How to Help Children in Gaza: What They Need and What Works

The most effective way to help children in Gaza from outside is to fund organizations that are already working there, so that money becomes food, clean water, health care, learning and psychosocial support close to where children are living. If you cannot give, you can still raise funds, share reliable information and press for humanitarian access.

This guide sets out what children in Gaza need according to the latest UN figures, which kinds of help reach them, and how to check an appeal before you give. The figures are dated, because the situation keeps changing.

What children in Gaza are facing

UNICEF's appeal for the State of Palestine, revised in September 2026, reports that at least 21,700 children had been reported killed in Gaza as of 30 June 2026 and 45,000 injured, more than 11,000 of them with life-altering injuries. It counts at least 1.3 million displaced people, 658,000 children out of school, 97.5% of schools damaged or destroyed, about 1 million children in need of psychosocial support and an acute threat of malnutrition for 74,200 children.

The ceasefire that began on 10 October 2025 did not end the danger. UNICEF's mid-year report says 277 children were reported killed between that date and 30 June 2026. UN OCHA's report of 4 September 2026 recorded seven more children reportedly killed between 23 August and 2 September.

Behind each number is an ordinary need: enough to eat, safe water, a doctor, a classroom and an adult with time to listen. The sections below take them in turn.

Food and nutrition

Young children are harmed first and worst by a poor diet. In its 4 September 2026 report, OCHA said that more varied food, such as fresh vegetables, fruit, dairy and other animal protein, needs to enter Gaza to protect children and pregnant and breastfeeding women. The same report noted that a strike near a warehouse in Deir al Balah damaged UNICEF nutrition supplies intended for more than 40,500 children.

Help here means food parcels and hot meals for families, and specialist nutrition treatment for children who are already malnourished, which is delivered by health agencies. Our pages on Gaza food aid and malnutrition in Gaza explain both.

Clean water and hygiene

OCHA reported on 4 September 2026 that 91% of assessed households in Gaza were experiencing moderate to high water insecurity, and that more than 150,000 cubic meters of untreated wastewater were being discharged into the environment each day. Children pay for this in diarrhea and skin infections; the same report noted rising cases of impetigo, a contagious skin infection that mainly affects infants and young children.

Water trucking, repairs to wells and desalination units, and hygiene items such as soap all reduce illness among children. See Gaza water aid for how this works.

Health care and medical evacuation

Children with injuries, chronic conditions or severe malnutrition need working clinics, medicines and, for some, treatment outside Gaza. OCHA reported that 444 patients were medically evacuated in August 2026, a small number set against the need.

Funding medical supplies and mobile clinics helps the far larger number of children who will be treated inside Gaza. More detail is on our pages about Gaza's hospitals and medical evacuations, and you can give to the medical aid appeal.

School and learning

With almost all school buildings damaged or destroyed, learning now happens mostly in temporary spaces. OCHA counted 359 temporary learning spaces across Gaza in early September 2026, and UNICEF reported reaching more than 265,000 children through 173 learning centers in the first half of the year. That still leaves hundreds of thousands of children without regular lessons.

A learning space gives a child more than lessons. It offers routine, friends, a safe adult and a route to other services. Support for teachers, school supplies and tents or repaired rooms is among the most useful help for children who have missed years of school. Our education campaign funds this kind of work.

Protection and mental health

UNICEF's mid-year report says nearly nine in ten children consulted said they need psychosocial support. Psychosocial support means structured play, counseling, safe spaces and help for parents and caregivers, so that children can begin to recover from fear and loss.

Children have also said what they want. In UNICEF's The Gaza We Want consultation, published in early 2026, 1,603 children answered a questionnaire and at least 11,000 took part through drawing, writing and storytelling. Their top priorities were housing, education, safety, health care and psychological support.

Some children have lost one or both parents. Their situation needs long-term, case-by-case support, which we cover separately in how to help orphans in Gaza.

How to help Gaza children: practical steps

In rough order of impact:

• Give money, not goods. Shipping clothes or toys is slow and costly, and space on trucks entering Gaza is limited. Cash lets teams buy what is needed and available.
• Give regularly if you can. A small monthly gift lets a program plan for a child's whole school year, not just one distribution.
• Give flexibly. Unrestricted gifts let teams move money to whatever is most urgent that month, whether water, food or winter clothing.
• Fundraise. A school, mosque, church, workplace or sports club can raise far more together than one person can alone.
• Share dated, sourced information from UNICEF, OCHA, WHO and UNRWA, and be careful with images of children. Do not repost a child's face or name from an unverified appeal.
• Write to your elected representatives about humanitarian access and funding for children's services.
• If you cannot give, our guide to helping Gaza without money has more ideas.

Check an appeal before you give

Appeals that use children's faces draw the most donations and, for the same reason, the most fraud. Before you give to any organization, including us, look for a few things: who runs it, how money reaches Gaza, whether it reports with dates and specifics, and whether it shows children with dignity and without putting them at risk.

Be wary of direct messages asking you to send money to an individual for a named child. Our guide to donating to Gaza safely lists the checks in full.

What your gift does through Fight for Palestine

Fight for Palestine funds emergency aid in Gaza through local partner teams: food parcels and hot meals, clean water, medical aid, shelter and winter items, and education and child support. A gift to the Emergency Gaza Appeal goes wherever need is greatest, and you can give on the donate page.