At least one Palestinian child has been killed every hour on average by Israeli forces in Gaza over nearly 23 months of war, Save the Children reported on Saturday. The number of children killed has now surpassed 20,000, a figure the organization described as one of the most appalling milestones in the ongoing genocide.

Data released by the Government Media Office in Gaza showed that at least 20,000 children, around 2% of Gaza’s child population, have been killed since October 2023. Among them were at least 1,009 infants under the age of one, nearly half of whom were born and killed during the war.

According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, at least 42,011 children have been injured, while the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities reported that 21,000 have been permanently disabled. Thousands more remain missing, many presumed buried under rubble.

Children facing malnutrition and imminent famine

Save the Children warned that the lives of surviving children are at daily risk as famine spreads across the Gaza Strip. More than one million people, about half of them children, are already facing catastrophic hunger, the most severe classification under the IPC Phase 5 system.

The Ministry of Health said at least 132,000 children under the age of five are at risk of death from acute malnutrition. At least 135 have already died of starvation, including 20 since famine was declared on August 22.

Schools, hospitals destroyed in Israeli bombardment

The organization highlighted the devastation of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, noting that Israeli forces have damaged 97% of schools and 94% of hospitals. Children are seven times more likely than adults to die from blast injuries, given their physical vulnerability and the need for specialized treatment that is now largely unavailable.

Parents struggle with trauma and grief

Save the Children’s Mental Health and Psychosocial Support team shared testimonies from grieving parents. They described parents living through “unbearable grief”, mourning children who were torn apart by airstrikes while enduring malnutrition, displacement, and constant bombardment.

“Parents whose children were torn to pieces speak of a pain more than anyone should be made to bear, of not being able to give their children one last hug, of being deprived of a goodbye,” the group said.

Warnings of war crimes and genocide risk

Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children’s Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, condemned the statistics as “a shameful statistic – a horrific new low in a war characterized by a constant stream of them.”

“This war is a cruel, depraved, and deliberate war on the children of Gaza and their future, a generation stolen. If the international community does not step up, we are facing the very real risk of the total annihilation of future Palestinian communities,” he grimly added.

Save the Children stressed that atrocity crimes, including crimes against humanity and war crimes, have been committed. It noted that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is reviewing whether genocide is taking place, warning that even the plausible risk of genocide is enough to legally obligate states to act.

Call for ceasefire, global action

The organization called for an immediate and definitive ceasefire, as well as unfettered humanitarian access to deliver life-saving aid to children and families across Gaza.

It emphasized that children are entitled to enhanced protections under international humanitarian law because of the disproportionate impact of conflict on them physically and mentally. Save the Children also urged states to halt the transfer of weapons, spare parts, and ammunition used against children and civilians.

“Compliance with these rules is compliance with humanity – and is not optional,” the group said.

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