According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 14,000 minors have been murdered in Gaza since the start of the current escalation of violence, on October 7 of last year.
In the city of Rafah at least 17,000 are separated from their families and another 4,000 are likely buried under rubble. (Photo: PL)
Some 21,000 minors in the Gaza Strip are lost, buried under rubble, detained or buried in unidentified graves, Save of Children reported on June 24.
Our protection teams reported that the latest displacements caused by the Israeli offensive against the southern city of Rafah separated more children, which increased tension in the families and communities that care for them, the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) warned in a statement released here.
It is almost impossible to collect and verify figures in that coastal enclave, but it is estimated that at least 17,000 of them are separated from their families and another 4,000 are likely buried under the rubble, he said.
He noted that many are missing, including an unknown number who were detained and transferred to Israeli jails and detention centers.
“Every day we find more unaccompanied children and every day it is more difficult to support them,” said a Save the Children child protection specialist who preferred anonymity.
Reuniting them with their families is difficult because ongoing hostilities restrict our access to communities and constantly force people to move, he warned.
The activist highlighted that “many of them are with strangers, or completely alone, which increases the risk of violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect.”
Save the Children denounced that confirming the identification of a body is almost impossible because entire families were annihilated, in addition to the restrictions imposed by the Army on the entry of experts.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 14,000 minors have been murdered in Gaza since the start of the current escalation of violence, on October 7 of last year.
The NGO stated that 33 Israeli children have also lost their lives since that date due to the war.
The group indicated that in the West Bank some 250 Palestinian children and adolescents are missing, presumably detained in Israeli prisons.
The UN received numerous reports of mass arrests, ill-treatment and forced disappearances of possibly thousands of people, including many members of that population sector, he stressed.
“Families are tortured by the uncertainty of the whereabouts of their loved ones. No parent should have to dig through rubble or mass graves to try to find the body of their child. No child should be alone, unprotected in a war zone,” said Jeremy Stoner, regional director of Save the Children.
