The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned that thousands of Iraqi youngsters will die and hundreds of thousands more will suffer injuries, disease, abuse, exploitation or just falling behind in school if not protected.

UNICEF's executive director, Carol Bellamy, issued a plea on Tuesday to protect the children.

"The war may be over, but the work is far from done," she said the day after some of the agency's staff returned to Baghdad.

"Children are still dying, and they're still at grave risk. Let's make protecting children as comprehensive and urgent an objective as ending the war was."

The agency cited the insecurity of stopping aid from reaching communities; degradation of the water system with health hazards including diarrhea and cholera. Added to that were unexploded munitions with daily reports of injuries and deaths, and stress on hospitals, including insufficient medical supplies.

The agency also said there was insufficient emphasis on the opening of schools. More than a quarter of all children under age five were already malnourished.

"Iraq's future depends on the well-being of its children... We are failing them. They should be our first priority – not only in words but in action," Bellamy said.

The World Health Organization estimated that $20 million a month was needed to "jump-start" hospitals and health centers.

Kris Janowski of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the agency was returning its international staff to Iraq as security slowly improves.

UNHCR staff in Baghdad reported speaking with representatives of the Palestinian Red Crescent on the insecurity facing some Palestinians there, Janowski said. The PRC said that 250 Palestinian families had to leave their rented apartments and settle in a makeshift camp close to the PRC's hospital, apparently because their landlords were no longer receiving Iraqi government rent payments.

On the Jordanian-Iraqi border, dozens of Iraqis were still stuck only meters from border post at Karama, waiting to enter the refugee camp at Ruweished. Some have been there for a month. The area also holds nearly 1,000 other people, mainly Iranian ethnic Kurds from Tash's camp. JORDANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER Marwan Moasher HELD A JOINT MEETING WITH HIS AUSTRIAN AND SLOVENIAN COUNTERPARTS ON TUESDAY TO DISCUSS A COMMON PROJECT TO HELP IRAQI CHILDREN DEAL WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS. MOASHER SAID THAT THE PROJECT IS AIMED AT SETTING UP "A CENTER IN IRAQ TO TREAT CHILDREN AND DEAL WITH THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS THEY FACE". AUSTRIA IS CONTRIBUTING 200,000 EUROS ($277,914) TO THE PROJECT WHILE SLOVENIA IS GIVING 150,000 EUROS, MOASHER SAID.