Drawing attention to the broader impact of Israel’s genocidal war, the head of UNICEF emphasized that over the past 14 months, more than 14,500 children have been killed.
The head of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, called for urgent action late Friday, highlighting the dire conditions faced by children in Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on the Strip.
“The world cannot look away when so many children are exposed to daily bloodshed, hunger, disease, and cold,” Russell stated.
“We urgently call on all parties to the conflict, and on those with influence over them, to take decisive action to end the suffering of children, to release all hostages, to ensure children’s rights are upheld, and to adhere to obligations under international humanitarian law,” she added.
Gaza Genocide – Mass Killings, Starvation, and Forced Displacement Continue
Russell pointed out that 33 Palestinians, including at least eight children, were reportedly killed Thursday in what she described as another “devastating attack” on the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
She noted that, “the latest violence adds to a staggering figure of more than 160 children reportedly killed in Gaza in a little over a month. That is an average of four children every day since the beginning of November.”
Drawing attention to the broader impact of Israel’s genocidal war, Russell emphasized that over the past 14 months, more than 14,500 children have been killed, with nearly all of Gaza’s 1.1 million children in urgent need of protection and mental health support.
“There is no safe space in Gaza, nor any sense of stability for children, who lack essentials such as food, safe water, medical supplies, and warm clothes as winter temperatures drop,” she said.
Russell also expressed concern about the spread of preventable diseases, adding that “Preventable diseases continue to rapidly spread, including more than 800 cases of hepatitis, and more than 300 cases of chickenpox.”
Last night, 30 people were killed in strikes in central #Gaza, local media reported.@UNWateridge tells @UNGeneva: “We’ve seen absolutely horrific images from the scene. There are parents looking for their children, children covered in dust and blood, looking for their parents”… pic.twitter.com/1DX3DYOJAA
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 13, 2024
Staggering Death Toll
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,875 Palestinians have been killed, and 106,454 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
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Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, Anadolu)
