Gaza: 17,000 children killed & and 33,000 injured in 21 Months - UNICEF briefing | United Nations

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell for her part told the Council that “over the past 21 months of war, more than 17,000 children have reportedly been killed and 33,000 injured in Gaza. An average of 28 children have been killed each day – the equivalent of an entire classroom.” Russell said, “these children are not combatants. They are being killed and maimed as they line up for lifesaving food and medicine.” The Executive Director said, “children who survive the war in Gaza will be forever affected by the deprivation and exposure to traumatic events they have experienced. Even before the war began, half of Gaza’s child population needed mental health and psychological support. Today, all of Gaza’s children need these services.” United States Ambassador Dorothy Shea urged Member States and the United Nations to support the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) “and stop echoing incorrect information that benefits Hamas and undermines the secure delivery of aid to civilians in Gaza.” Shea said it was “unconscionable that Members of this Council have focused on criticizing the GHF rather than condemning Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad for their continued abuse of the Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The result is an ever-growing credibility gap for the United Nations.” Palestinian Ambassador Majed Bamya said, “they want to say, we chose to leave. We chose to be occupied. We chose to be oppressed. It is our fault. It's always our fault. That has been the narrative since the beginning. Didn't they say we were responsible for our own Nakba? That we left on our own? Forgetting the massacres and the towns and villages destroyed. Let them leave, they say. This is Israel’s solution for the Palestine question; a right to further and definitive exile rather than a right of return or the right to life and liberty in our ancestral homeland.” Bamya said, “it is a genocide. Many observers say it. Many independent organizations say it. Many scholars say it from Israel and the rest of the world. And we blame Israel for these actions, not Israeli civilians, not Jews around the world. They're not responsible for what Israel is doing. And many Jews around the world stand for justice, in Palestine and elsewhere. They call it a genocide, and they fight to stop this genocide, and they fight for a future of peace.” Israeli representative Reut Shapir Ben Naftaly said, “the glaring silence of this Council about Israeli children, about hostages, murdered toddlers like the Bibas boys, on traumatized survivors who will never see their parents again, on children running for shelter as Iranian missiles rained down on civilian population centres, is more than a technical mission. It is a moral failure.” Naftaly said, “we are presented with a narrative that forces Israel into a defendant's chair, while Hamas, the very cause of this conflict and the very instigator of suffering of Israelis but also of Palestinians, goes unmentioned, unchallenged and immune to condemnation.” Türkiye’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan told the Council that “Israel is trying to implement its strategy of aggression not only in Palestine, but also in Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. There is a clear pattern here. If left unchecked, this pattern risks wider destabilization. This is exactly what's going on in Syria. Israeli aggression is threatening the fragile peace that Syrian people pay the high price to reach. These attacks are deepening the fault lines across the region. It should be clear to all of us by now, Israel doesn't want peace, Israel doesn't want stability.” In the past week, severe injuries continued to be reported among people seeking aid. The World Health Organization reported one instance where a 21-year-old man was paralyzed for life after being shot while trying to collect a bag of flour from one of these militarized food distribution hubs. Meanwhile, months of escalating hostilities have increased risks for the most vulnerable, including people with disabilities and older people, who struggle to access what they need to survive and become even more isolated.