DayofPal– The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has issued a searing condemnation of the ongoing war in Gaza, decrying the devastating toll it has taken on children.
Labeling the human cost as “unconscionable,” UNICEF reported that 1,309 children have been killed and 3,738 injured since March 18, the day a brief ceasefire collapsed.
The agency further noted that, since the onset of the wat in October 2023, more than 50,000 children have been killed or wounded in Gaza.
The latest atrocities underscore the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the besieged enclave.
On Friday, Israeli airstrikes struck Khan Younis, decimating the Al-Najjar family. According to witnesses and video evidence, burnt and dismembered children were pulled from the rubble. Of ten siblings under the age of 12, only one survived. He remains in critical condition.
In a separate incident, a school in Gaza City was engulfed in flames following an Israeli bombing, killing at least 31 people, including 18 children.
“These children – lives that should never be reduced to numbers – are now part of a long, harrowing list of unimaginable horrors,” said UNICEF in a statement that detailed the scale of the crisis.
The agency cited a litany of grave violations: the mass killing of children, starvation, forced displacement, and the systematic destruction of Gaza’s essential infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, water systems, and residential buildings.
“How many more dead girls and boys will it take?” the organization asked. “What level of horror must be livestreamed before the international community acts?”
Reiterating its urgent call for an immediate ceasefire, UNICEF demanded the protection of civilians, the lifting of the blockade on Gaza, and full humanitarian access to the affected population.
“The children of Gaza need protection,” the statement concluded. “They need food, water, and medicine. They need a ceasefire. But more than anything, they need immediate, collective action to stop this once and for all.”
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