza’s Road to Recovery, your support can help us reunite these children with their families.

After months of effort, UNICEF’s family tracing team were able to reunite Lama,11, and Sama,12, with their parents. “Mama,” they cried as they ran towards her, finally back in her loving arms.

You can help reunite children with their parents.

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In Gaza, the bombs have stopped, but families remain shattered

  • • An estimated 17,000 children have been separated from their parents. Tragically, some may already have died – there is no time to lose to save those who survived the war.
  • • Over 80% of health facilities are damaged or destroyed.
  • • More than 25,000 children were injured during the war, with 6,200 likely now disabled.
  • • 90% of young children are affected by infectious diseases.

These children need urgent, ongoing help now if they are to survive. More than anything, they need their parents.

Nour believed her worst nightmare had come true: that her daughters Suad and Sewar had been killed in an airstrike. But miraculously, the sisters had survived. Thanks to UNICEF’s tracing programme, they are now back with their mother.

Scared and vulnerable children in Gaza need their parents to keep them safe.

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A father’s first hug

Abdullah broke down in tears as he rushed to hold his baby for the first time. “This is the first time I hug you, hold you. You are my everything,” he said.

“Oh, my dear son, my love – this is the first time I’ve ever seen you in my life.”

These are the words of Abdullah, whose baby boy Mohammad was only 9-months-old when he held him for the first time.

Abdullah was separated from his pregnant wife and three children after they were forced to evacuate. Tragically, this was only the beginning of his nightmare.

His wife and one of his sons were later killed amid the devastating war.

His three children who survived – one a tiny infant he had never held – were now without their parents in a war zone.

But thankfully, UNICEF’s team on the ground was able to trace them and bring them back to their father.

Adbullah can now ensure his children are protected and cared for. But thousands of other parents are tragically still separated from their children. Many of them will likely be physically and emotionally traumatized, with 24,000 children in Gaza suffering horrific injuries during the war.

Your support can help these children recover – and reunite those who are tragically separated from their parents. Please donate today. 

How your support will help

   

Keeping families together:

Your support can help us provide identification wristbands to parents and caregivers, to write names and contact details so children can be identified if they are separated during the chaos in Gaza. And should this happen, UNICEF won’t stop working until we reunite them. Our family tracing service is complex, and needs ongoing support from people like you.

Restocking hospitals:

Your donation can restock hospitals with life-saving supplies like antibiotics, anesthesia, kits for new-borns, syringes, bandages and life-support machines, like the 50 incubators for new-borns UNICEF provided last year.

Cash transfers:

The long war has destroyed livelihoods. Families have lost breadwinners. Many have taken in nieces and nephews separated from their parents. These families need income support if they are to survive. So far, UNICEF has reach over 1 million people with cash transfers to buy essentials. Your support can help us reach more families with essential income to rebuild their lives.

 

 Together, we can help children in Gaza rediscover the love, care, and safety they deserve – and help them rebuild their lives and dreams.

Transform Children's Lives

Other Ways to Donate

You can make a donation by phone by calling 01 878 3000, from Monday to Friday between 9:00 – 5:30pm.

You can send your donation by post to

Freepost; UNICEF Ireland, 33 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin D01 R283.

In signing up to Gaza’s Road to Recovery, you’ll be setting up a monthly donation to UNICEF. During the first 6 months, your donation will go directly towards Gaza, in return you’ll receive monthly emails about how your gift is being used and the life-saving impact it is making for children.

After 6 months, your monthly gift will continue, and will go to where it’s needed most, helping children in crises around the world.

In the unlikely event that the funds raised exceed UNICEF’s funding requirements for this appeal, your donation will be directed to where the need is greatest.

Baby Yahya was born prematurely and required neo-natal medical care. He was evacuated when the war escalated – separating him from his parents. Through UNICEF supporters, his father was finally able to hold his son for the first time.

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Help protect children