To date,Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed more than 11,000 people and injured a further 25,000 in just four weeks. Of those killed,over 4100 are children,according to the Gaza Health Ministry. About 1250 children are missing,presumed to be buried under the rubble of bombed buildings,according to the United Nations. Some of them are likely to be still alive,unable to be rescued. UNICEF says Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children.
The UN also reports that 258 school buildings have sustained damage,meaning any hope of education now or into the future has been severely and catastrophically impacted.
This week,the World Health Organization said 20 of Gaza’s hospitals were now entirely out of action,with operations at Gaza’s largest hospital,Al Shifa,suspended after its fuel ran out.
Now, at least one of those babies in incubators,who rely on electric ventilators to breathe,has had their name added to Gaza’s growing death toll.
The Israeli government says that during the attack on October 7,an armed Palestinian group took about 30 children as hostages. No words can truly capture the suffering a young hostage goes through. Their urgent and unconditional release should be a priority. So too should be the release of the 500 to 700 Palestinian children the UN estimates are being held under Israeli military detention each year. All children are equal.
War reconfigures lives and landscapes. It turns nurseries and neighbourhoods into killing fields and mass graveyards where innocent children are trapped and buried beneath.
At the same time,the resilience of the children I have met for one reason or another while in Gaza was striking.
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When I met Omsiyat,a 12-year-old resident of Gaza in 2009,she asked me a simple but disarming question:“Why are children made to suffer in wars?”
Yet,there was also a sliver of hope. I watched Omsiyat and her young friends pick up burnt books and crayons from the rubble of their partly charred primary school. Another girl broke out in a huge smile when she spotted a colourful poster she had drawn in the wreckage. She was happy to get it back,she told me,but sad that the bombs had burned part of it.
Compassion for children and fellow human beings,and talking meaningfully about ceasefire,peace and justice are the first steps to stop a war.
Under international law,six violations against children are recognised. These include armed forces and rebel groups recruiting children,the killing and maiming of children,the abduction of children,sexual violence and sexual abuse of children,attacking schools and hospitals where children are present,and the denial of humanitarian access.
In any conflict,these laws must be respected and the mounting cases of child casualties should be a wake-up call for us all. Ababy dying in an incubator that has been denied the electricity it needs to deliver oxygen is a vote of no confidence against humanity. It is a stain on our collective conscience.
For children,stopping war means stopping them from being killed,or maimed or permanently injured – physically and mentally. It means stopping them from dying from dehydration or starvation or a lack of medical care.
A ceasefire means getting war-wounded and displaced children clean water,food,life-saving humanitarian assistance,emotional care and,with this,dignity.
In Palestine and Israel,an unconditional and urgent ceasefire is the only way to give humanity,and children,a chance.
Dr Unni Krishnan is the global humanitarian director at Plan International.