Large numbers of people are trapped under the rubble, buried in unmarked graves and detained by Israel, according to Save the Children.
Nearly 21,000 children are missing in Gaza, said British humanitarian organization Save the Children.
In a report released Monday, the group says thousands of missing Palestinian children are believed to be trapped under rubble, buried in unmarked graves, injured beyond recognition by explosives, detained by Israeli forces, or lost in the chaos. of the conflict.
“It is almost impossible to collect and verify information under current conditions in Gaza,” the group said, “but it is believed that at least 17,000 children are unaccompanied and separated and around 4,000 children are likely being carried away. disappeared under the rubble, with an unknown number. also in mass graves.”
Israel has killed more than 14,000 children in Gaza since October 7, while others suffer from severe malnutrition and “don’t even have the energy to cry”, the United Nations Children’s Fund said ( UNICEF) in a report released earlier this year.
“Since October, Gaza has faced incessant violence that has killed more than 37,000 people, including thousands of children. This follows an attack in Israel by Palestinian armed groups that killed more than a thousand people, including at least 33 children,” reads the Save the Children report.
It also notes that approximately 250 Palestinian children are also missing in the occupied West Bank, as of June 9.
Responsibility
Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East, called for an independent investigation into the situation surrounding missing children in Gaza and for accountability.
“Families are tortured by uncertainty about the fate of their loved ones. No parent should have to dig through rubble or mass graves to try to find the body of their child. No child should be alone, unprotected, in a war zone. No child should be detained or taken hostage,” he added.
Khaled Quzmar, director general of the children’s rights organization International Defense for Palestinian Children, told Tel Aviv Tribune that the impact they have witnessed in the Gaza conflict is at a level never seen before, even during WWII.
“It’s a war on children. The children of Gaza represent the highest cost of the Israeli genocide in Gaza,” Quzmar said.
International criticism has mounted over the growing number of deaths in the war, as well as the deterioration of the humanitarian crisis.
However, on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that he would not accept any agreement stipulating an end to Israel’s war on Gaza.
