‘Shameful’ – UNICEF Says Lives of Children Devastated by Wars in Gaza, Lebanon

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UNICEF executive director described the deaths and suffering of children as “shameful”, demanding an immediate end to the violence.

The executive director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Catherine Russell, labeled on Saturday the lives of children in palestine and Lebanon as being “torn in unimaginable ways”.

Russel said in a statement published on her X account that children in palestine and Lebanon have suffered drastic consequences during the Israeli one-year-old genocide and the recent war on Lebanon.

“Children do not start wars and they have no power to end them, yet their lives are devastated by conflict,” she stated.

“Tens of thousands of children have died. Thousands more are in captivity, displaced, orphaned, out of school, and suffer trauma from violence and war,” Russel added.

UNICEF’s executive director demanded that all parties ensure the safety of children, which according to her, has so far been “flagrantly disregarded.”

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“All the parties are obligated to protect civilians, including children, humanitarian workers, and civilian infrastructure, including schools and health facilities,” she stressed.  

Russell also pleaded with all parties to allow unrestricted access to humanitarian aid to the besieged gaza Strip.

“Parties must allow unfettered access to life-saving aid,” the UN official emphasized.

The executive director concluded her statement by labeling the death amongst children as “shameful.”

“The deaths and suffering of children are shameful. The daily bloodshed and horror for children are an affront to the most fundamental values of humanity,” Russel said in her X post.

“The violence against children, the most vulnerable among us, must end,” she ended by saying.

Children Primary Victims

Nearly 100 American physicians and medical professionals who volunteered in the gaza Strip have called on US President Joe Biden to immediately withhold military, economic, and diplomatic support for israel to prevent “an even worse catastrophe” in the enclave.

“Every day that we continue supplying weapons and munitions to israel is another day that women are shredded by our bombs and children are murdered with our bullets,” the health workers said in a letter addressed to Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris dated October 2, 2024.

The multi-faith and multi-ethnic group which spent 254 weeks collectively volunteering in gaza’s hospitals and clinics said the letter “summarizes our own experiences and direct observations in gaza.”

The letter was accompanied by a detailed appendix summarizing the publicly available information from media, humanitarian, and academic sources on key aspects of israel’s invasion of gaza.

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“It is likely that the death toll from this conflict is already greater than 118,908, an astonishing 5.4% of gaza’s population,” the health workers stated, adding that they believed the US government was obligated, under both American law and International Humanitarian Law to withhold military support for israel.

“I’ve never seen such horrific injuries, on such a massive scale, with so few resources. Our bombs are cutting down women and children by the thousands,” Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, trauma and critical care surgeon, Veterans Affairs general surgeon said. “Their mutilated bodies are a monument to cruelty.”

gaza Genocide Continues

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on gaza.

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, israel has been waging a devastating war on gaza since October 7.

According to gaza’s Ministry of Health,  42,126 Palestinians have been killed, and 98,117 wounded in israel’s ongoing genocide in gaza starting on October 7, 2023.

Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

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israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central gaza in a constant search for safety. 

(The palestine Chronicle)