Children ‘bearing the brunt’ of Gaza war – UNICEF

Nearly 70% of those killed in Gaza as part of Israel’s war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas have been children and women, the UN Human Rights Office said in a new report on Friday, released 13 months after the start of the latest hostilities in the enclave.

The document, covering the period from November 2023 to April 2024, states that “justice must be served” for “the grave violations of international law that have been committed.”

The three most common age categories among the victims in Gaza have been children aged from five to nine years old, children from ten to 14, and babies and children under four, the UN Human Rights Office wrote.

“The situation unbelievably continues to get worse… particularly for children. They are the ones bearing the brunt of this conflict,” Tess Ingram, a spokesperson for UNICEF Middle East and North Africa, told RT on Friday.

According to Ingram, Gaza’s healthcare system has been “decimated” in the past year. She went on to say that many babies are likely dying because of a lack of life-saving care.

On Wednesday, the UN’s children’s agency UNICEF also reported that an estimated 4,000 newborn babies had been cut off from lifesaving care in the past year in Gaza because of sustained attacks on hospitals and damage to infrastructure.

The last remaining neonatal intensive care unit in northern Gaza, at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, was reportedly damaged in heavy attacks in recent days, UNICEF wrote.

Hostilities between Israel and Hamas flared up when the Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7 last year, killing around 1,100 people and taking more than 200 others hostage.

The massive military retaliation by Israel has claimed roughly 43,500 lives in the enclave, according to Palestinian health officials.