The Gaza Strip became a “cemetery for thousands of children.” This was stated this Tuesday by the UNwho fear more deaths from dehydration in that Palestinian territory.
Israel has bombed Gaza incessantly since October 7 and imposed a strict siege on the enclave, in response to the incursion of commandos from the Islamist movement Hamas. who killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped at least 240, according to Israeli reports.
The Israeli bombings, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, governed by Hamas, left at least 8,500 dead, most of them civilians.
“Our fears that the dead children would be counted in the dozens, then in the hundreds and finally in the thousands, materialized in a period of 15 days”declared Unicef spokesman James Elder in a statement.
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An injured Palestinian child is taken to Nasser hospital after an Israeli bombing.
“The numbers are terrible: more than 3,450 children would have died and (…) that number increases every day. Gaza became a cemetery for thousands of children,” she added.
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The balance may also increase due to the lack of drinking water in that devastated territory of 362 square kilometers. where almost 2.4 million Palestinians live, besieged by Israel.
“Gaza’s water production capacity represents no more than 5% of its usual daily production. “The death of children, and particularly infants, from dehydration is a growing threat,” Elder said.
![Humanitarian aid](https://www.eltiempo.com/files/article_content_new/uploads/2023/10/19/65312441ac999.jpeg)
Palestinian children fill water bottles from a mobile cistern in Rafah.
UNICEF called for an immediate ceasefirewith the opening of all access points to Gaza, to allow the entry of humanitarian aid.
“Without a ceasefire, without water, without medicine and without the release of kidnapped children, we will rush towards even greater horrors for those innocent children,” he warned, referring to the general situation in Gaza and the minors who were kidnapped by Hamas in Israel.
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“It is unbearable to think of the children buried under the rubble, with very little chance of being rescued,” stated the spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jens Laerke.
Infant mortality risks being aggravated by other factors related to the war, noted the World Health Organization (WHO).
“There are 130 premature children who depend on incubators and 61% of these are in the north” of the stripwhich the Israeli army urged to evacuate and where it focuses its ground operations, explained WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier, who warned that “an imminent public health catastrophe is emerging.”
AFP
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