Hopes that Emily Hand will be released during Gaza ceasefire
Unicef chief Catherine Russell told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that the Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place in the world to be a child'. Picture: Unicef
Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child, Unicef has warned, describing a four-day ceasefire to release up to 50 hostages as “far from enough”.
The first temporary ceasefire, in seven weeks of war in Gaza, comes into effect on Thursday, but Israel’s prime minister has already warned that the bombardment will resume to achieve “complete victory”.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas will free at least 50 women and children of the more than 240 hostages they took during the October 7 attacks on Israel.
It is hoped that nine-year-old Irish-Israeli girl Emily Hand will be among the hostages released by Hamas in the coming days.
In turn, Israel will release at least 150 Palestinian prisoners and allow up to 300 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
This comes after more than six weeks of heavy fighting and a crippling blockade of fuel, food, medicine, and other essentials.
There will be a halt to Israeli air strikes over southern Gaza for the four days, with air activity over northern Gaza restricted to six hours a day.
However, a coalition of aid agencies in the region has warned that the ceasefire left almost no time to provide effective humanitarian relief to Gaza’s 2.3m people.
The humanitarian agencies argued the only effective response would be a permanent end to the war and that it remained unclear if there would be sufficient access, particularly to the north of the strip, to allow anything beyond cursory relief.
Unicef executive director Catherine Russell said the Gaza Strip remained “the most dangerous place in the world to be a child”.
Ms Russell, addressing the UN Security Council, said that all children inside the territory were facing “what could soon become a catastrophic nutrition crisis”.
She said over 5,300 children have reportedly been killed in Gaza since October 7, accounting for 40% of the deaths.
Though the deal had raised hopes of a more durable cessation of hostilities, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday night to “complete the elimination of Hamas and ensure that there will be no new threat to the state of Israel from Gaza”.
“We are at war, and we will continue the war,” he said. “We will continue until we achieve all our goals.”
Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant emphasised that “immediately after we have exhausted this phase”, military operations would “continue in full force”.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has warned that the Israeli government is no longer listening to the international community, including the United States.
“Sadly, the Israeli government doesn’t listen to us," Mr Varadkar said.
"They are, as president Biden said, at risk of being blinded by rage."
Mr Varadkar was responding to Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns, who told the Dáil that Israel should not be congratulated for doing the “bare minimum” to ensure millions of people in Gaza have water to drink.
Members of the opposition strongly condemned the actions of Israel, which were described as “genocide” in the Dáil.
The Government, meanwhile, won a vote on a countermotion in the Dáil on Wednesday night after People Before Profit had tabled a motion calling for sanctions on Israel and for Shannon Airport to be closed to the US military.
- Additional reporting by The Guardian
