GazaHerald– Conditions in Gaza have reached an unspeakable level of devastation with children paying the highest price, top UN officials told the Security Council on Wednesday, warning of soaring child deaths, starvation and a shattered health system amid continuing bombardment and displacement.
More than 17,000 children have been killed and 33,000 wounded in the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza, UNICEF’s executive director, Catherine Russell, told the UN Security Council.
Russell pointed out that an average of 28 kids are killed daily in Gaza, “a whole classroom of children killed every day for nearly two years”.
Malnutrition has surged with nearly 6,000 children acutely malnourished in June, a 180 percent increase since February, she said.
For his part, UN Under-Secretary-General Tom Fletcher said food supplies are running out, and Gaza civilians are being shot while seeking something to eat.
“Civilians are exposed to death and injury, forcible displacement, and stripped of dignity,” Fletcher told the Security Council, emphasizing Israel’s obligation under the Geneva Conventions to provide food and medical aid as the occupying power in Gaza.
