Gaza ceasefire
Gaza – January 27 2025

Statement on the announced ceasefire in Gaza: A call to protect children and families 

SOS Children’s Villages welcomes the announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza, which creates an opportunity to end the war that has devastated the lives of children and families. The well-being and safety of children remain central, and the path to sustainable peace and recovery demands immediate and unwavering action. 

Thousands of children have been killed, maimed or separated from their families and caregivers. A lasting ceasefire offers a crucial chance to end their suffering, address these devastating harms and work toward reuniting children with their loved ones. SOS Children’s Villages has been on the ground throughout this crisis, supporting children and families with care and humanitarian services during their darkest days. 

We urge all parties to fully adhere to international human rights and humanitarian laws, particularly those that protect children. Through this ceasefire, we call for the complete cessation of hostilities and the guaranteed, unrestricted delivery of adequate humanitarian aid into Gaza to reach civilian populations—especially children—without delay. 

Children must be prioritized in these relief efforts, with adequate provision of medical care, shelter, food, water, education and family support to prevent further separation or loss of care. 

To ensure the urgent delivery of lifesaving aid in Gaza, it is essential to guarantee the continuation of operations by organizations such as UNRWA and other humanitarian agencies, which provide children with vital education, health care and assistance. 

We call for robust mechanisms to ensure accountability for violations of international humanitarian law. Children and families in Gaza, like everywhere else, have the right to justice and protection from harm. Every moment of continued violence compounds the trauma endured by children, who urgently need stability and safety to grow up with the care and protection necessary to reach their full potential. 

Our dedication to protect and provide for children and families in this humanitarian crisis is unwavering. Our local emergency response teams remain on site to help families rebuild, but we need your compassionate generosity.  

Please partner with us today to send life-saving necessities—like a safe home, nutritious food, clean water, mental and physical health care and more—to vulnerable children. 

By giving to our Children in Crisis Fund, you can give children and families everything they need to heal from this conflict and build brighter futures free from the terror of war. 

  

About SOS Children’s Villages   

SOS Children’s Villages is the world’s largest organization providing safe, loving homes to children without parental care. For more than 75 years and in 130 countries, SOS Children’s Villages has been raising children with everything they need—loving families, healthy food, quality education, professional health care and more. SOS provides continual support as young people transition into adulthood—all while strengthening the families and communities around them, so children and young people can reach their full potential and thrive.   

  

About SOS Children’s Villages in Palestine   

SOS Children’s Villages in Palestine, established in 1968, provides alternative care to more than 190 children and young people without parental care in two villages: in Rafah (now emergency relocated) and Bethlehem. The organization also runs family strengthening and other preventive programs that support more than 400 families in the West Bank and Gaza. Since the start of the war in Gaza, SOS Children’s Villages in Palestine has provided direct humanitarian support to the most affected families and separated children.