As the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression marks Wednesday, Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip continue to pay the heaviest price for Israel’s 20-month-old genocidal war, amid a stifling blockade imposed by Tel Aviv on the entry of food and medical aid since March 2.
More than one million children in Gaza live in a tragic reality, including tens of thousands suffering from various injuries, including amputations of one or more limbs.
According to the latest data from the Government Media Office in Gaza, 42,000 children are orphaned, while approximately 70,000 others are at risk of starvation due to malnutrition and food shortages.
The risks facing children, especially the injured and sick, are increasing due to the lack of treatment and medication and severe malnutrition resulting from Israel’s starvation policy and the closure of crossings, in addition to the decline in medical care amid the collapse of the health sector in Gaza due to deliberate targeting.
The United Nations commemorates June 4th of each year as the “International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression,” with the aim of recognizing the suffering of children, victims of physical, mental, and psychological abuse, around the world, and reaffirming the United Nations’ commitment to protecting children’s rights and guiding its work with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
This commemoration comes about two weeks after Israeli calls to eliminate children from Gaza, most notably from former Likud Knesset member and leader of the far-right Zehut party, Moshe Feiglin, who told the right-wing Hebrew Channel 14: “Every child in Gaza is an enemy. We must occupy and settle Gaza until not a single child from Gaza remains. There is no other victory.”
