The number of children reported killed in just over five months in Gaza is higher than the number of children killed in four years of wars around the world combined.
The head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has shared data on X that shows this staggering figure.
“This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future,” Philippe Lazzarini wrote.
His post referenced United Nations numbers showing that 12,193 children had been killed in conflicts worldwide between 2019 and 2022.
It compared that to reports from the health ministry in Gaza indicating that more than 12,300 children died in the Palestinian territory from October 7 to February 29.
This number illustrates the severity of the humanitarian crisis the Gaza Strip is experiencing, highlighting the need for the international community to step in and take serious action to halt Israeli aggression on the Strip, defend Palestinian children’s rights, and guarantee their safety at all times in compliance with humanitarian and international laws and principles.
Since October 7, the Israeli occupation army has waged a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which has left an enormous humanitarian catastrophe and a major health and environmental disaster.
The Israeli occupation destroyed the only supplies of fuel, electricity, water, and food for the people of the Gaza Strip at the start of the conflict by bombing bakeries, factories, stores, water stations, tanks, and other infrastructure.
The Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and human rights, as it exposes the civilians’ lives to extreme danger and causes them great suffering, which requires urgent and decisive international intervention to stop the aggression and protect civilians in the Gaza Strip.
