UNICEF wants to make sure that aid can reach the trapped Gaza Strip. Half of the people there are kids.
UNICEF, a group that helps children around the world, is very upset about the large number of children who were hurt or killed in Gaza. They say that over 2,000 children were hurt or killed because of the attacks from Israel.
UNICEF said that 2,360 children lost their lives in less than three weeks. They are asking for the fighting to stop right away and for people to be allowed to give help to those who need it without any problems.
UNICEF said that 5,364 more children in Gaza were hurt because of the constant attacks. They also mentioned that over 400 children are hurt or killed every day in the area, which is surrounded and facing a lot of difficulties.
On October 7, the Palestinian group Hamas surprised Israel with attacks that caused the death of over 1,400 people. Since then, Israel’s army has continuously bombed Gaza, resulting in the loss of at least 5,791 lives. About half of Gaza’s population, which is roughly 2.3 million people, are children.
Adele Khodr, who works for UNICEF in the Middle East and North Africa, said that the situation in Gaza is becoming a very serious concern for all of us. The number of children getting hurt or passing away is extremely high and troubling.
It’s even scarier to think that if things don’t calm down and if they don’t let in things like food, water, medicine, and fuel, more people will keep dying every day.
Nearly all the children in the Gaza Strip have experienced very upsetting and traumatic situations. This includes a lot of damage, constant attacks, having to leave their homes, and not having enough basic things like food, water, and medicine, according to UNICEF.
The West Bank has also had a very worrying increase in the number of people getting hurt, UNICEF mentioned. They said that twenty-eight children have lost their lives and around 160 have been reported to be injured.
UNICEF stated that in the recent fighting in Israel, around 30 children were reported to have lost their lives. Additionally, there are still many children being held in Gaza after Hamas took about 220 people captive.
“The killing and maiming of children, abduction of children, attacks on hospitals and schools, and the denial of humanitarian access constitute grave violations of children’s rights,” said Khodr.
UNICEF urgently appeals on all parties to agree to a ceasefire, allow humanitarian access and release all hostages. Even wars have rules. Civilians must be protected, children particularly, and all efforts must be made to spare them in all circumstances.”
UN chief Antonio Guterres also renewed calls for a ceasefire on Tuesday and said international law was being violated in the war between Israel and Hamas.
He said Palestinians “have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation”, but Palestinian grievances do not justify Hamas’s attack.
At the same time, “those appalling attacks [by Hamas] cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people”, he continued.
‘The tip of the iceberg’
With the constant trauma of war and occupation, four out of five children in Gaza live with depression, grief and fear, according to a 2022 report by Save the Children. More than half of them struggle with suicidal thoughts and the trauma of witnessing the deaths of other children.
Last week, a Palestinian NGO said one child in Gaza is killed every 15 minutes in Israel’s ongoing bombardment. “We are witnessing a genocide in real time,” a spokesperson for the Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) said.
Amid the war, education has been put on hold and schools are being used to shelter displaced people. Schools, like hospitals, have also suffered damage from the ongoing aerial attacks.
Israel blockaded the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attack, preventing food, fuel and regular aid from getting through. In the last week, a few dozen trucks carrying aid have been allowed in through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, but NGOs say the supplies are not near enough.
The dire and pressing lack of water also poses grave consequences for children, UNICEF said on Tuesday, noting that most water systems have been severely affected or are nonoperational due to fuel shortages and damage to vital infrastructure.
UNICEF said fuel, which Israel has not allowed into Gaza, is of paramount importance for the operation of essential facilities such as hospitals, desalination plants, and water pumping stations. It also said neonatal intensive care units, some housing newborns in incubators, rely on mechanical ventilation, making an uninterrupted power supply a matter of life and death.
“Without humanitarian access, the deaths from attacks could be the tip of the iceberg,” said Khodr. “The death toll will increase exponentially if incubators start to fail, if hospitals go dark, if children continue to drink unsafe water and have no access to medicine when they get sick.”
SOURCE:ALJAZEERA