{"id":315468,"date":"2026-02-24T16:29:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=315468"},"modified":"2026-03-03T11:17:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:17:18","slug":"gazas-children-call-for-the-future-they-need-unicef","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/gazas-children-call-for-the-future-they-need-unicef\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaza\u2019s children call for the future they need – UNICEF"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A drawing shared by children in Gaza as part of the “Gaza We Want” initiative launched by UNICEF in February.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF Chief of Communication in the State of Palestine Jonathan Crickx \u2013 to whom quoted text may be attributed \u2013 at a press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva<\/em><\/p>\n

GENEVA\/JERUSALEM, 24 February 2026 – “<\/strong>For the past two years, Gaza\u2019s children have been spoken\u00a0about<\/em>\u00a0endlessly. Their deaths and injuries reported. Their suffering described.<\/p>\n

“But what has been less visible is something far simpler and incredibly important: their own voices. That is\u00a0why UNICEF launched \u201cThe Gaza We Want\u201d initiative.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0So today I can share not only what children across the Strip have endured, but also some of what they are asking for.<\/p>\n

“The Gaza We Want<\/em>\u00a0captures children\u2019s perspectives on recovery and reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, addressing a critical gap: what children in Gaza want for their own futures.<\/p>\n

“By documenting children\u2019s priorities and views, the initiative helps inform child-centered recovery, reconstruction, and policy planning, while reinforcing the importance of meaningful, ongoing child participation in decisions about Gaza\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

“With our partners, we engaged children aged 5 to 18 across all five governorates of Gaza, including children with disabilities. In total, 1,603 children completed a structured questionnaire, and at least 11,000 children participated through various creative activities, each one designed to be safe and voluntary. No child was asked to re-live violence.<\/p>\n

“They were asked to imagine dignity.<\/p>\n

“Children were invited to express themselves in the forms they prefer and use naturally: drawings of neighborhoods and parks, models made from rubble and recycled materials, poems, short stories and letters. They also participated through group murals, plays, and simple surveys supported by trained facilitators.<\/p>\n

“These drawings and poems are not symbolic. They are data and evidence expressed in crayons, cardboard, and courage. When thousands of children, across age groups and geography, independently draw\u00a0 very similar things \u2014 trees, schools, hospitals, clean streets, playgrounds \u2014 that is not coincidence.\u00a0 It is a direct appeal to the world. They want their childhoods back.<\/p>\n

“Three weeks ago in the Gaza Strip, I met Hala, a 15-year-old girl in a UNICEF Temporary Learning Centre in Deir El Balah. She told me: \u201cmissing school affected my learning a lot. Education matters for my future, so I dream of a safe life\u2014having a secure home, my own room, and a good school where I can learn and grow.<\/p>\n

“In one sentence, Hala summarized what I heard so many times in Gaza: children want a proper home, they want safety, and they want to be back on school benches. And all decision makers should hear their call and consider it the utmost priority. These are not extraordinary demands. They are the fundamentals of childhood.<\/p>\n

“Through the\u00a0Gaza We Want<\/em>\u00a0initiative, children are telling us not only\u00a0what they lost<\/em>, but\u00a0what must come next<\/em>. And\u00a0first comes shelter and safety. The children\u2019s deepest wish\u00a0<\/strong>is simply the ability to sleep through the night, to walk to school without fear. Yet since the start of the ceasefire, more than 135 children have been reported killed in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

“Second, children want real schools, not tents<\/strong>. Schools with proper walls and roofs. Schools where they feel safe. Schools with desks, toilets, running water, libraries, and playgrounds. Schools not as shelters hosting displaced families, but as places where childhood resumes. For Gaza\u2019s children, school represents normality, stability, and possibility.<\/p>\n

“Third, children described hospitals that are calm, clean, and safe.\u00a0<\/strong>Not\u00a0<\/strong>places that \u201csmell fear.\u201d, hospitals were children feel insecure. Again and again, they ask for mental health support alongside physical care. I met too many children whose bodies had healed but whose fear had not.<\/p>\n

Children know trauma does not end when the bombing stops.<\/p>\n

“Fourth, play is not a luxury.<\/strong>\u00a0Younger children, especially, are unequivocal: Parks. Beaches. Sports fields. Safe places to play. Play is how children reclaim what war stole from them.<\/p>\n

Children did not stop at just sharing their dreams and wishes. They also provided timelines and priorities to the adults leading on the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

“They told us:<\/p>\n