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Gaza’s children hope for return to childhood during ceasefire: UNICEF
UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram says children in Gaza are “excited” following the ceasefire, as they believe it means they will be able to return to their lives.
“Children were jumping around, celebrating; a little girl hugged me and said, ‘Thank you’. I think that really is the sentiment. Take 13-year-old Maysara from Jabalia who we spoke to. He told us children like him were tired of war, they wanted to return ‘to live our childhood’,” Ingram told Al Jazeera from the al-Mawasi area in southern Gaza.
But Ingram said the scale-up of aid to the enclave during the ceasefire was “critical” to allow children to go back to school and receive proper nutrition.
“While the ceasefire does stop the killing and injuring of children, hopefully … what we also need to see is that aid coming in,” she said.
“So, yes, we are making preparations. We have more than 1,300 trucks prepositioned around the Gaza Strip, ready to come in with life-saving supplies for children, and as they enter, we will have more,” Ingram added.
‘If the US wants the war to end, it will end’
Mohamad Elmasry, of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, says the fact that Trump appears to be personally invested in ending Israel’s war on Gaza is a positive sign that the conflict may indeed end.
“What we’ve been saying for two years is that the United States holds all of the leverage. If they want the war to end, it will end,” Elmasry told Al Jazeera.
“If Trump is so personally invested and has already made a determination that this is the end of the war, and if he’s made it clear to Israel that this is the end of the war, then I think we’re going to get the end of the war,” he added.
Since Israel began its war on Gaza in October 2023, the US has provided its top ally with billions of dollars in military aid as well as unwavering diplomatic support. Both Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden, had rebuffed calls to curb that assistance.
