Al Mawasi is a sea of tents and people sheltering under pieces of plastic and blankets. People wait for hours just to use the toilet. Clean drinking water is in short supply and children go to bed hungry at night. How can an already overcrowded and squalid area support more people from Rafah who are being forcibly displaced yet again by Israeli relocation orders?

For Khan Younis, the city is unrecognisable. Whole apartment blocks are reduced to piles of rubble, with children’s clothes and toys – and bodies – crushed between huge slabs of concrete. There is destruction as far as the eye can see. It’s not a safe place for children to live.

Despite the danger and the incredibly difficult operating environment, Save the Children is still supporting children and families in Al Mawasi and Khan Younis and in other areas across the Gaza Strip. We remain committed to operating despite this latest escalation in the war; we cannot abandon Gaza’s children.

Leaving Gaza last week was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. As I hugged my colleagues from Gaza, I struggled to hold back tears as the fear of what might happen to them overwhelmed me.

One of my colleagues gave me a necklace and bracelet as a parting gift – even though she has so little. It was a reminder of the amazing spirit of the people in Gaza, their generosity and determination to care for each other despite the horrendous circumstances.

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I felt guilty that I could leave while others were trapped. There had been bombing in the border region in the days leading up to my departure, and I’d heard the reports of Israeli tanks lined up along the border – I was on one of the last buses to get through the border before it closed.

Now I’m in Cairo, away from the bombs and constant sound of drones, I think about Solave and the other children I met every second of every day.

I wonder if Solave will ever achieve her dream of becoming a businesswoman and travel the world. I wonder if she’ll ever be able to climb the stairs to her classroom again. I wonder if she’ll survive this war. With so many children falling through the cracks – the scale of death and displacement beyond anything authorities and aid agencies can keep pace with – I wonder if I’ll ever know.

The killing and maiming of children can and must end, and there is a solution: an immediate, definitive ceasefire. Political will is the only barrier.

If I were in Australia, I would get down on my knees in front of Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and implore her to do more to stop the war, to save children from the horror of endless pain, death, and destruction.

As well as demanding an immediate and definitive ceasefire, the Australian government must immediately ban the transfer of military equipment to Israel, including weapons, ammunition and parts while there is the risk they could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

I’ve seen the pieces of shrapnel in Gaza that tear through children’s bodies. Australia must not be part of committing these unspeakable atrocities against children. We must be part of saving their lives.

*not their real names

Sacha Myers is an Australian aid worker for Save the Children. She has responded to dozens of disasters over the past 14 years, including in Afghanistan, Mozambique, and Iraq.