AhlulBayt News Agency: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has reported that more than 50,000 children have been killed or injured in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, making it one of the deadliest conflicts for children in modern history.
In a statement issued Monday, UNRWA highlighted that civilians—including children, humanitarian workers, medical staff, and journalists—continue to suffer casualties daily due to relentless bombardment and ground assaults by Israeli occupation forces (IOF).
The UN agency described the ongoing situation as a humanitarian catastrophe, with young lives being lost at an alarming rate.
The report follows a warning from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) about the escalating toll on children in Gaza. Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, confirmed that over 50,000 children have been killed or wounded since the start of the Israeli military campaign on October 7, 2023.
“The past 72 hours alone have revealed the unbearable cost of this war on children,” Beigbeder stated, referencing horrific images of the burned and dismembered bodies of the al-Najjar family’s children, recovered from the rubble of their home in Khan Yunis. Of the ten siblings under the age of 12, only one survived, suffering serious injuries.
“These are unimaginable atrocities,” Beigbeder added, noting that one image showed a young child trapped inside a burning school in Gaza City following an airstrike that killed at least 31 people, including 18 children.
He stressed that Gaza’s children “must never be reduced to statistics,” yet their names continue to be added to a growing list of grave violations, including direct killings, denial of humanitarian aid, starvation, forced displacement, and the destruction of critical infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, homes, and sanitation systems.
According to UNICEF, since the collapse of the ceasefire on March 18, at least 1,309 children have been killed and 3,738 others injured in ongoing Israeli attacks.
Despite repeated international calls for a ceasefire and the protection of civilians, Israel—backed unconditionally by the United States—continues its military campaign against Gaza.
The conflict has resulted in over 178,000 Palestinian casualties, with more than 11,000 still missing, many believed to be buried under rubble. Entire neighborhoods have been destroyed, and the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been forcibly displaced.
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