Gaza crisis: ‘Hell on Earth’ for children, U.S-Israeli actions condemned as genocide
By ESTHER ALEXANDER, Abuja –
The Gaza strip’s devastating situation has left its one million children in a dire state, according to Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, who described the area as “the real-world embodiment of hell on earth” for these young victims.
This is contained in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by the Embassy of the State of Palestine to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The statement is titled: “It’s not a humanitarian crisis, it the US – Israeli genocide, period, call a spade a spade”.
According to the statement, the ongoing airstrikes and military operations have forced the displacement of thousands of families, with many left to face starvation, thirst, and homelessness.
It said: “On the 384th day of the US-Israeli heinous, malicious, and vindictive genocide, here are some statistical figures:
“42,603 registered martyrs, out of whom 17,000 children, 171 infants, 786 were less than one-year-old, 37 died of hunger, 11,673 women, 1,047 medical staff, 85 civil defense personnel, 177 journalists. Additionally, 520 bodies were recovered from 7 mass graves inside hospitals, and 10,000 are still missing.
“100,282 wounded arrived at hospitals, 12,000 wounded need to travel abroad for medical treatments, 12,500 cancer patients face death due to the lack of appropriate treatments, 396 media correspondents. 35,055 children living without their parents or without one of them, 71,338 viral hepatitis cases diagnosed due to displacement. 5,000 detainees, 310 medical staff among the three doctors who were assassinated, and 193 shelters targeted.
“In the occupied West Bank, the number of detainees has reached 11,400, including 9,392 administrative detainees, 129 journalists (58 of whom are still under arrest), 750 children, and 430 women. Additionally, thousands of detainees from Gaza and forcibly disappeared individuals are languishing in the occupation prisons and concentration camp without any information about them.
“Gaza is the real-world embodiment of hell on earth for its one million children. And it’s getting worse, day-by-day, as we see the horrific impact of the daily airstrikes and military operations on Palestinian children…Today the south is desperately overcrowded, and lethally lacks essential water, sanitation and shelter.
“So where would children and their families go? They are not safe in schools and shelters. They are not safe in hospitals. And they are certainly not safe in overcrowded camp sites. Perhaps the darkest irony in once again forcibly displacing families into these so called ‘humanitarian zones’ is that – beyond their lack of food, water and medicine – they too have been bombed”
“…an extensive pattern of unlawful, discriminatory and disproportionate restrictions and repression of freedom of expression, primarily of Palestinian activists and their supporters …
“This trend did not emerge with the Israeli assault on Gaza but has become more widespread in the past year, from the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza to the banning of Palestinian protests, speech and symbols in various countries, especially in North America and Europe”-
“Silence is required when children sleep, not when they are slaughtered like sheep right in front of the world’s eyes. Silence is complicity”, the statement concluded.