UN agencies say 10 children a day in Gaza are losing 1 or both legs

Ten children per day are losing one or both of their legs in the war in Gaza, the head of the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees said.

“Basically we have every day 10 children who are losing one leg or two legs on average,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.

Citing figures from the UN children’s agency Unicef, he said that number “does not even include the arms and the hands, and we have many more” of these.

“Ten per day, that means around 2,000 children after the more than 260 days of this brutal war,” Lazzarini said.

He said amputation often takes place “in quite horrible conditions, and sometimes without anaesthesia”.