Up to 21,000 Children Are Estimated to Be Missing in Gaza
A Palestinian girl found amid the rubble left by the Israeli bombing, 2024. Photo: X/ @QudsNen
June 24, 2024 Hour: 11:16 am
Since October 2023, Israel has killed over 37,600 Palestinians, of whom around 15,800 are children.
On Monday, Save the Children denounced that the Israeli offensive against Gaza has resulted in approximately 21,000 Palestinian children missing, many of whom are believed to be trapped under rubble, detained, buried in unmarked graves, or separated from their families.
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“Thousands of children in Gaza are trapped beneath the stones of their towns, homes, and schools – structures flattened by Israeli bombs and destroyed by military operations,” Save the Children said, adding that it is currently “almost impossible” to collect and verify information since Israel continues its ground and air attacks.
“Others have been forcibly disappeared, including an unknown number detained and forcibly transferred out of Gaza, with their whereabouts unknown to their families amidst reports of ill-treatment and torture,” the UK-based NGO stated.
“Families are tortured by the uncertainty of the whereabouts of their loved ones. No parent should have to dig through rubble or mass graves to try and find their child’s body. No child should be alone, unprotected in a war zone. No child should be detained or held hostage,” said Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East.
A ceasefire is desperately needed to help “support the missing children who have survived and to prevent more families from being destroyed,” he stressed, as reported by the outlet Middle East Eye.
Khaled Quzmar, the director of Defense for Children International Palestine, declared that the Israeli offensive against Gaza has had impacts never before seen, not even during World War II. “This is a war against children. The children of Gaza are the greatest cost of the Israeli genocide in Gaza,” he stressed.
Despite growing criticism against the Zionist offensive, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday reiterated that he would not accept any agreement to stop his army’s operations in Gaza.
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation army has killed over 37,600 Palestinians, of whom around 15,800 are children. Currently, 3,500 Palestinian children are at risk of death from malnutrition due to the blockade that Israel maintains against Gaza.
Autor: teleSUR/ JF
Fuente: Save the Children - Middle East Eye - EFE
