The NGO Save the Children reported this Sunday that, on average, more than ten boys and girls a day have lost one or both legs in Gaza since the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7.
In total, in these three months of conflict, more than 1,000 children have had one or both legs amputated, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and many of these operations have been performed without anesthesia due to deficiencies of the Gazan health system as a consequence of the conflict.
«The suffering of boys and girls in this conflict is unimaginable and even more so because it is unnecessary and completely avoidable. “This suffering, murder and mutilation of children are serious violations of childhood, and the perpetrators must be held accountable,” lamented Save the Children's director for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Jason Lee.
Lee has stressed that young children caught in explosions are particularly vulnerable to serious, life-changing injuries as their bones are not fully formed nor their muscles fully developed.
Lack of doctors
In addition, the paralysis of the health system and the severe shortage of health personnel and supplies such as anesthesia and antibiotics have meant that the medical staff in charge are completely overwhelmed when children arrive with blast wounds.
“The impact of seeing children in so much pain and not having the equipment, medications to treat them or relieve the pain is too much for even experienced professionals. Even though it is a war zone, the images and sounds of a small child mutilated by bombs cannot be reconciled, much less understood within the limits of humanity,” described the director of the NGO.
In this situation, Save the Children has claimed that only a definitive ceasefire can end the mutilations and deaths of civilians, as well as allow the arrival of humanitarian aid.
“Unless the international community takes action to fulfill its responsibilities under International Humanitarian Law and prevent the most serious crimes of international concern, history will and should judge us all. “We must heed the lessons of the past and must prevent heinous crimes from occurring,” Lee said.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 22,000 Palestinians have died and another 57,000 have been injured in the three months since October 7, with children maimed and murdered at a devastating rate and entire families killed daily. .
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