Gaza’s children have been torn from their parents
Help reunite them and put them on the Road to Recovery

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

Thousands of parents have no idea where their children are. Their sons and daughters – some just babies and toddlers – are lost in a war-torn wasteland.

UNICEF estimates that 17,000 children have been separated from their parents. Tragically, some may now be among the 14,500 children killed since 2023.

Imagine being one of Gaza’s parents. A bomb destroys your home. You wake up in a hospital, injured – only to realise your children are missing. Now they are lost, wandering a 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.

Without their parents care, these children face immediate risks of malnutrition, injury, and disease.

We will not stop searching

UNICEF is the only organization facilitating family reunification in Gaza.

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

We have been working non-stop since the war began. We have the experience to save these children and we won’t stop searching until we find their parents. But this critical work can only continue with your support.

Right now, thousands of children in Gaza are frightened and alone. Many are forced to drink unsafe, contaminated water just to survive. They need their parents now.

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

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

Help find lost children

 

A miraculous reunion

“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 was only 9-months-old when he met him for the first time.

Abdullah was torn from his pregnant wife and three children after they were forced to evacuate to the south of Gaza amid heavy bombardment.

Tragically, the fear and suffering caused by this painful separation was only the beginning of his nightmare.

His wife and one of his sons were killed before he could find them.

His two sons who survived – one a tiny, fragile infant he had never held – were now alone in a war zone without their parents.

But thankfully, he had the support of UNICEF’s amazing donors.

Our reunification programme was able to track them down and Abdullah was finally able to comfort his remaining family.

He 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.

Thousands more parents like Abdullah desperately miss their children. And thousands of children need their parents back now. Your support can reunite them.


Lost, injured children need urgent care – help restock hospitals today

While the fighting in Gaza has stopped, thousands of children remain seriously injured, and many more face deadly diseases from contaminated water and squalid conditions.

Children separated from their parents are at the greatest risk, with no one to protect or care for them.

Your support can provide urgent medical care for these children by restocking hospitals with life-saving supplies like antibiotics, anesthesia, and life-support machines.

And your help can also provide essential cash transfers so they can recover once they are back into the loving arms of their parents.

The long war has destroyed livelihoods, and families have lost breadwinners or taken in nieces and nephews – the only way they will survive is through the help of cash transfers to buy essentials.

Even a small donation can transform the lives of children – children like Lama, 11, and Sama, 12.

These young sisters were left terrified and alone after a bombing separated them from their parents.

But thanks to UNICEF’s reunification program, they were joyfully reunited with their mother. “Mama!” they cried as they hugged her tightly after months apart.

Right now, you can help create more moments like this. Your support can reunite injured children living through hell without their parents and put them on their road to recovery.

Nour was devastated when she was told her two daughters, Suad, 12, and Sewar, 10, had been killed in an airstrike with their father.

She lived in the south, and her children in the north. Her worst fears since the war began had been realised – her children had died and she was not there to save them.

But miraculously, Suad and Sewar had survived.

Sewar, despite injury, rescued her sister, guiding the fire department to where Suad had been trapped under rubble for over two hours.

The children required urgent medical care and thankfully survived the attack.

When Nour discovered her daughters were still alive, she reached out to UNICEF and we were able to bring them back together.

Thousands of more lost and injured children need urgent medical care now. They need the love and support of their parents.

You can provide it today.



Why your support matters today

   

Reuniting families:

Thousands of children have been wrenched from the safety and love of their families. Your support can allow us to provide community-based alternative care for separated children and fund family-tracking services to help reunite children with their parents.

Restocking hospitals:

Healthcare in Gaza has been under such intense bombardment that only 17 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals function, and these only partially. Your donation can restock hospitals with medicine and supplies, like the 50 incubators for new-borns UNICEF provided last year.

Providing medicine and supplies:

Gaza is facing a severe shortage of medical supplies, threatening children’s lives. With your help we can provide antibiotics, kits for new-borns, syringes and bandages – essential, life-saving support.

Donate today

 

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 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.

Help protect children