03/15/2024 / By Laura Harris
Official data released by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reveals that more children in Gaza were killed during the first four months of Israel’s campaign than the total child fatalities recorded in four years of conflict worldwide.
On Oct. 7, Israel declared war against Hamas after the Palestinian militants launched a surprise attack on the Jewish state. The attack claimed over 1,100 Israeli lives and led to the abduction of around 250 people in Israel.
In that same month, Israel launched a relentless air campaign followed by ground operations in Gaza. A few weeks after the Israeli invasion, civilian casualties in Gaza had surpassed the civilian death toll of over two years of conflict in Ukraine. (Related: GENOCIDE CALL: Oldest Israeli army reservist wants to eradicate Palestinian families, children.)
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini recently shared data showing that, from October 2023 to February 2024, over 12,300 children had been killed in Gaza. This figure accounts for almost half of the total death toll, which has now surpassed 31,000. Comparatively, 12,193 children were reported killed in all armed conflicts globally between January 2019 and December 2022.
“This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future,” said Lazzarini.
Palestinian health officials also confirmed that the war has killed thousands of children, but argued that the total number of children killed is greater than the UNRWA record.
On March 10, the Palestinian Health Ministry headquartered in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank said the number of children killed had reached 13,450. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry headquartered in Gaza reported on that same day that around 72 percent of the 31,272 recorded deaths were women and children.
“The toll of the Israeli aggression has risen to 31,112 martyrs and 72,760 injuries since the 7th of October last year. Seventy-two percent of the victims of the aggression are children and women,” the Health Ministry said.
According to Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra, the recent deaths of over a dozen children in Gaza were due to extreme hunger and thirst at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.
“Fifteen children died as a result of malnutrition and dehydration in Kamal Adwan Hospital. We fear for the lives of six children suffering from malnutrition and dehydration in intensive care at Kamal Adwan Hospital as a result of the cessation of the electric generator and oxygen machines,” said al-Qudra.
Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip also witnessed the heart-wrenching deaths of two infants due to severe malnutrition and dehydration on March 11. Additionally, 11 other patients, predominantly children, are currently grappling with malnutrition and dehydration within the hospital’s confines.
The toll of this crisis extends beyond Kamal Adwan Hospital, with two additional children reported dead at Al-Shifa Hospital in north Gaza last week.
Israeli forces previously stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, detaining Palestinian men and hospital staff in December. Conditions in the region have continued to worsen over the subsequent months, pushing Gaza to the brink of severe famine.
All this attack against the medical facilities in Gaza is part of a broader genocidal campaign to turn Gaza uninhabitable for Palestinians. “Israel has put 31 hospitals in Gaza out of service through bombing, destruction, and deprivation of medical supplies and fuel, and has partially targeted 152 health facilities,” said al-Qudra.
Watch this episode of the “Health Ranger Report” as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, discusses the reasoning behind Israel’s willingness to openly commit atrocities in Gaza.
This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.
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Palestinian human rights organizations sue Biden for “complicity” in Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
War on Gaza: Some of the prominent Palestinian academics and scientists killed by Israel.
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Tagged Under:
child fatalities, children's rights, evil, famine, genocide, human rights, humanitarian, hunger, Israel, Israel-Palestine war, Palestine, starvation, terrorism, UNRWA, War crimes
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