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Report: Israel killed 27 children in Gaza in 2019

January 10, 2020 at 9:49 am

A Medic carries an injured Palestinian child after Israeli forces fired at protesters during the Great March of Return in Gaza on 31 May 2019 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Israeli occupation forces killed 27 Palestinian children, and wounded more than 2,000 others, in the occupied Gaza Strip in 2019, a rights group announced yesterday.

In an official report, Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights condemned what it described as “the Israeli occupation forces’ continuous violations against Gaza and its residents,” noting that the violations included arbitrary arrests, either by penetrating into the Strip or by chasing fishermen, labourers and children who approach the fence separating the enclave from Israel.

“Israel continues to arrest and detain children in violation of international human rights standards and laws,” the rights centre added, pointing out that Israeli occupation forces arrested 35 children in Gaza in 2019.

READ: ‘2019 the worst for Gaza on humanitarian, economic levels’

Al-Mezan added that the Israeli violations in Gaza had included “military aggressions on educational and health institutions,” explaining that 32 schools were partially damaged following an Israeli attack.

The rights group called on the international community to interfere “to halt the Israeli violations in the Palestinian territories.”

For 13 years, Israel has imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip, resulting in a dramatic increase in poverty and unemployment in the densely populated enclave.