Statement on the ceasefire in Gaza: ‘Children will sleep without fear, and families will rebuild their lives in peace’ 

SOS’ humanitarian response in Gaza hasn’t wavered in two years of relentless conflict, providing more than 53,000 individuals, including 31,192 children, with life-saving aid—like safe shelter, nutritious food, clean water, clothing, medical and psychological health care and more. 

We recognize the road to recovery is filled with massive challenges. Gaza is in ruins, including the SOS Children’s Village in Rafah. Children and families continue to face severe shortages of food, water and safe shelter.  

For many children, the need for psychological support and trauma-informed care will continue to be dire. As one little boy said when the ceasefire was announced, “When the war stops, will my mother come back?”  

“His mother had been killed while trying to bring food for her children,” said Reem Alreqeb, Program Director for SOS Children’s Villages in Gaza. “His words capture both the innocence and unbearable pain that so many children live with every day. The gratitude [for the ceasefire] is mixed with grief as we all carry the weight of knowing that thousands of children and families have been lost.” 

While some organizations may view the ceasefire as a sign to scale back aid, SOS follows a “first in, last out” approach—meaning we remain on the ground, delivering life-saving support until a community is stable, preventing crises that arise from leaving an area prematurely.    

Learn more about how we protect children in crises. 

Our local, trained emergency response teams continue to deliver care, shelter and educational and psychosocial support spaces to the children and families who need us most—but we need your compassionate generosity. 

Children in Gaza need immediate aid to heal from the devastating effects of hunger, violence, family separation and lost education. Your gift to the Children in Crisis Fund or commitment as an emergency monthly donor can send the life-saving necessities—like safe homes, nutritious food, clean water, mental and physical health care and more—that children and families need to heal, rebuild and thrive after the terror of war. 

“Despite everything, hope remains,” Reem said. “It is what keeps us going, the belief that one day the bombs will stop, children will sleep without fear and families will begin to rebuild their lives in peace. Every… whispered wish carries the same message: ‘May this war finally end.’” 

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 relocated due to the conflict) 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.  

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