51,000 minors in Gaza could be unaccompanied, separated from parents
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Children separated from their families are at great risk of child exploitation, neglect, malnutrition, and long-term mental health consequences.
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A boy watches a smoke plume rise while standing on the balcony of the Rafei school being used as a displacement shelter in the Jabaalia camp in northern Gaza. (AFP)
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has released a new report outlining the terrible impact of "Israel's" aggression on Gaza's children.
According to the report, an estimated 17,000 minors are unattended or separated from their parents or caretakers. The IRC believes this number might be three times higher, putting it at around 51,000.
Over the last six months, "Israel's" frequent evacuation orders, detentions, and assaults have contributed to increasing family separations in Gaza, leaving children at greater risk of exploitation, neglect, malnutrition, and long-term mental health consequences.
Every child, parent, and caregiver in Gaza is dealing with trauma, and IRC teams in Gaza have reported an increase in severe and acute malnutrition among children under five. Children in Gaza have already missed a year of school due to the breakdown of the education system and the destruction of school facilities caused by Israeli airstrikes.
According to Bart Witteveen, the IRC's country director for occupied Palestine, children are feeling the brunt of this aggression and it is evident that unless a rapid and sustainable ceasefire is reached, the long-term consequences will only worsen.
Prolonged toxic stress from violence and displacement can cause long-term health problems in children. Without psychological assistance or safe spaces for children, there is a considerable danger of long-term developmental consequences.
Without assistance from psychosocial activities or safe locations for children, there is a considerable danger of long-term developmental consequences, including brain development.
Witteveen urged the international community to act promptly to protect the children in Gaza.
Gaza's unaccounted dead: WashPo
Throughout the war, "Israel" bombed hospitals, schools, mosques, and tents ruthlessly.
Initially, Gaza's medical professionals logged the names and details of each casualty, allowing the Health Ministry to report daily death figures.
However, as the medical system degraded, correctly counting the dead became increasingly difficult.
By November, the Ministry began listing both identified and unidentified dead in its reports, although the most recent data still indicate over 6,000 unidentified bodies. Furthermore, many casualties have gone uncounted, including those who perished beneath debris or were buried by family members without being sent to a medical facility.
A better picture may not emerge until the war ends and researchers, who are now barred from visiting Gaza, gain access to the territory.
Mike Spagat, a professor of casualty statistics at Royal Holloway, University of London, told The Washington Post that a number of reasons make it difficult to register the dead.
He said it's unclear how many bodies have passed through hospitals without being registered or how many families may have been unable to document their deaths using a new online system.
In other families, many generations may have been wiped out in an instant, leaving no one to memorialize them.
Since the start of the war, researchers at Airwars, a British watchdog that counts civilian casualties, have examined available sources for the identities of those killed in Israeli attacks. Names are gathered via online posts, news stories, and, if feasible, the sides of corpse bags, and then cross-checked against Ministry of Health databases.
Data collected from open-source material can only give a narrow window, but it all indicates an undercount of casualties, according to Emily Tripp, director of Airwars.
"What we've been able to capture is just a fraction of the reality," Tripp stated.
