Gaza Strip - Recent A United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson has underscored the urgent necessity for reconstruction work in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and highlighted the fragile state of mental health among people in the Gaza Strip, particularly children, who have endured 15 months of intense bombardment. Tess Ingram, a communications manager for UNICEF in the Middle East and North Africa region, said the agency has significantly increased its aid delivery in the first week of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, with around 350 truckloads of aid specifically for children heading into the enclave, a significant increase from the previous month when the entire UN was averaging just 50 trucks a day for all aid. The essential aid includes a variety of supplies for children, such as nutrition supplies, vaccines, winter clothes, and tarpaulins for shelter, Ingram said. In addition, UNICEF has supplied materials to rebuild and restart water and sanitation systems as it looks to address the critical clean water shortage in Gaza, she said. The long-awaited ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel took effect on Jan. 19, with the six-week-long first phase of the agreement seeing the withdrawal of troops, the release of hostages, and allowing for the safe passage of humanitarian aid to reach war-torn Gaza. Ingram highlighted the importance of maintaining the ceasefire once this initial phase ends, urging the international community to ensure all parties adhere to it. She also underscored the harrowing psychological impact that the long-running conflict has had, particularly for children who have endured 15 months of bombardment since the conflict erupted in October 2023. She noted that UNICEF has stressed the need for appropriate mental health care for children to address the trauma of war, handle the issues associated with displacement, and face the other ongoing challenges. Ingram also noted how many children had hoped for something of a return to normalcy now that the ceasefire is in effect, but many have been left distraught by the harsh reality of returning to Gaza only to find their former homes left in ruin. Shotlist: Central Gaza Strip - Recent: 1. Various of destroyed buildings, people at outdoor market; Gaza Strip - Jan 30, 2025 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Tess Ingram, Communication Manager, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF): "One of the things that I've consistently heard here in Gaza City is that access to water is really difficult. People are having to walk quite a long way to find a water point and then the water is not always necessarily safe water. So what we're trying to do is bring in cement and pipes to rebuild the water systems that have been damaged by the bombs, and also fuel to run generators and pumps to get that water flowing again."; FILE: Gaza City, Gaza Strip - Oct 29, 2024 3. Various of residents collecting clean water, carrying water home; Rafah, Gaza Strip - Jan 19, 2025 4. Aerial shot of residents walking in rubble; 5. Ruins, residents carrying luggage; Central Gaza Strip - Recent 6. Various of children playing with food containers; Gaza Strip - Jan 30, 2025 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Tess Ingram, Communication Manager, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) (starting with shots 4-6): "I think that it's a very fragile time for people's mental health in the Gaza Strip, particularly for children. You can imagine a child enduring 15 months of terrifying bombardment. Put yourself in the shoes of this child. They've probably been displaced from their home, on the move multiple times, living in unsafe places, maybe under a piece of plastic on the street or sheltering inside a school that's been badly damaged by bombs, unsure if another bomb might hit it. They've probably lost people that they love, either through a lack of access to telecommunications or maybe those loved ones have been killed. Many children here have been injured, and they have physical scars. But, of course, from all of this, they have emotional scars as well."; Jabalia, Gaza Strip - Jan 19, 2025 8. Various of displaced residents returning home with belongs, destroyed buildings; Gaza Strip - Jan 30, 2025 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Tess Ingram, Communication Manager, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) (partially overlaid with shot 10): "I think that people's hope that they hung onto for 15 months is turning to a sense of heaviness, including for children, that they were holding on to this idea of returning home, to being safe again. And that is not what is happening, because people are returning to rubble. They're returning to a city without access to services like health, like water. And so people's mental health is still very fragile and I think what needs to happen now is that children need to receive mental health care to deal with that trauma of the war, the trauma of fleeing and enduring bombardments, but also for dealing with this new reality that they're dealing with."; [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] Gaza Strip - Jan 27, 2025 10. Various of displaced Palestinians heading back home; [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] Rafah, Gaza Strip - Jan 19, 2025 11. Various of damaged buildings, rubble, residents searching through ruins. [Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]