AL-MAWASI: An intense wave of Israeli strikes on Tuesday prompted deep concern for the more than one million children in the Gaza Strip who “are bearing the brunt of this war”, a UNICEF spokeswoman said.
“We are deeply, deeply worried. Children’s lives are at risk in so many ways,” Rosalia Bollen, a spokeswoman for the United Nations children’s fund, told AFP after “a really tough and frightening night for all of us” in Gaza.
The overnight strikes were by far the deadliest since a truce took effect in January, largely halting more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas.
“There are over one million children in Gaza, and they are bearing the brunt of this war,” said Bollen from Al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said the strikes killed more than 400 people and separately reported 174 children killed.
Israeli strikes kill over 400 in Gaza, say Palestinians, ceasefire on brink
According to initial data collected by UNICEF, they include “dozens and dozens of children, with many more children wounded”, said Bollen.
AFP correspondents saw children’s bodies retrieved from bombarded buildings while the injured were taken to hospitals.
Medical facilities “have already been decimated” by the war, Bollen said, noting severe shortages of antibiotics and other key supplies.
“They may not be able to provide the care that severely injured children need… they are overwhelmed.”
Israel has blocked the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza since March 2, describing the move as a bid to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages.
UNICEF was able to bring in some food supplies since a truce went into effect on January 19 but far from enough, Bollen said.
“Children are worn out physically and mentally,” she said.
“In the past six months, the children I’ve spoken to have told me how afraid they were of dying. They were very afraid their parents or siblings might die.”
Some have been sleeping in makeshift tents or on the ground “in very dire conditions” and “many children have fallen ill”, added the spokeswoman.
According to the United Nations, the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced by the war, with children often staying for many months in makeshift shelters.
The war has created dire humanitarian conditions, triggering the first outbreak in Gaza in more than 20 years of polio, which mainly affects children, despite vaccination campaigns.
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