UNRWA chief says one Palestinian child killed every hour in Gaza

The commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has said that one Palestinian child is killed every hour in the Gaza Strip as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression.

“Since the beginning of the war, 14,500 children have been reported killed in Gaza,” wrote Philippe Lazzarini on social media, citing figures from UNICEF. “Killing children cannot be justified. One child gets killed every hour. These are not numbers. These are lives cut short. Killing children cannot be justified.”

Lazzarini added that those who survive are scarred physically and emotionally. “Deprived of learning, boys [and] girls in Gaza sift through the rubble. The clock is ticking for these children. They are losing their lives, their futures [and] mostly their hope.”

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According to a needs assessment conducted by a Gaza-based NGO sponsored by the War Child Alliance, 92 per cent of Palestinian children surveyed “cannot accept reality”; 79 per cent suffer from nightmares; and 73 per cent suffer from symptoms of aggression.

“This report reveals that Gaza is one of the most horrific places in the world for children,” said Helen Pattinson, chief executive of War Child UK. “Alongside the destruction of hospitals, schools and homes, a series of psychological devastations have left invisible but no less devastating wounds for children who bear no responsibility for this war.”

The study surveyed parents or caregivers of 504 children from families where at least one child was disabled, injured or unattended.

A recent assessment by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights puts the number of children killed in Gaza even higher than UNICEF. It found that 44 per cent of the 45,300 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza were children.

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