Children in Gaza need urgent psychological support, UNICEF says

Children in Gaza are in need of immediate psychological and educational support amid Israel's war on the enclave, the UN's children's agency has said.

UNICEF spokesperson Kazem Abu Khalaf was quoted by Palestinian news agency Wafa as saying children in Gaza were suffering from severe psychological damage, as well as fear and anxiety from the war.

Most of Gaza's population of 2.3 million, around half of whom are children, have endured multiple rounds of forced displacement since the start of the war in October.

According to UNICEF's appeal on its website, 500,000 children were already identified as needing mental health and psychological support prior to October.

Gaza's 625,000 students have not had safe access to education since the start of the latest Israeli onslaught, with UNICEF estimating that 90 percent of all schools are being used as shelters and two-thirds will need full reconstruction or repairs to be functional again. Until July 6, Israel had directly or indirectly bombed 564 schools in Gaza, according to the UN agency.

It added that emergency learning and awareness sessions reached more than 240,000 students and teachers, with Khalaf saying that the organisation had set up large tents in displaced camps for the sessions.

These however have been disrupted by Israel's continued assault which has seen the military re-enter parts of Gaza that have previously been subject to offensives.

UNICEF is calling for a humanitarian ceasefire to end the war which has killed 14,000 children. It is also calling for an end to violations against children and protection for children and families unable or unwilling to follow Israeli evacuation orders.

Israel's war on Gaza, which has been ongoing since October, has killed 40,139 people and injured a further 92,743, causing a humanitarian catastrophe and leaving much of the enclave in rubble.