The UN organization said that children ‘are gripped by overwhelming fear and increased anxiety, including separation anxiety.’
The Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Catherine Russell, said on Thursday that Israel’s war on Lebanon is “upending children’s lives,” and “inflicting severe physical wounds and deep emotional scars,” on them.
Russell disclosed in a statement that was based on numbers from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, 166 children have been killed since October 2023, and at least 1,168 have been injured while “at least one child has been killed and 10 injured daily” since October 4.
“Thousands more children who have survived the many months of constant bombings physically unscathed, are now acutely distressed by the violence and chaos around them,” the executive director of UNICEF stressed.
The UN official revealed that Lebanese children are demonstrating “alarming signs” of emotional, behavioral and physical suffering.
#UNICEF has sounded the alarm over the devastating impact of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Lebanese people, especially children, revealing that since October 4, at least one child has been killed and ten injured daily.
UNICEF highlighted that while many children have… pic.twitter.com/1oIr2HO2cy
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 1, 2024
“UNICEF teams have met children who are gripped by overwhelming fear and increased anxiety, including separation anxiety, fear of loss, withdrawal, aggression, and difficulty concentrating,” Russell said.
She went on to elaborate that several children suffer from “disrupted sleep, haunted by nightmares, headaches, and loss of appetite.”
Moreover, UNICEF’s executive director pointed out that children are currently deprived of the safe and stable environment that schools provide, leaving them with no spaces to “play, learn and heal.”
“War tears apart the safe and nurturing environments children need,” she added, emphasizing that when children are exposed to a long period of traumatic stress they are likely to suffer from lifetime consequences.
Healing Starts with Ceasefire
UNICEF’s executive director announced that the UN organization’s teams on the ground were able to offer “over 9,600 children and caregivers with psychological first aid” and provide around 10,000 children with community-based support.
She stressed however that the solution to the healing process remains in a ceasefire.
🔴 These innocent Lebanese children were killed last night after Israeli warplanes bombed the village of Sarafand, Southern #Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/iGJRha12ig
— DOAM (@doamuslims) October 30, 2024
“Children in Lebanon need a permanent and immediate ceasefire so that they can safely access essential services and begin to recover from the trauma of war,” she stressed.
“We must act now to prevent more children from being injured or killed, and to protect the future of every child in Lebanon,” Russell ended.
War on Lebanon
Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, on October 7, 2023, the Lebanese movement Hezbollah has engaged directly, but relatively in a limited way in the war against the Israeli occupation.
Israel escalated its aggression with the cyber-terror attacks on September 17 and 18, which claimed the lives of at least 37 people including children, and injured around 3000 others.
This went hand in hand with a series of assassinations of Hezbollah leaders, including that of the Secretary-General of the resistance party Hassan Nasrallah on September 27.
These developments coincided with unprecedented bombings and airstrikes by Israel’s army on different cities across Lebanon particularly in the south, Bekaa and the southern district of Beirut.
“Children in Lebanon need a permanent and immediate ceasefire so that they can safely access essential services and begin to recover from the trauma of war.”
Full statement from @unicefchief: https://t.co/twA58tqoP6 pic.twitter.com/qKCs6YXmyd
— UNICEF (@UNICEF) October 31, 2024
The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced on October 31 that 2,867 Lebanese were killed and 13,047 were injured since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Lebanon.
The Lebanese Government Emergency Committee announced on October 29 that the number of shelters has reached 1,100 centers with maximum capacity.
The Head of the committee, Minister of Environment Nasser Yassin revealed that the total number of displaced people exceeded 1.2 million.
According to the committee, 355,910 Syrian nationals and 167,295 Lebanese nationals crossed into Syrian territory from September 23 to October 29.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
