At least 500 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, Basal confirmed on Saturday.
More than 1,500 people have been killed since Israel resumed its bombardment of Gaza on March 18, according to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
On Friday, Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, reported that 36 of the 224 documented Israeli strikes in Gaza, between March 18 and April 9, involved deaths that were only women and children.
In a statement, the Palestinian rights group Al-Haq said the findings by the UN further confirmed a pattern it previously identified.
“Such a calculated effort to exterminate women, boys, girls & even infants, has not been witnessed in any other modern conflict,” Al-Haq added.
In an interview with Al Jazeera’s Upfront, UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) chief Philippe Lazzarini described the situation in Gaza as a “post-apocalyptic” killing zone.
Speaking at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkiye on Friday, Lazzarini also reiterated that Israel has been preventing the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other vital humanitarian supplies into Gaza, contravening international law.
In a separate post on X on Saturday, UNRWA Director of Communications Juliette Touma warned that all basic supplies “are running out” in Gaza.
“It means babies, children are going to bed hungry.”
Israel has pledged to press on with its military offensive, with officials in recent days outlining plans to seize new swaths of territory in southern Gaza and issuing a series of forced evacuation orders.
UNRWA said about 400,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced across Gaza since the ceasefire ended on March 18. Israel forcibly displaced about 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 population since it launched war on October 7, 2023. More than 50,900 Palestinians have been killed and 116,000 wounded drawing condemnation from rights groups.
