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STORY: UN / GAZA UNICEF CHAIBAN PRESSER
TRT: 5 :39
SOURCE: UNIFEED / UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNICEF ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 19 SEPTEMBER 2024, NEW YORK CITY / 17 SEPTEMBER 2024, NORTHERN GAZA STRIP / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
19 SEPTEMBER 2024, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, UN’s Children Fund (UNICEF):
“At the beginning of the week, when I was meeting with children and families in Israel who had gone through horrors on the seventh of October, they asked me to be the voice of all children and to relay their suffering. UNICEF will work with ministries in Israel to ensure that Israeli children are supported. In my meetings with Israeli authorities, I asked for increased access for humanitarian and commercial supplies, especially fresh foods and nutrition supplies. I advocated for protecting children, improved security measures and standard operating procedures for humanitarian personnel and facilitating the movement of separated unaccompanied children.”
4. Wide shot, press briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, UN’s Children Fund (UNICEF):
“I went to Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip. This is the only remaining pediatric unit in the area. I visited the pediatric intensive care unit, and I saw a tiny baby Sham, only a few months old, who had been heavily hit by shrapnel. Her mother was the only survivor of the strike. Sham is a striking reminder of the thousands and thousands of children who have been killed and injured in the Gaza strip in the past eleven months.”
6. Wide shot, press briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, UN’s Children Fund (UNICEF):
“We need strong guarantees that this can happen on a regular basis. This kind of pauses can be used to vaccinate against measles, to distribute hope, soap and other hygiene needs. The way the coordination and deconfliction mechanisms are currently working do not allow our programs to work efficiently and they need to be strengthened.”
8. Wide shot, press briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, UN’s Children Fund (UNICEF):
“We need to have more security for our staff and our operations. To achieve this, we have advocated for more direct contact with the Southern Command. We need to have agreed upon standard operating procedures at checkpoints and need to be able to bring more telecoms equipment into Gaza, including internet capacity.”
10. Wide shot, press briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, UN’s Children Fund (UNICEF):
“On malnutrition, I am very concerned by the decrease in humanitarian trucks we are currently witnessing. The Strip was on the verge of famine not long ago, and the situation could rapidly reverse. We need more entry points inside Gaza, and all measures need to be taken to reestablish law and order and improve the security of all to allow us to distribute lifesaving supplies to the children who need them.”
12. Wide shot, press briefing room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, UN’s Children Fund (UNICEF):
“We need more medical evacuations for children and their guardians, whose lives can be saved only with medical treatment abroad. We need more medical supplies and medical consumables, like antibiotics for skin disease, equipment for neonatal units, syringes and bandages for surgery.”
14. Wide shot, press briefing room
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, UN’s Children Fund (UNICEF):
“In the same way that we've been able to reach all children with polio vaccines, we need to move and use the same modality to reach children with their basic vaccines with some of the nutrition and hygiene interventions which are essential to save their lives. Those are lifesaving interventions. And the parties have shown that they can line up when necessary, they need to happen again.”
16. Wide shot, press briefing room
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, UN’s Children Fund (UNICEF):
“And the idea there is to have children go into the learning spaces for two hours three times a week, be with their friends. And it was hugely rewarding to see how children who are responding, not only to the learning element, but to the social elements being with their friends, seeing them again. It was just frankly touching to the core to see that happen.”
18. Wide shot, press briefing room
UNICEF – CREDIT ON SCREEN - 17 SEPTEMBER 2024, KAMAL ADWAN HOSPITAL, NORTHERN GAZA STRIP
19. Various shots, Ted Chaiban met children suffering from cancer and other severe illnesses at the Kamal Adwan Hospital
UNCIEF – CREDIT ON SCREEN - 15 SEPTEMBER 2024, DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA
20. Various shots, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, Ted Chaiban, is engaging with children as they dig through accumulated waste. Most of these children are searching for paper and cardboard to make fire for cooking.
UNICEF humanitarian official Ted Chaiban said that the same modality from the first round of polio vaccine distribution can be used to reach children with other basic vaccines, nutrition and hygiene interventions, “the parties have shown that they can line up when necessary.”
Chaiban spoke to reporters today (19 Sep) via a video link from West Bank after his visit to the region.
The UNICEF humanitarian said, “At the beginning of the week, when I was meeting with children and families in Israel who had gone through horrors on the seventh of October, they asked me to be the voice of all children and to relay their suffering. UNICEF will work with ministries in Israel to ensure that Israeli children are supported.”
In his meetings with Israeli authorities, Chaiban also asked for increased access for humanitarian and commercial supplies, especially fresh foods and nutrition supplies.
He said, “I advocated for protecting children, improved security measures and standard operating procedures for humanitarian personnel and facilitating the movement of separated unaccompanied children.”
In Gaza, Chaiban visited Kamal Adwan Hospital which has the only remaining pediatric unit in the area. He met with children who urgently need medical evacuation.
He said, “I visited the pediatric intensive care unit, and I saw a tiny baby Sham, only a few months old, who had been heavily hit by shrapnel. Her mother was the only survivor of the strike. Sham is a striking reminder of the thousands and thousands of children who have been killed and injured in the Gaza strip in the past eleven months.”
On the first phase of the polio vaccine distribution, the UNICEF humanitarian reiterated, “We need strong guarantees that this can happen on a regular basis. This kind of pauses can be used to vaccinate against measles, to distribute hope, soap and other hygiene needs.”
“The way the coordination and deconfliction mechanisms are currently working do not allow our programs to work efficiently and they need to be strengthened,” Chaiban emphasized.
He also reiterated that more security are needed for staff and operations on the ground.
“To achieve this,” he said, “we have advocated for more direct contact with the Southern Command. We need to have agreed upon standard operating procedures at checkpoints and need to be able to bring more telecoms equipment into Gaza, including internet capacity.”
The UNICEF humanitarian also expressed concerns on malnutrition and the decrease in humanitarian trucks.
He said, “The Strip was on the verge of famine not long ago, and the situation could rapidly reverse. We need more entry points inside Gaza, and all measures need to be taken to reestablish law and order and improve the security of all to allow us to distribute lifesaving supplies to the children who need them.”
Chaiban also highlighted more medical evacuations are needed for children and their guardians, as their lives can be saved only with medical treatment abroad.
“We need more medical supplies and medical consumables, like antibiotics for skin disease, equipment for neonatal units, syringes and bandages for surgery,” he added.
Asked about the second round of polio vaccine distribution, Chaiban said that the Agency is working towards adding other interventions such as micronutrients and nutritional screening. He noted that there are over 44,000 children who have been born in the last year and who haven't received their basic immunization.
He said, “In the same way that we've been able to reach all children with polio vaccines, we need to move and use the same modality to reach children with their basic vaccines with some of the nutrition and hygiene interventions which are essential to save their lives. Those are lifesaving interventions. And the parties have shown that they can line up when necessary, they need to happen again.”
Asked about psycho-social support for children, Chaiban said that some learning spaces are established in the south of the Strip, where children can go for two hours three times a week, be with their friends.
“It was hugely rewarding to see how children who are responding, not only to the learning element, but to the social elements being with their friends, seeing them again. It was just frankly touching to the core to see that happen,” the UNICEF humanitarian said.
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