“It is reported that 14,500 children have been killed in Gaza since the war began,” Philippe Lazzarini wrote on social media, citing UNICEF figures. “The killing of children cannot be justified, the Middle East Monitor reported. One child is killed every hour. These are not numbers. These are lives cut short. Killing a child. That cannot be justified.”
Lazzarini added that those who survived were both physically and mentally scarred, according to the Middle East Monitor. “Boys (and) girls in Gaza are deprived of learning and scavenging in the rubble. The clock is ticking for these children. They are losing their lives, their futures and most of their hope. .”
A needs assessment sponsored by the Gaza-based NGO War Children’s Alliance found that 92 percent of Palestinian children surveyed were unable to accept reality. 79% suffer from nightmares. and 73 percent suffer from symptoms of aggression.
“This report reveals that Gaza is one of the most terrifying places in the world for children,” said Helen Pattinson, chief executive of WarChild UK. “Along with the destruction of hospitals, schools and homes, a series of psychological devastations have left an invisible but equally devastating scar on children who bear no responsibility for this war. ”
The study surveyed parents or caregivers of 504 children in households where at least one child was disabled, injured or neglected.
A recent assessment by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights found that the number of children killed in Gaza was even higher than UNICEF. It has been revealed that 44% of the 45,300 Palestinians killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip were children.
SD/
