Jason Lee, Save the Children’s country director in the occupied Palestinian territories, said on Sunday that more than 10 children per day, on average, had lost one or both of their legs in Gaza since Israel launched an all-out aggression on the besieged territory early in October.
Lee made remarks on Sunday while explaining about the dire humanitarian situation across the Israeli-bombarded besieged strip. He further warned that the killing and maiming of children constitute grave violations of children’s rights.
“The suffering of children in this conflict is unimaginable and even more so because it is unnecessary and completely avoidable. This suffering, the killing and maiming of children is condemned as a grave violation against children, and perpetrators must be held to account,” he stated.
Lee further added that the international community must take serious action to stop violations and hold Israel responsible for crimes against children.
“Unless action is taken by the international community to uphold their responsibilities under International Humanitarian Law and prevent the most serious crimes of international concern, history will and should judge us all. We must heed the lessons from the past and must prevent “atrocity crimes” from unfolding.”
“I’ve seen doctors and nurses completely overwhelmed when children come in with blast wounds. The impact of seeing children in that much pain and not having the equipment, or medicines to treat them or alleviate pain is too much for even experienced professionals. Even in a war zone, the sights and sounds of a young child mutilated by bombs cannot be reconciled let alone understood within the bounds of humanity.”
Since 7 October, more than 1,000 children have had one or both legs amputated, according to the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF.
Many of these operations on children were done without anesthetic, with the healthcare system in Gaza crippled by the Israeli aggression, and major shortages of doctors and nurses, and medical supplies like anesthesia and antibiotics, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Lee highlighted that children are experiencing widespread destruction, relentless attacks, explosions and a severe shortage of necessities.
“Small children caught up in explosions are particularly vulnerable to major, life-changing injuries. They have weaker necks and torsos, so less force is needed to cause a brain injury. Their skulls are still not fully formed, and their undeveloped muscles offer less protection, so a blast is more likely to tear apart organs in their abdomen, even when there’s no visible damage.”
While 13 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially functional, they are operating on a partial and fluctuating basis, dependent on their access to fuel and basic medical supplies on any given day.
The nine partially functional hospitals in the south are operating at three times their capacity while facing critical shortages of basic supplies and fuel. In addition, only 30% of Gaza’s pre-conflict medics are still working.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Lee underlined the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the besieged territory.
“Only a definitive ceasefire will end the killing and maiming of civilians and allow in desperately needed humanitarian aid – including critical medicines for wounded children – at the scale and locations required,” he underscored.
The US has provided the regime with thousands of arms consignments since the initiation of the war.
Washington, which has backed Tel Aviv’s ferocious attacks on Gaza as a means of “self-defense”, has also been casting its veto against the UN Security Council resolutions that would call on the occupying regime to cease its aggression.
The Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement slammed the US for sinking the UN ceasefire call, stating that the measure clearly shows Washington’s direct complicity in the Israeli carnage against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Some 23,000 Palestinians have been killed and a further 58,000 injured in the three months since October 7, with children being maimed and killed at a devastating rate, and entire families being killed daily.
