UN Official: More Children Killed in Gaza Than in 4 Years of Global Conflicts
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said more children have been killed in Israel’s conflict in Gaza than in four years of conflicts worldwide.
"Staggering. The number of children reported killed in just over 4 months in #Gaza is higher than the number of children killed in 4 years of wars around the world combined," Lazzarini said on Tuesday.
Lazzarini leads the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
According to the United Nations, approximately 12,193 children were killed in conflicts worldwide between 2019 and 2022.
The Gaza health ministry reported that over 12,300 children died in the Palestinian territory between last October and the end of February.
"This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future," Lazzarini emphasized.
Israel's conflict in Gaza, which began following Operation Al-Aqsa Storm by Gaza-based resistance movements on October 7, 2023, has resulted in more than 31,000 Palestinians killed, most of them women and children, with over 72,000 others injured.
The United Nations and aid groups in the region have long condemned the Israeli regime for either failing to provide safe passage to humanitarian organizations or impeding aid at checkpoints and along the border.
Meanwhile, the Gaza media office reported on Tuesday that Israel’s military forces have killed more than 400 desperate Palestinians in two weeks. These individuals were waiting in lines to receive life-saving aid for their families in northern Gaza.
At the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City on Tuesday morning, people were waiting for aid trucks when the regime’s forces attacked, resulting in at least eleven deaths.
This latest attack in Gaza City adds to the death toll of more than 400 people since the "flour massacre."
The flour massacre occurred in late February when Israeli forces fired on Palestinians attempting to get aid from a food truck along the coastal road on the southwest edge of Gaza City, killing over 100 people.
Northern Gaza has been largely cut off from the rest of the territory since the regime's hostilities began in early October, driving hundreds of thousands of people to the brink.