UNICEF: 1 child born every 10 mins in Gaza since start of war

A Gazan mother, Sabreen al-Azami, who was displaced from Beit Lahia city when she was 7 months pregnant due to Israeli attacks and took refuge in a tent, is seen holding her daughter Sukkar on her arms in Rafah, Gaza on December 23, 2023. The mother and her baby born a week ago live in the tent under difficult conditions with health problems. [Abed Zagout/Anadolu via Getty Images]

The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has reported that 20,000 children have been born in the Gaza Strip since Israel launched its devastating genocidal war on 7 October, 2023, as conveyed by UNICEF communications expert Tess Ingram, in a statement in Geneva, Switzerland.

Ingram said that over the 105 days that the tension escalated in the Gaza Strip, about 20,000 babies were born into the atmosphere of war, noting that this means one baby is born every 10 minutes.

“The situation of pregnant women and newborns in the Gaza Strip is beyond belief, and it demands intensified and immediate actions,” urged Ingram.

Ingram stated that pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and their babies are living in: “Inhumane conditions, makeshift shelters (with) poor nutrition and unsafe water.”

“This is putting about 135,000 children under the age of two at severe risk of malnutrition,” she warned.

Since 7 October, 2023, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating genocidal war on Gaza, which, as of Friday, left 24,762 martyrs and 62,108 injured, an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, and caused the displacement of more than 85 per cent (about 1.9 million people) of Gaza’s population.

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