Occupied Palestinian Territory

The Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) has experienced more than 60 years of conflict, which has created the world’s largest refugee population. Approximately 42% of Palestinian children in the OPT are refugees and poverty, conflict, violence and fear are a daily reality for many of them.

Palestinian groups remain armed and active and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory continues. Lack of food, water and supplies still affect children’s health and wellbeing in Gaza.

  • We’ve helped thousands of people get clean water by installing a portable fuel tank.
  • We provided life-saving medical equipment for babies at Nasser Paediatric Hospital.
  • We’re working in 15 schools run by the Palestinian Authority, benefiting 7,500 children.

Save the Children in the occupied Palestinian territory

We’ve been involved in the region since 1949, when we began providing health services to Palestinian refugees living in camps in Lebanon.

We focus on protecting children in their schools, homes and communities, and promoting children’s rights through advocacy work and publications. In 2008, our activities benefited 139,720 children.

We’re protecting children from violence and harm

Palestinian children have borne the brunt of the conflict, and many experience violence every day.

We’re working to protect children through two projects: the ‘protective sphere’ (reducing violence in schools and the wider community), and a programme of support for displaced people.

We’re reducing violence in schools and the wider community

Working with teachers, children and their parents, we provide training on children’s rights and alternatives to corporal punishment.

Other activities include setting up school-based education committees and training teachers and parents on how they can keep children safe.

We’re advocating for children’s rights

We're promoting key child protection issues as well as making sure that the voices of children are heard in the media and that violations of children’s rights are brought to the attention of world leaders.

We’re promoting children’s participation

We’re working with the Palestinian Authority to carry out its first ever comprehensive report for the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. With our support, 2,500 children will be actively involved in this process and contribute their views.

We’re improving children’s access to essential services

This year and next, we’ll provide medical equipment and resources to 20 clinics serving 60,000 people living near Gaza’s ‘buffer zone’ and the West Bank separation wall.

We’re responding to emergency needs

Following the Israeli offensive in Gaza, we launched a major emergency response and during the first three months of 2009, we reached 105,441 people, including nearly 60,000 children. We distributed essential supplies to families who lost their homes, including bedding, hygiene kits, and cooking equipment.

Resources on our work in the OPT

Download these resources and find out more about our work with vulnerable children in the OPT:

Related news

Tuesday 22 December 2009 Children traumatised one year after Gaza offensive
The majority of children in Gaza are suffering ongoing traumatic stress as a result of their experiences of conflict and living through a deepening humanitarian crisis.
Monday 16 February 2009 A month on from Gaza ceasefire up to 100,000 people remain homeless
At least 100,000 people, including up to 56,000 children, remain displaced with many continuing to take shelter in tents or crowding into remaining homes with other families, one month since the Gaza ceasefire was declared.
Monday 26 January 2009 Save the Children global staff begin to enter Gaza
Save the Children announced today that two of its staff with global expertise in emergency response were granted access into Gaza. Several members of other non-governmental organisations also made entry through the Erez checkpoint this morning.
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