An estimated 17,000 children in Gaza have lost one or both parents due to killing, arrest, or disappearance, according to Gaza’s Media Office.
About 17,000 children in the Gaza Strip are now living without one or both of their parents due to killing or arrests by Israeli forces since they began their assault against Palestinians on October 7.
According to the Director-General of the Gaza Media Office Ismail al-Thawabteh “around 17,000 Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip have been living without their parents since the genocide began, with some of them losing both parents due to martyrdom, arrest, or disappearance.” He spoke at a press conference at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, reports the Anadolu news agency.
UNICEF also estimates that “at least 17,000 children in the Gaza Strip are unaccompanied or separated.”
According to UNICEF State of Palestine Chief of Communication, Jonathan Crickx, this figure “corresponds to 1% of the overall displaced population – 1.7 million people.”
17,000+ children are unaccompanied or separated from parents in Gaza, @UNICEF estimates.
“Each one, a heartbreaking story of loss & grief,” says @UNICEFpalestine Chief of Communication, as our colleagues keep working to deliver aid & psychosocial support. https://t.co/gOTex6Y2Gw pic.twitter.com/plPjF8y25d
— United Nations (@UN) February 2, 2024
He said at a press briefing earlier this month, that “Before this war, UNICEF was considering that more than 500,000 children were already in need of Mental Health and Psychosocial support (MHPSS) in the Gaza Strip.”
“Today, we estimate that almost all children are in need of MHPSS, more than 1 million children,” Crickx stressed.
Fatalities
In addition, Al-Thawabteh said the number of children killed since the beginning of the “genocide” has risen to 12,150.
He pointed out that “the total fatalities of the war have reached 35,000, martyrs and missing persons, including 8,300 women, 340 medical personnel, 46 civil defense personnel, and 123 journalists.”
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He stressed that the office has documented the “loss of about 7,000 individuals under the rubble, as they could not be rescued due to the continuous bombardment and the lack of fuel.”
Bodies Stolen from Cemeteries
Al-Thawabteh accused Israel of “stealing more than 300 bodies of the dead and martyrs from 13 cemeteries it attacked and bulldozed in the Gaza Strip.”
“The occupation destroyed dozens of corpses and stole vital organs from them, some of which were later returned and buried in mass graves in the south of the Gaza Strip,” he was quoted by Anadolu as saying.
The Director-General issued a dire warning regarding “the deepening famine in northern Gaza Strip after the depletion of flour, rice, and animal feed that the citizens there used to eat.”
He said more than two million displaced Palestinians in shelters in all governorates of Gaza “are living a very difficult life, as they cannot find food, water, or medicine.”
Al-Thawabteh said that more than 700,000 displaced people have been contracted with infectious diseases due to harsh displacement conditions and the absence of services.
(PC, Anadolu)
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