“In Gaza one child gets killed every hour”: UNRWA chief
One child is killed by Israel every hour in Gaza, the chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on Tuesday.
He said there is "no place left for children" in Gaza, adding that since the launch of Israel's genocidal war on the enclave, 14,500 children have been killed.
“These are not numbers. These are lives cut short,” says Lazzarini in a post on X.
On Tuesday, UNRWA quoted Lazzarini as saying, “Killing children cannot be justified.”
“Those who survive are scarred physically and emotionally … the clock is ticking for these children. They are losing their lives, their futures and mostly their hope,” he was quoted as saying.
UNRWA supports Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, as well as surrounding countries.
Israel has said it will ban UNRWA from operating in Gaza and West Bank from next month.
Earlier this year, international NGO Oxfam said more women and children have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military than other recent conflict in a single year.
"These staggering figures are both appalling and heartbreaking. Influential actors in the international community have not only failed to hold Israel to account, they are also complicit in the atrocities by continuing to unconditionally supply it with arms" Sally Abi Khalil, the organisation’s Middle East and north Africa director said.
"It will take generations to recover from the devastating impacts of this war and there is still no ceasefire in sight" Khalil continued.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 45,338 Palestinians since 7 October 2023 and wounded over 107,764 others in the same time frame. The war on the Strip has plunged the Strip into a deep humanitarian crisis.
