This Sunday the authorities of the Ministry of Health in RibbonThe area controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas reported that a total of 4,008 children had died in the Palestinian enclave since October 7 Israel began the bombings. Overall, almost a month after the outbreak of war, the death toll is over 9,700 and the number of injured is over 24,800.
A few days earlier, UNICEF described a horror scenario for minors “Gaza has become a cemetery for thousands of children”. The UN agency announced this Hundreds of Palestinian children die every day in Israeli bombings.
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“Our greatest fears about the number of children killed, rising from dozens to hundreds and ultimately thousands, have come true. The numbers are frightening and are increasing significantly every day.“complained the speaker UNICEFJames Elder, from Geneva.
Palestinian cameraman Mohammed Alaloul says goodbye to his son after his death in an Israeli attack on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in Deir Balah in the central Gaza Strip. (Photo by Mahmoud HAMS / AFP).
/ MAHMUD HAMS
Almost half of the 2.3 million inhabitants are densely populated Gaza Strip are under 18 years old, making children the most vulnerable victims of the powerful airstrikes Israel.
Unicef also warned about this The trauma that children suffer is a huge problem today and in the future and this is a chronic problem in Palestinian territory after decades of conflict with Israel.
In addition to the more than 4,000 dead children,
The 9,770 deaths include 2,550 women, 596 elderly people and 175 health professionals.
Before the current escalation, there were more than 800,000 minors in the country Ribbon They needed psychological and health-related support.
Israel’s ground operation as of November 2, 2023. (AFP).
According to the AP agency, based on images taken by journalists on site, Among the minors who died were even newborns and preschool children. He also points out that some of the survivors were injured TrembleThey are unable to control their bodies due to the disease shock caused by bombs.
Save the children He also assured that more children died in Gaza in October than in all conflict zones in the world combined last year.. In 2022, 2,985 children died in war zones.
The organization announced this to the American newspaper The Washington Post It is estimated that 1,000 children are still trapped under rubble in Gaza.
The war began on October 7th afterward Hamas will penetrate Israel on land, air and sea, which surprised the Israeli soldiers. The Islamists killed around 1,400 people and abducted 240 civilians and soldiers Ribbon as hostages.
Israel assured this on October 7th Hamas He also murdered Israeli children, including you drink, but did not provide an exact number. There are also around 30 children among the 240 hostages.
In retaliation for the Islamist attack, Israel began bombing on October 7th Ribbonafter the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will declare war on him Hamas and will promise not to stop until the organization that has ruled the Palestinian enclave since 2007 is destroyed.
Two days later, on October 9th, Israel announced a “total siege” of the Gaza Stripwhich led to the interruption of the supply of electricity, water, food and fuel.
While on October 13th Israel ordered residents of the northern Gaza Strip to move to the south of the territory.
Those displaced by the war in Gaza. (AFP).
The Israeli army announced this
this Sunday, which has attacked 2,500 Hamas targets since October 7 last year.
“This loss of life and children must end now.”
Raul Incertisanesthetist Doctors Without Borders (MSF)worked in until a few days ago Ribbon. On Saturday, he gave his statement about the events in the enclave in a video that his organization made available to this newspaper.
“Our hearts, our minds, our souls have remained with our comrades, with the Palestinians this inhumane cage that the Gaza Strip has become. This collective, cruel and excessive punishment must now end. This loss of life, this loss of children must end now,” Incertis said.
Regarding the defects caused by the total blockade IsraelIncertis said: “Palestinians are malnourished, thirsty and suffering from infectious diseases “Due to the hygienic conditions… The situation is untenable.”
“The situation in the hospitals can no longer be tolerated. More than half of them are out of service and the bill is increasing every day. The amount of material entered is not enough. There are no more medications to calm you down, no more surgical materials to operate onthere is no more fuel, they are rationing light hours and there is only energy for minimal services, such as intensive care units and emergencies. Patients have been separated from mechanical ventilation, incubators are at risk. “There is no one who can endure this,” he added.
Regarding MSF’s working conditions, he explained that “the daily lives of our colleagues in Ribbon It’s not about knowing whether a bomb will fall on them or not. We have colleagues who have lost their loved ones. Our colleague Mohamed lost his 3-year-old son and had to pick him up from the rubble. Another companion, Tareck, lost 23 members of his family in a bomb attack. But Médecins Sans Frontières continues to work under these conditions.”
A man runs while carrying a little girl to Al-Shifa Hospital after a house was bombed in Gaza City’s Mansura district in the eastern suburb of Shujaiya, November 4, 2023. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP).
/ BASHAR TALEB
“Being a father in Gaza is a curse”
Israel asserts that its airstrikes are aimed at facilities and infrastructure belonging to the militant Hamas. He also accuses the Islamists of using civilians as human shields. He notes that the militant group operates from residential neighborhoods. Palestinians respond that the rising number of civilian casualties is evidence that Israeli attacks are indiscriminate and disproportionate.
The army of Israel has also admitted that it has bombed areas full of civilians, such as the huge refugee camp of Jabalia, where he claims he killed a Hamas leader and about 50 militiamen hiding in a network of underground tunnels last week. But the authorities of Ribbon They also stated that more than 150 civilians lost their lives in this attack.
“Being a father in Gaza is a curse”Ahmed Modawikh, a 40-year-old carpenter whose life was devastated by the death of his 8-year-old daughter during five days of fighting Ribbon last May.
A Palestinian searches through the rubble of a building after the Israeli bombing in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on October 31, 2023. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP).
/ SAID KHATIB
Many Palestinian children and their families have left their homes to seek refuge in UN schools and other UN buildings. They also lie in hospitals, hoping not to be attacked. But nowhere at this moment Ribbon It is save. The bombings are even taking place in the south, where thousands of northern Gazans went exactly after Israel’s evacuation order.
“People flee death just to find it.” Yasmine Jouda, who lost 68 family members in the Oct. 22 airstrikes that leveled two four-story buildings in Deir al-Balah, where they had sought refuge from northern Iraq, the AP said. Ribbon.
The only survivor of the attack was Jouda’s one-year-old niece Milissa, whose mother went into labor during the bombing and was found dead under the rubble. “What did this little baby do to deserve a life without a family?” said Jouda.