Latest news with #RosaliaBollen
Al Arabiya
3 days ago
- General
- Al Arabiya
Inside Gaza: 16,500 children killed, thousands more maimed
UNICEF's Rosalia Bollen gives a harrowing, firsthand account of the suffering children face in Gaza. In this deeply moving conversation with Riz Khan, she describes children mutilated by airstrikes, starving in tents, and dying due to the collapse of Gaza's healthcare system. From a blind five-year-old boy who says, 'My eyes went to heaven before I did,' to the staggering death toll, over 16,500 children killed, Bollen shares powerful, on-the-ground testimony from one of the world's most urgent humanitarian crises. Topics covered: Children living under constant bombardment, Starvation and famine-level malnutrition, Gaza's healthcare collapse and child mortality, The human cost behind the statistics, And why cynicism is not an option.
Khaleej Times
18-03-2025
- Health
- Khaleej Times
Unicef says 'deeply worried' for Gaza children as Israel resumes strikes
An intense wave of Israeli strikes on Tuesday prompted deep concern for the more than one million children in the Gaza Strip who "are bearing the brunt of this war", a Unicef spokeswoman said. "We are deeply, deeply worried. Children's lives are at risk in so many ways," Rosalia Bollen, a spokeswoman for the United Nations children's fund, told AFP after "a really tough and frightening night for all of us" in Gaza. The overnight strikes were by far the deadliest since a truce took effect in January, largely halting more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas. "There are over one million children in Gaza, and they are bearing the brunt of this war," said Bollen from Al Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip. The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said the strikes killed more than 400 people and separately reported 174 children killed. According to initial data collected by Unicef, they include "dozens and dozens of children, with many more children wounded", said Bollen. AFP correspondents saw children's bodies retrieved from bombarded buildings while the injured were taken to hospitals. Medical facilities "have already been decimated" by the war, Bollen said, noting severe shortages of antibiotics and other key supplies. "They may not be able to provide the care that severely injured children need... they are overwhelmed." Israel has blocked the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza since March 2, describing the move as a bid to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages. Unicef was able to bring in some food supplies since a truce went into effect on January 19 but far from enough, Bollen said. "Children are worn out physically and mentally," she said. "In the past six months, the children I've spoken to have told me how afraid they were of dying. They were very afraid their parents or siblings might die." Some have been sleeping in makeshift tents or on the ground "in very dire conditions" and "many children have fallen ill", added the spokeswoman. According to the United Nations, the vast majority of Gaza's 2.4 million people have been displaced by the war, with children often staying for many months in makeshift shelters. The war has created dire humanitarian conditions, triggering the first outbreak in Gaza in more than 20 years of polio, which mainly affects children, despite vaccination campaigns.
The National
05-03-2025
- Health
- The National
Gaza aid stockpiles run dry after Israel's ban on assistance, UN says
Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza Humanitarian needs on the ground in Gaza have been "staggering" that trickling aid into the enclave has not been enough to build a reserve, the UN agency for children (UNICEF) said, following Israel's ban on the entry of assistance. "We distributed them as soon as we could so we don't have important stocks in our warehouses. The needs in Gaza are just staggering," UNICEF communications specialist Rosalia Bollen told The National. This in turn will have a "devastating and immediate impact" on families who had been relying on aid for their most basic needs during the harsh winter season, including tarpaulins to make tents, clothes, hygiene kits which include shampoo, sanitary pads and food parcels. Israel's ban on supplies like baby food and high-protein biscuits will have a significant impact on children, compounding the issue of not receiving proper nutrition during the 15-month Israeli bombardment of the tiny enclave, Ms Bollen highlighted, who has been in the Strip since October last year. While UNICEF's aid into Gaza had gone up by three fold during the first phase of the ceasefire which began on January 19, agencies have not been able to undo the damage that befell the Strip in six weeks. "There is a perception that things are better in Gaza during a ceasefire but the reality is that the humanitarian crisis continues due to the extent of devastation and collapse of services." Israel blocked aid after attempting an extension of the first phase of the ceasefire deal, instead of moving onto the second phase as was initially stipulated in the agreement. Global condemnation poured in against Israel's aid blockade, with Amnesty International calling it a "crime against humanity", accusing Israel of weaponising aid. Ms Bollen says that the recent deaths of babies by hypothermia, as caravans and tents were kept outside the Rafah border crossing with Egypt ready for entry into Gaza, is the "strongest reminder" of the needs that have yet to be met. "The over one million children in Gaza did not start the war and absolutely don't have the power to end it or change anything about their situation," Ms Bollen said. Children sleep on mattresses that get wet from rain that seeps into their tents, the UN official said. Many don't have adequate clothing and go barefoot through the dirt, through sewage, and on rubble causing them injuries, Ms Bollen added. "They are robbed of their childhoods and their rights have been violated in all possible ways." On Tuesday, Israel's foreign minister indicated a readiness to move onto phase two of the ceasefire agreement, as was originally agreed, as long as Hamas cedes military control of Gaza - a move that Hamas has long-refused. This comes as Arab states and the UN gave their backing to an Egyptian plan for rebuilding Gaza at an emergency Arab League summit in Cairo on Tuesday while also calling for a long-term solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
