Gaza - Saba:
The Defense for Children International (DCI) said that about 39,400 children in Gaza have been deprived of both parents or one of them since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza.
The movement said in a statement on Saturday that Palestinian Children's Day is not just a passing occasion, but rather an inevitable reminder to the entire world of what children in the occupied Palestinian territories are going through.
Children are being denied their fundamental right to survival, as stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and they have also lost the rest of their basic rights that every child in the world is supposed to enjoy without any form of discrimination, due to the enemy and its ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people.
The movement added, "Palestinian Children's Day comes - for the second year in a row - amid a tragic reality and violations that can only be described as grave, at best, against Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
It indicated that the enemy continues its war of genocide against the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, using various types of weapons, reiterating the need to intensify efforts to provide protection for Palestinian children from the ongoing enemy violations that threaten their lives and futures.
The movement stated that the enemy has killed approximately 18,000 children in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of its aggression until today - according to medical sources in the Strip - including 274 infants who were born and were martyred under bombing, 876 children under one year old, 17 children who were martyred due to the cold, and 52 children who died due to the systematic starvation policy.
In addition, thousands have been injured, while more than 11,200 citizens remain missing, 70% of whom are children and women, and approximately 39,400 other children have been deprived of one or both of their parents.
The movement pointed to a report, A report issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), indicated that 15 children in the Gaza Strip were permanently disabled daily due to the enemy's use of internationally banned weapons, bringing the total number of injuries to 7,065 children, including hundreds who lost limbs, sight, or hearing. Approximately 4,700 amputations were recorded, 18% (846 cases) of which were children.
It noted that approximately 7,700 newborns were suffering from a lack of medical care, as the remaining hospitals operated at very limited capacity, putting their lives at risk.
The global movement stated that the enemy had completely or partially destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes in the Gaza Strip, closed the crossings, and prevented the entry of aid, food, medicine, and tents.
This left children and their families, who had been forced to flee more than once to so-called safe areas, facing their fates of hunger, cold, and shelling and rockets. It is worth noting that there is no safe place in the Gaza Strip, according to various UN and human rights organizations.
Regarding education in the Gaza Strip, the Global Movement noted that, according to the latest statistics, the enemy completely destroyed 111 government schools, in addition to 241 government schools that were severely damaged, and 89 UNRWA schools that were bombed and vandalized.
It emphasized that this deprived approximately 700,000 students of their basic right to education for the 2024/2025 academic year. It also deprived approximately 39,000 students of their right to take the General Secondary Certificate Examination for the 2023/2024 academic year.
Regarding the West Bank, the Global Movement indicated that the situation is no better. Since October 2023, the enemy has escalated its aggression in various forms and types, from killing and arrest to siege and closure of cities and villages, preventing citizens from moving, to storming camps and cities and displacing their residents after destroying their homes and razing their infrastructure.
The cities of Jenin and Tulkarm and their camps are prime examples of this. She noted that she had documented the martyrdom of 19 children in the West Bank, including al-Quds, since the beginning of this year. The number of children martyred in the West Bank, including al-Quds, since October 7, 2023, has reached 193 children.
Meanwhile, the number of children detained in enemy prisons to date has reached approximately 300, suffering from the harshest and most degrading detention conditions, just like all other detainees.
The movement emphasized that the enemy violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child—one of the most universally accepted international treaties—on a daily basis, as acknowledged by the United Nations, through its Secretary-General, António Guterres, who stated at the beginning of the aggression in 2023 that the number of children killed in Gaza in a matter of weeks exceeds any year covered by his reports in the past seven years.
He also expressed his shock several times at the unprecedented number of Palestinian children killed by the enemy, as did the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), which confirmed that children are among the groups most affected by the aggression.
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