The Al Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis (southern Gaza), the largest still operating in the strip, has been attacked twice in the last 48 hourscausing victims among whom there would be children, denounced today the spokesperson in Geneva for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), James Elder.
(Also read: More than 200 deaths reported in Gaza due to Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours).
The hospital treats a large number of children injured in previous attacks on their homes, and provides shelter to hundreds of displaced women and minors, the spokesperson added at a press conference.
These types of attacks show once again that the Gaza Strip “is the most dangerous place in the world for children.”a reality that is reinforced day after day,” said Elder.
In the attacks there have been an unspecified number of victims, including Dina, a 13-year-old girl who, one day before she died, this Sunday, had shared her experiences with Unicef.
“She was injured, her right leg had been amputated, she had lost her parents and two brothers, but she had not lost hope, she told us that when she grew up she wanted to be a lawyer,” Elder said.
(Keep reading: #2023: the conflict in Gaza, the international event of the year).
Like Dina, “Gaza children are not safe in hospitalsshelters or, of course, in the supposed 'safe zones,' lamented the Unicef spokesperson.
These supposed safe areas designated by Israel as such do not meet the necessary conditions to provide shelter to displaced people, the official source insisted. who pointed out that, among other problems, there is no access for humanitarian aid to those places.
“They are simply pieces of land, street corners or half-built buildings without water, facilities or the possibility of shelter from the cold or rain,” Elder said. The Unicef spokesperson added that more than 100,000 cases of diarrhea have already been recorded in Gazan children, and about 150,000 from acute respiratory diseases, although the real figures could be even higher.
“At a time when malnutrition is widespread among Gaza's children, these diseases can be deadly,” he warned.
Elder also highlighted that more than 130,000 of Gaza's most vulnerable children, those under two years of ages, they are not receiving enough milk and food to survive.
(We recommend: Will the war in Gaza now extend to the West Bank?).
“In this scenario, with insufficient water, food and health services, something that could only come with a humanitarian ceasefire, lInfant mortality from diseases may exceed that caused by bombings,” the spokesperson warned.
EFE
#UNICEF #denounces #attacks #largest #operating #hospital #Gaza #children #among #victims