More than 50,000 Palestinian children in Gaza have been killed or injured in Israeli airstrikes since October 2023, UNICEF said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Since the end of the ceasefire on 18 March, 1,309 children have reportedly been killed and 3,738 injured. In total, more than 50,000 children have reportedly been killed or injured since October 2023. How many more dead girls and boys will it take? What level of horror must be livestreamed before the international community fully steps up, uses its influence, and takes bold, decisive action to force the end of this ruthless killing of children?” UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Edouard Beigbeder said.
The statement further read, “The children of Gaza need protection. They need food, water, and medicine. They need a ceasefire. But more than anything, they need immediate, collective action to stop this once and for all.”
Addressing the deaths of nine children of the Al-Najjar family in Khan Younis on Friday, the statement read, “We saw videos of the bodies of burnt, dismembered children from the al-Najjar family being pulled from the rubble of their home in Khan Younis. Of 10 siblings under 12 years old, only one reportedly survived, with critical injuries.”
The UN organisation for children noted that the lives of the children should not be reduced to numbers. “These children – lives that should never be reduced to numbers – are now part of a long, harrowing list of unimaginable horrors: the grave violations against children, the blockade of aid, the starvation, the constant forced displacement, and the destruction of hospitals, water systems, schools, and homes. In essence, the destruction of life itself in the Gaza Strip.”
Hunger crisis in Gaza:
This comes amid ceaseless Israeli bombardment of Gaza, since March 18. Israel has also prevented food, water and medicine from entering Gaza since March 2, giving rise to an unprecedented starvation crisis in the besieged enclave. On Monday, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private aid organisation backed by the US and Israel, attempted to distribute aid in Rafah, southern Gaza, when it descended into chaos.
