The UN’s child relief agency said on Sunday that over 13,000 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip and that many more could be dead under the rubble.
“Thousands more have been injured, or we can’t even determine where they are. They may be stuck under rubble,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell, according to Reuters. “We haven’t seen that rate of death among children in almost any other conflict in the world.”
Gaza’s Health Ministry has said over 31,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and has consistently stated that around 70% of the casualties are women and children.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin previously said over 25,000 women and children had been killed in Gaza, but the Pentagon walked his comment back, claiming he was talking about all Palestinians killed.
Russel said that she visited a hospital ward where children were suffering from severe malnutrition and said the place was quiet because “the children, the babies … don’t even have the energy to cry.”
Separately, the UN’s Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA, said one in three children under the age of two in Gaza is now acutely malnourished. “Children’s malnutrition is spreading fast and reaching unprecedented levels in Gaza,” UNRWA said. Children have already started to starve to death in Gaza, with dozens of malnutrition deaths already reported.
Despite the horrific situation and Israel’s continued restrictions on aid, the US is still providing unconditional military aid to support the slaughter and starvation campaign against the Palestinians in Gaza.