Children, victims of Israel’s ’savagery’
Over 700 Palestinian children killed in Israel’s strikes
Nine days of Israel’s nonstop bombings on the Gaza Strip have claimed the lives of more than 700 innocent Palestinian children. The casualties amount to one-third of the total number of Palestinians killed as a result of the recent onslaught on the region by a regime that believes there are no innocent civilians in Gaza.
The high number of children killed in the attacks has shown the regime’s indifference toward human life and the fate of civilians, especially children, during a war.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Friday that there are no innocent civilians in Gaza. He said that all citizens of Gaza are responsible for the attack Hamas launched in the occupied territories that left over 1,200 people dead.
He said that it is an entire nation out there that is responsible for the war, adding, “It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not being aware, not involved.”
According to the health ministry in the Gaza Strip, Israeli strikes have killed at least 2,215 individuals, including 724 children. Some 458 women were among the deaths, the ministry said on Saturday.
It added that 8,714 people have also been wounded after an earlier statement said at least 324 people were killed in the past 24 hours alone.
Complete blockade
The regime has also imposed a complete blockade on the Palestinian territory, cutting off water, fuel, and electricity and preventing aid deliveries at crossings into Gaza. The sole power plant in Gaza ran out of fuel on October 11, forcing hospitals to run on backup generators.
The regime’s siege is also contributing to a rise in civilian casualties, especially children who suffer more in such situations.
No food to eat
“My four children are eating one meal a day. There is no water, no electricity, no internet, no fuel in all of Gaza,” said Mohammad Abu Rukbeh, senior Gaza field researcher at Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP). “I am carrying my children on foot because they are too paralyzed in fear to walk as we search for somewhere safe. There is no safe place in Gaza as Israeli forces rain down bombs in every direction, every hour of the day. We are isolated people facing the fiercest war machines.”
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in a statement on Friday denounced the killing of children in Gaza.
“Hundreds and hundreds of children have been killed and injured. Every hour in Gaza, the number of children killed rises. The killing of children must stop,” UNICEF said.
Call for cease-fire
“UNICEF is calling for an immediate cease-fire as 1.1 million people — nearly half of them children — have been warned to move out of the way ahead of what is expected to be a ground assault on one of the most densely populated places on the planet but with nowhere safe for civilians to go,” the statement said. “Children and families in Gaza have practically run out of food, water, electricity, medicine, and safe access to hospitals, following days of air strikes and cuts to all supply routes.”
“In every war, the ones who suffer the most are children. This is tragically true today.”