No. Of Children Killed In West Bank Reaches Alarming Levels: UNICEF

Palestinians carry a dead boy following Israeli strikes on Gaza on Oct. 26, 2023 (Ahmed Zakot/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Adele Khodr, on Friday, 29 December said that the number of children killed in West Bank by the Israelis is reaching alarming levels, media reports said.

“The year 2023 has been the deadliest year on record for children in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with conflict-related violence reaching unprecedented levels,” Khodr said.

She said that at least 83 children have been killed in the past 12 weeks — more than double the number of children killed in all of 2022 — amid increased Israeli military and law enforcement operations.

“More than 576 have been injured and others have reportedly been detained. Furthermore, the West Bank has been heavily affected by movement and access restrictions,” Khodr said.

She said that the children living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have been experiencing grinding violence for many years, yet the intensity of that violence has dramatically increased since the horrific attacks of 7 October.

“Conflict-related violence has killed 124 Palestinian children and 6 Israeli children since the start of 2023,” Khodr says.

Meanwhile, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine Francesa Albanese on Friday said that at least 1,000 children in Gaza have been amputated without anesthesia as Israel has blocked the entry of essential supplies, as per the media reports.

“The monstrosity of our century,” the UN Special Rapporteur wrote on X.

She said that Israel is bombing areas of Gaza it had designated as “safe”.

“It is wiping out entire families, making countless children orphans & forcing countless men & women to survive their offspring,” she wrote.

She said that each story in Gaza is excruciating.

UNICEF has said that at least more than 9,000 children in Gaza have been injured in intense Israeli bombing, which has left them grappling with the loss of an arm or a leg.

Israel launched a ground offensive inside Gaza on October 27 after Hamas attacked Israel in a surprise attack on October 7 in which 1200 Israelis were killed and over 200 were taken hostage.

Since the outbreak of hostilities between Hamas and Israel, at least 21,320 Palestinians have been killed — most being children and women — while 55,603 Palestinians have been injured.

(Source: IANS)