Israel kills an average 28 children daily in Gaza: UN
Gaza
Approximately 28 children are being killed daily in Gaza due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment and its restrictions on the delivery of direly needed humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.
'Death by bombardments. Death by malnutrition and starvation. Death by lack of aid and vital services,' the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a post on X on Tuesday.
'In Gaza, an average of 28 children a day – the size of a classroom – have been killed.' The agency stressed that children in Gaza are in urgent need of food, clean water, medicine and protection, adding: 'More than anything, they need a ceasefire, NOW.' Israel has killed more than 18,000 children – one child every hour – since the start of its genocidal war on Gaza. At least 60,933 Palestinians have been killed and 150,027 others wounded since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel.
In the last 24 hours, at least eight Palestinians, including one child, have starved to death in Gaza. A total of 188 people, including 94 starving children, have died as Israel continues to block aid and kill aid seekers.
'For those who survive, childhood has been replaced by a daily struggle for the basics of life,' said Al Jazeera's Aksel Zaimovic.
Kadim Khufu Basim, a displaced Palestinian child, said he is forced to support a family of six people because his father is injured and receiving treatment in Egypt.
'I love playing football. But now I sell ********s. My childhood is gone. Since the war began, we have no childhood left,' Basim told Al Jazeera.
Under international law, children like Basim are supposed to be spared the effects of war.
'But in Gaza, these children have suffered the most under Israel's military campaign. Schools deliberately targeted, water facilities destroyed, food supplies systematically blocked. And the fundamental rights of childhood … education, play, proper nutrition … have been weaponised against an entire generation,' said Zaimovic.
'A graveyard for children'
Israel's war on Gaza is also leaving its psychological scars on children.
The hair and skin of Lana, a 10-year-old displaced child, turned white almost overnight after a bombing near her shelter triggered what doctors call trauma-induced depigmentation. Lana has become withdrawn, often only talking to her doll, as other children bully her for her appearance.
'She talks to her doll and says, 'Do you want to play with me, or will you be like the other kids?' Her mental health is severely damaged,' Mai Jalal al-Sharif, Lana's mother, told Al Jazeera.
'Gaza is a graveyard for children today and for their dreams,' Ahmad Alhendawi, regional director of the NGO Save the Children, told Al Jazeera. 'This is an inescapable living nightmare for every child in Gaza … This is a generation that is growing up thinking that the world has abandoned them, that the world has turned its back on them.'
Israel has closed Gaza's crossings since March 2, only allowing 86 trucks of aid into the besieged enclave daily, a figure equal to just 14 percent of the minimum 600 trucks needed each day to meet the basic needs of the population, according to data from Gaza's Government Media Office. The lack of aid has led to an unprecedented famine in Gaza.
UN experts and more than 150 humanitarian organisations have called for a permanent ceasefire, to allow for aid deliveries and the psychological recovery of what they've dubbed a 'lost generation'.
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