bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

The Gaza Strip has become a graveyard for thousands of children, the United Nations said, fearing more may die of dehydration.
Israel has heavily bombarded Gaza since Hamas gunmen stormed across the border on October 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping at least 240 others, including children, according to Israeli officials.
At least 8,796 Palestinians, including 3,648 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes, the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said on Wednesday.
The UN children’s agency Unicef said there was a risk that the number of child deaths directly from bombardment could be eclipsed.

“Our gravest fears about the reported numbers of children killed becoming dozens, then hundreds, and ultimately thousands were realised in just a fortnight,” Unifcef spokesman James Elder said on Tuesday.
“Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children. It’s a living hell for everyone else.”
“There are certainly children who are dying who have been impacted by the bombardment but should have had their lives saved,” Elder told reporters in Geneva, via video-link.
‘Offensive operations’: has Israel invaded Gaza?
Without greater humanitarian access into Gaza, “the deaths from the attacks, they could absolutely be the tip of the iceberg”.
He said the more than one million children living in the Gaza Strip were also suffering from a lack of clean water.
“Gaza’s water production capacity is a mere five per cent of its usual daily output. Child deaths – particularly infants – to dehydration are a growing threat,” he said.
Unicef is calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, with all access crossings into Gaza opened for the safe, sustained and unimpeded access of humanitarian aid, including water, food, medical supplies, and fuel.
“And if there is no ceasefire, no water, no medicine, and no release of abducted children? Then we hurtle towards even greater horrors afflicting innocent children,” said Elder.

Israel’s ambassador in Geneva, Meirav Eilon Shahar, told reporters on Monday that Hamas was holding 33 children hostage, the youngest nine months old.
Elder said that according to figures from health faculties in Gaza, 940 children were missing.
UN humanitarian agency spokesman Jens Laerke added: “It’s almost unbearable to think about children buried under rubble, but (with) very little opportunity or possibility for getting them out”.
The World Health Organization said people in Gaza were dying not just from direct bombardment.
Hamas says it will free foreign hostages ‘in the next few days’
“We have 130 premature infants that are dependent on incubators, of which 61 per cent approximately are in the north,” said WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier.
“It’s an imminent public health catastrophe that looms with the mass displacement, the overcrowding, and the damage to water and sanitation infrastructure.”
Israel laid a total siege on Gaza following October 7, cutting off food, fuel, water and power supplies to the territory.
From October 21-30 143 trucks carrying food, water and medicine entered the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing with Egypt, Laerke said.
“It remains a drop; it remains unacceptable,” said Elder.


China ties must not be marred by ‘politics’: Israeli diplomat Aviv Ezra

Pentagon ditches Harvard as Hegseth declares university too ‘woke’

Gaza’s violent reality: hundreds have been killed since October ceasefire

Israeli strikes kill 21 Palestinians, mostly women and children as Gaza ceasefire crumbles

Israel-Gaza war

Gaza now a ‘graveyard’ for thousands of children, UN says

A girl stands amid rubble in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: AFP

A Palestinian man carries the body of his child who was killed in Israeli strikes. Photo: Reuters

Hamas was holding 33 children hostage. Pictured are two of them, Emma and Yuli Cunio. Photo: AFP

Has Israel invaded Gaza? The military has been vague, even if its objectives are clear

An Israeli tank near the border with Gaza Strip, in Israel on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters 

Israeli ground troops conduct operations in the Gaza Strip on Monday. Photo: Israeli Defence Forces via Xinhua 

Israel-Gaza war: Hamas says it will free more hostages ‘in next few days’

People look at photographs of hostages, mostly Israeli civilians who were abducted during the October 7 Hamas attack, in Tel Aviv, Israel on Monday. Photo: AP

Israel attacks Hamas gunmen inside Gaza tunnels, among 300 targets in 24 hours

Palestinians search for casualties at the site of Israeli strikes on homes in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Palestinians in central Gaza bid farewell to relatives killed in the conflict with Israel. Photo: Bloomberg

An injured woman carries a baby in the aftermath of Israeli bombing in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Margalit Megidish (C), the mother of Israeli soldier Ori Megidish, speaks to the media after her daughter, who was taken hostage by Hamas, was rescued during ground operations in Gaza. Photo: EPA-EFE

People search for victims and survivors in the rubble of a building hit by Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Israeli forces are conducting ground operations in the Gaza Strip. Photo: Handout via Xinhua

As war in Gaza rages, Israel’s ambassador wears yellow star at UN

Israel’s UN ambassador Gilad Erdan wears a yellow Star of David that reads ‘Never Again’, as he addresses members of the UN Security Council. Photo: AP

Members of the UN Security Council listen as Israeli ambassador Gilad Erdan speaks on the Israel-Gaza war. Photo: AFP

Palestinians leave their homes following Israeli bombardment on Gaza City. Photo: AP

News

World

Middle East

Health ministry in Gaza said Israeli air strikes have killed more than 3,600 children
Unicef calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to prevent ‘greater horrors’


Unicef calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to prevent ‘greater horrors’.


Israel

War and conflict

Gaza now a ‘graveyard’ for thousands of children, UN says

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Health ministry in Gaza said Israeli air strikes have killed more than 3,600 children Unicef calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to prevent ‘greater horrors’

Health ministry in Gaza said Israeli air strikes have killed more than 3,600 children

Unicef calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to prevent ‘greater horrors’