The Gaza Strip is now a graveyard for thousands of children, the United Nations said, warning of the prospect of more deaths from dehydration amid Israel’s war against the besieged enclave.
The Israeli army has expanded its air and ground attacks on Gaza – including on homes and hospitals – which has suffered incessant air raids since the surprise offensive by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7 that killed 1,400 people in Israel, according to Israeli officials.
More than 8,500 Palestinians, mostly children and women, were killed, Gaza’s health ministry said.
“Our deepest fears about the number of children killed, running into the dozens, then hundreds, and eventually thousands, have come to fruition in just a fortnight,” James Elder, a spokesman for the government, said on Tuesday. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
“The figures are appalling; more than 3,450 children are believed to have been killed; surprisingly, this figure is increasing significantly every day.
“Gaza has become a cemetery for thousands of children. It’s hell for everyone.
A Palestinian child is killed every 10 minutes.
Israel’s War on Children– Ghassan Abou Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) October 31, 2023
Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, also said that at least 6,300 children were injured due to Israeli attacks.
This means that on average, 420 Palestinian children are killed or injured every day in the Gaza Strip, she explained.
“These numbers should shock and shake us to our core,” Russell said.
The body called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, with all access points to the Gaza Strip opened for safe, sustainable and unhindered access to humanitarian assistance, including water, food, medical supplies and fuel.
“What if there is no ceasefire, no water, no medicine and no release of the kidnapped children? Then we rush toward even greater horrors that affect innocent children,” Elder said.
The spokesperson said that according to figures from Gaza health faculties, some 940 children were missing.
The spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jens Laerke, added: “It is almost unbearable to think of the children buried under the rubble, but with very little opportunity or possibility of recovery. get them out. »
Threats beyond bombs
The Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip has also deprived Gaza of fuel, electricity and water supplies, and reduced aid deliveries to a trickle unable to meet the needs of the 2.3 million Palestinians who are there.
Elder said threats against children “go beyond bombs,” noting that water and trauma are among other threats facing the besieged Palestinian enclave.
He warned that more than a million children in Gaza face a critical water crisis as Gaza’s daily water production reaches five percent of its production capacity.
“So, child deaths due to dehydration, especially infant deaths due to dehydration, pose a growing threat,” he said.
Regarding trauma, the spokesperson said: “When the fighting finally stops, the cost to children and their communities will be borne by generations to come. »
Elder pointed out that before the current conflict began, more than 800,000 children in Gaza – three-quarters of its entire child population – had been identified as needing mental health and psychological support.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), said that nearly 70 percent of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip over the past three weeks were Palestinians. children and women.
The number of children killed in Gaza since October 7 has exceeded the number of children killed each year in the world’s conflict zones since 2019, he said.
“It cannot be ‘collateral damage,'” he said Monday evening, adding that there was no safe place in the blockaded territory due to intense Israeli bombardment.