Gaza: No place for children
The genocidal Israeli war on Gaza has inflicted immense suffering on innocent civilians, particularly children, whose lives have been shattered by airstrikes, displacement, and loss of loved ones.
Last month, a picture went viral on social media that shook the world, the picture of a 10-year-old Palestinian child who became the face of starvation in the Gaza Strip.
That Gazan boy, Yazan Kafarneh, was struggling desperately for his life amid relentless Israeli strikes on the besieged territory.
Yazan, who eventually succumbed to starvation and died in a hospital in southern Gaza, was just one of the thousands of Palestinian children currently facing malnutrition and starvation in Gaza.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, in April alone 28 more children have died of malnutrition and dehydration.
The starvation in Gaza is further evidence for Israel's genocidal intent.
Critics are now saying that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war against the people of Gaza.
I'm coming from Washington and I dare to say well, yes, Israel is provoking famine. Oh, how do you say that? What evidence do you have?
Come on? What evidence do I have? Hundreds of trucks are waiting to enter.
We send parachutes in a place that is one hour by car from the next airport. Why don't you send it by airport? Because they don't let! It is unacceptable.
Starvation is used as a weapon of war. Yes, starvation is used as a weapon of war.
Josep Borrell, EU Foreign Policy Chief
Nearly 34,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have already been killed in the Israeli onslaught on Gaza over the past six months.
The US-Israeli genocide, which is said to be the most documented instance in history, has been committed amid a muted response from the self-proclaimed supporters of human rights, which include the Western allies of the Israeli regime.
Palestinian children are one of the most vulnerable groups affected by the US-Israeli genocide.
The Israeli onslaught on Gaza has inflicted immense suffering on innocent civilians, particularly children whose lives have been shattered by airstrikes, displacement and the loss of loved ones.
According to reports from humanitarian organizations on the ground, the death toll among Palestinian children continues to rise. Many more, however, have been injured, traumatized and left homeless.
There is something particularly eerie, the intensity of devastation obviously, it's such a big child population in a compact space with, let's be clear, indiscriminate attacks. The numbers you're sharing there, it’s unprecedented.
And when you see in a hospital those wounds of war to children and you are remembering that when there is a missile or a bomb on a family home, it's not just one injury to a child. It's the broken bones. It's the burns, very hard to look at but we must keep looking at the burns on a child and it's the shrapnel.
These are the images that I (see) every time I turn around in a hospital and I don't think I've seen that consistency.
You have these rare moments of clutching onto some hope. There was a moment at a hospital, a little boy, Muhammad. Now he had bad burns but as I walked into (the room) Muhammad, he made this little effort, though it hurt him, to put the little thumbs up, an unsolicited movement and I just thought wow, what a character.
The adult with him explained that Muhammad was also the best student in his school, showed me some photographs of this beautiful little boy receiving awards and I thought 'this little guy's going to be okay',… and you hold on to these moments.
Then that adult explained to me that when the missile hit Muhammad's home, it killed everyone, and because families are bunkering down, I mean everyone; mother, father, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins.
Muhammad didn't know this yet. But Muhammad is now the last surviving member of his entire family.
James Elder, UNICEF Spokesperson
According to a recent report by the humanitarian organization, Save the Children, about 2% of Gaza's child population have either been killed or injured over the past six months of the Israeli war on the besieged territory.
Nearly 14,000 Palestinian children have already lost their lives in the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
According to a report publish by the Guardian, Palestinian children are directly targeted by Israeli snipers in Gaza.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian minors have suffered grievous injuries, including amputations, in Gaza.
In December the UN children's agency, UNICEF, estimated that at least 1,000 Palestinian children had one or both of their legs amputated in Gaza as a result of the Israeli strikes.
UNICEF has not updated the data since December, but it is believed to be much higher now after more than six months of relentless Israeli strikes on Gaza.
Medics say most of the amputations were carried out, to save lives, without anesthesia due to the lack of medicine in the coastal territory, which is still under an Israeli blockade.
It's hard to even convey the idea that in this world today that children are being amputated, having limbs amputated, as a result of traumatic injury, without anesthesia.
And by the way, there's plenty of anesthesia medicine at the border of Egypt waiting to enter Gaza.
There's plenty of food at the border of Egypt ready to enter Gaza. Children are starving, people are starving in Gaza. It's not as if there's some kind of natural disaster that's preventing anesthesia medicine to come into Gaza and be able to be to be utilized to treat injured children.
This is absolutely unimaginable, that this is happening in this modern world, and we're witnessing it, and everybody sees it, but nothing is changing.
The fact that there is now one thousand new amputees, at least, and that number is going to grow because a lot of these kids are with significant injuries in which their limbs are going to have to be amputated in the coming weeks and months.
Let's keep in mind not only were they amputated without anesthesia, but many of them were amputated in a very quick fashion.
Steve Sosebee, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund
Beyond the physical injuries and loss of life, children in Gaza are experiencing profound psychological trauma having witnessed the death of loved ones and living in constant fear of further violence.
The destruction of homes, schools and essential infrastructure further compounds their suffering, depriving them of basic necessities and a sense of security.
The psychological toll of the Israeli war on Palestinian children cannot be overstated. Many children have witnessed unimaginable horrors, including the deaths of family members and friends, the destruction of their neighborhoods, and the constant sound of explosions.
This exposure to violence leaves lasting scars on their mental health, increasing the risk of anxiety, depression and Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Without adequate support and resources these children face a lifetime of psychological struggles.
What's happening now is (that) more than 13,000 children have already been killed, which is an astronomical and horrifying number.
Thousands more have been injured or we can't even determine where they are; they may be stuck on the rubble.
Thousands more have lost one or both parents, some of these children, you've seen them on the news; they're just by themselves managing their younger siblings. It's a horrifying situation.
So when you think about the impact of that on those children as they grow up, even on their children, that it has an impact that is so profound because of the stress that they're living under, and the grief, and the loss, and the fear, that they're living under.
It's bound to have impacts on them for the rest of their lives.
Catherine Russell, UNICEF Chief
The plight of Palestinian children persists while the impact of the Israeli genocide in Gaza will rage on for generations to come.
But there is a glimmer of hope that could alleviate their suffering, the establishment of their own independent nation, free from the shackles of occupation.
In such a sovereign state, these children could finally realize their inherent right to freedom and pursue their dreams unencumbered.
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