Save the Children estimates that more than 21,000 children are missing in Gaza
The NGO Save the Children estimates that around 21,000 children are missing in Gaza, dead under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli attacks, buried in mass graves, disfigured by their injuries so that they cannot be recognized, detained and imprisoned by the Israeli army in secret locations or, in most cases, separated from their families and wandering unaccompanied in the chaos in which the Palestinian enclave is mired in the midst of the Israeli offensive.
The NGO published a report this Monday detailing five causes of the “disappearance” of children in the offensive. First, those trapped under the rubble of bombed buildings. At this point, it collects data from other organizations that estimate that at least 10,000 people lie under the rubble. Apply to that figure the ratio of 43% of children who are victims of war, so there would be more than 4,000 children buried under buildings.
On the other hand, Save the Children estimates that more than 17,000 children—the figure is from February, so it believes there will be more—have been separated from their families, for many reasons, among others because parents have died in attacks or that they have been lost due to hasty evacuation orders, etc. Some have been in that situation for months, he denounces.
In addition, it estimates that there will be hundreds of children who have suffered injuries that prevent their identification, who lie in open mass graves next to hospitals or who have been detained by Israeli soldiers and transferred to secret detention centers. He estimates that 3,000 people have been detained in these conditions, including many children. She also remembers that two Israeli children, a baby and her two-year-old brother, are still kidnapped in the hands of Hamas.
The NGO also denounces that for each of the cases, the conditions in the Strip make it impossible for the moment to “collect and verify the information.”
Save the Children’s Middle East director, Jeremy Stoner, said that “families are tortured by the uncertainty surrounding the whereabouts of their loved ones” and added that “no parent should have to dig through rubble or mass graves.” to try to locate his son’s body.”
“No child should be alone or unprotected in a war zone. “No child should be detained or held hostage,” he indicated, while highlighting that “children who are missing but alive are vulnerable and face serious protection risks, which is why they must be located.”
“In the case of children who have been murdered, their deaths must be formally remembered, their families informed, funeral rites respected and accountability must be demanded,” added Stoner, who emphasizes that “Gaza has become a cemetery of children, with thousands of others missing whose whereabouts are unknown.”
