According to UNICEF, at least 67 children have been killed in “conflict-related incidents” since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel came into effect on 10 October, at a rate of two a day. The UN agency also said that about 4,000 children need urgent medical evacuation from the war-torn, besieged enclave.
Latest Gaza Ministry of Health data indicates that more than 280 Palestinians have been killed and 672 injured since the ceasefire, in addition to 571 bodies recovered from the rubble.
“Yesterday morning, a baby girl was reportedly killed in Khan Younis by an airstrike, while the day before, seven children were killed in Gaza City and the south,” said UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires at a news conference in Geneva on Friday. His comments came as NGO Doctors Without Borders reported that a nine-year-old girl is receiving treatment for facial wounds after gunfire from quadcopter drones was reported on Wednesday.
On Friday, four Palestinian children were injured after the Israeli occupation quadcopter drone dropped an explosive bomb in the al-Salatin area, southwest of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.
“Gaza’s doctors tell us of children they know how to save but cannot,” said Pires, who reeled off a list to journalists of youngsters “with severe burns, shrapnel wounds, spinal injuries, traumatic brain injuries, children with cancer who have lost months of treatment. Premature babies who need intensive care. Children who need surgeries that simply cannot be done inside Gaza today.”
The official cumulative toll since 7 October 2023 is now at least 69,546, with another 170,833 people injured.
