Call for Full Humanitarian Access and Accountability

Plan International Australia has expressed deep concern over the global community’s failure to protect the children of Gaza. This follows a United Nations report indicating that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed.

UN Report Highlights Targeting of Children

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, released findings that highlight the deliberate targeting of children. These actions have led to numerous injuries, displacement, and trauma among the young.

Plan International’s Global Humanitarian Director, Unni Krishnan, stated, “Children should never be targets. Behind every statistic is a child who should be learning, laughing, playing, and dreaming of their future.”

In Gaza, children grow up under constant threat, lacking access to basic necessities and living in fear. Plan International calls on all parties to adhere to International Humanitarian Law by protecting civilians and vital infrastructure like schools and hospitals.

Unni Krishnan emphasised, “The world’s failure to protect the children of Gaza is a stain on us all. There is never any justification for the killing of a child.”

The organisation urges the international community to ensure sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza. It stresses the importance of working towards a just and lasting peace in the region.

Krishnan added that children in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory are growing up under bombardment, in fear and uncertainty. They are without access to the most basic necessities, such as food and shelter.

The report from the UN Commission points out that countless more children have been injured, displaced, traumatised, and denied the safety every child deserves. No child should go to sleep hungry or fear that they will not survive the night.

Plan International calls for full accountability and insists that the international community must use every means available to ensure sustained, predictable, and unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza.

The focus remains on urging all parties involved to uphold their obligations under International Humanitarian Law, which includes the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure such as schools and hospitals.

Last updated: 29 June 2026, 11:46 am