Gaza (Quds News Network)- At least 74 Palestinian children have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza in just the first week of the new year, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Wednesday.
Children have reportedly been killed in several “mass casualty events,” including nighttime attacks in Gaza City, Khan Younis, and the so-called al-Mawasi “safe zone.” The most recent attack, Tuesday, saw five children reportedly killed in al-Mawasi.
“For the children of Gaza, the new year has brought more death and suffering from attacks, deprivation, and increasing exposure to the cold,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
”A ceasefire is long overdue. Too many children have been killed or lost loved ones in a tragic start to the new year.”
The continued lack of basic shelter – combined with winter temperatures pose serious threats to children, UNICEF said, adding more than a million children living in makeshift tents, and many families displaced over the past 15 months, making children face extreme risks. Since December 26, eight infants and newborns have died from hypothermia, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza has spiralled out of control. The number of trucks with aid entering Gaza remains “woefully insufficient to meet the most basic needs of families. Civil order has largely collapsed inside Gaza, with the looting of humanitarian goods.”
The few remaining operational hospitals are “overwhelmed,” the UNICEF nted, adding the destruction of civilian infrastructure has left families struggling to access essential supplies, including food, safe water, sanitation, and access to healthcare. Kamal Adwan Hospital, which had been the only operational medical facility and the sole hospital in northern Gaza with a pediatric unit, is no longer functional following an Israeli raid late last month. This has “further exacerbated the already dire conditions for medical care in the region.”
“UNICEF has long warned that inadequate shelter, lack of access to nutrition and healthcare, the dire sanitary situation, and now the winter weather put the lives of all children in Gaza at risk. Newborns and children with medical conditions are especially vulnerable,” said Russell.
