Children in besieged Gaza dying at 'an unprecedented rate'

Express Tribune

4 days ago

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The UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, has urged the international community to act swiftly to prevent the mass death of children in the Gaza Strip, where conditions continue to deteriorate amid Israel's deadly war.
"Today, I want to keep the focus on Gaza, because it's in Gaza where the suffering is most acute and where children are dying at an unprecedented rate.
"We are at a crossroads, and the choices made now will determine whether tens of thousands of children live or die," Ted Chaiban, UNICEF's deputy executive director, said at a briefing on his recent travel to the Middle East.
The months-long deprivation of most life-sustaining basic goods has led to a deepening of the crisis. More than 100 people were killed, and hundreds of others injured, along food convoy routes and near Israeli-militarized distribution hubs in the past two days alone.
As one in three people currently going days without food, OCHA reiterated that no one should ever be forced to risk their life to get something to eat.
Chaiban, who is fresh from a visit to Gaza, noted that "the marks of deep suffering and hunger were visible on the face of families and children."
"Gaza now faces a grave risk of famine," he said, briefing reporters in New York about his five-day mission to the enclave, the West Bank and Israel.
"This is something that has been building up, but we now have two indicators that have exceeded the famine threshold."
The crisis can only be addressed through unrestricted flow of aid into Gaza, with commercial supplies also allowed to enter to help address people's needs.
Nearly a week since the Israeli announcement to allow the scale up of aid and tactical pauses to allow safe passage of UN convoys, OCHA reported that the aid that has entered Gaza so far remains insufficient, while UN convoys continue to face impediments and danger along the routes provided by the Israeli authorities.
"Civilians must always be protected and community-level aid delivery at scale must be facilitated, not obstructed," said OCHA.
"The children I met are not victims of a natural disaster. They are being starved, bombed, and displaced," Mr. Chaiban said. He noted that more than 18,000 boys and girls have been killed since the beginning of the war, "an average of 28 children a day, the size of a classroom, gone."
While in Gaza, Chaiban met with the families of the 10 children killed and 19 injured by an Israeli airstrike as they were queuing for food with their mothers and fathers at a UNICEF-supported nutrition clinic in Deir Al-Balah.
Engaging with Israeli authorities in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, UNICEF "pressed for a review of [Israel's] military rules of engagement to protect civilians and children," Chaiban said.