Childhood has borne the brunt of a conflict that was too long. Nearly 21,500 minors have died at the hands of the Israeli army since October 2023 and more than 44,400 have been injured, 1,500 of them with amputations.
Among the victims, there are also a thousand babies under one year old and 164 who died from starvation during the worst moments of the blockade and famine. And at least 12,000 pregnancies have ended in abortion due to lack of food or the collapse of hospitals. On the ground, the Save the Children team warns that the ceasefire – in force for a year – is too fragile and is not being followed.
Minor victims of the Israeli army
Shurouq, who is part of the Save the Children staff in Gaza, explains that he has seen dead and wounded, families destroyed and children affected in places where they should have been safe, including homes and shelters. He regrets that people continue to die “even after the declaration of the ceasefire, therefore, they continue to be victims and targets of Israeli attacks.”
More devastating figures in these three years: 58,800 minors have lost one or both parents and 2,700 have been left completely orphaned.
A Gaza annihilated and full of rubble
Shurouq admits that “Gaza has gone from surviving constant bombing to surviving among the ruins and trying to rebuild life. Uncertainty is still present and we live in a gray city, full of rubble everywhere. Mountains of rubble continue to block the streets and neighborhoods.”
“Most people here are really financially ruined and have lost their source of income. Furthermore, war is something that consumes all resources. So people use their savings to move from one place to another in search of safety, to buy a tent and to acquire everything else. And, in terms of education, this is already the fourth academic year without formal education,” recalls the spokesperson for the Save the Children team deployed in Gaza.
It is estimated that some 650,000 students remain without access to education. To which must be added the internal displacement of nearly 2 million Gazans – according to the United Nations (many of them several times over), while 1.2 million have been left homeless.
