UNICEF reports that more than 13,000 children were died in Gaza.
As starvation approaches in the besieged enclave under months of bombardment, the UN agency reports that the youngsters who are still alive “do not even have the energy to cry.”
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Israel has murdered over 13,000 children in Gaza since October 7 while others suffer from severe hunger and do not “even have the energy to cry”.
There are thousands more injuries, or their locations are unknown to us. They might be trapped beneath debris. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said, “We haven’t seen that rate of child death in almost any other conflict in the world.”
She has visited pediatric wards dealing with severe anemia and malnutrition, and every single room is dead silent. Since the infants and kids don’t even have the energy to wail.
Furthermore, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reports that one in every three children under the age of two in northern Gaza is acutely malnourished. The agency also warned that hunger is looming in the beleaguered enclave which has been subjected to unrelenting Israeli bombing for over five months.
International criticism has mounted on Israel due to the death toll of the war, the starvation crisis in Gaza and allegations of blocking aid deliveries into the enclave.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his warning of a ground assault on Rafah, a town bordering Egypt where over a million Palestinians have sought safety.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, Israel’s military operation since October 7 has resulted in at least 31,645 Palestinian deaths in the region, the majority of who were women and children. It has also forced over two million residents of Gaza to flee.
Israel has consistently refuted accusations of genocide and emphasized that it is acting in self-defense following Hamas’ offensive on October 7, which it claims claimed more than 1,130 lives and captured more than 200.