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UN: Level of brutality against children of Gaza highest in decades

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
20 Nov 2023 16:22
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The war on Gaza has taken the lives of over 4,600 children since October 7, with the level of brutality being the highest in recent decades, according to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Children carry mock coffins as supporters from Pakistan’s main religious political party hold a rally in Pakistan on Nov. 19, 2023. (AP)

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child confirmed that the war on Gaza has taken the lives of over 4,600 children since October 7, with the level of brutality being the highest in recent decades.

In a statement released on World Children's Day, the committee said, "More than 4,600 children have been killed in Gaza in only five weeks. This war has claimed the lives of more children in a shorter time and with a level of brutality that we have not witnessed in recent decades."

This comes after the UN Security Council's November 15 resolution called for humanitarian pauses was considered a "positive step," but stated that it did not end "the war that is [being waged] on children."

"There are 468 million children worldwide living in armed conflict zones, according to Save the Children's research, accounting for about 20% of the world's 2.4 billion children population, based on UNICEF's statistics," the committee added, noting that back in 2022, the number of children killed were 8,630.

Over 1 million children displaced

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell warned on November 15 that the situation in Gaza is devastating, while the ongoing Israeli aggression has displaced over 1 million children, with many believed to be missing or buried under the debris of destroyed buildings.

Following a visit to the Strip, Russel described the horrible scenes in a statement released on the organization's website, "Today I visited the Gaza Strip to meet with children, their families and UNICEF staff. What I saw and heard was devastating. They have endured repeated bombardment, loss and displacement. Inside the Strip, there is nowhere safe for Gaza’s one million children to turn."

The World Health Organization (WHO) stated earlier that a child is killed on average every 10 minutes in Gaza with “nowhere and no one is safe” under Israeli airstrikes.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territories, condemned the international community for failing to put an end to “the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people” by “Israel”.

“In the face of all of this, the international community is almost completely paralyzed,” she said in an address to the National Press Club on Tuesday”, while calling the UN's response and action “its most epic failure.”