Speaking in Doha, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani bemoaned the large number of children killed due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war as he criticised what he called the West’s double standards.
He said, “There is growing anger amongst everyone in this region questioning the reaction of the international community for the crimes happening against Palestinian people.”
He added, “The number of children killed in this war has exceeded the number of children killed in the war between Ukraine and Russia, yet we don’t see the same reaction.”
The UN has recorded more than 550 deaths of children in Ukraine while the health authorities in the Gaza Strip have said that at least 2,704 children have been killed by Israeli airstrikes since October 7, 2023.
Earlier, the UNICEF expressed deep concern over the alarming toll on children in Gaza.
Adele Khodr, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said, “The situation in the Gaza Strip is a growing stain on our collective conscience. The rate of death and injuries of children is simply staggering.”
Khodr added, “Even more frightening is the fact that unless tensions are eased, and unless humanitarian aid is allowed, the daily death toll will continue to rise.”
Meanwhile, Israeli air strikes continued to target civilians and destroyed their houses in different areas across Gaza.
The air strikes also targeted the al-Shati Camp, which is a heavily populated, killing and wounding dozens.
Dozens of children were killed in an Israeli air strike on Al Maghazi Camp, while six people were killed when an air strike hit a farm in Khan Younis.
According to the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, current death toll is at least 6,546 people.
Palestinian health ministry spokesperson, Dr. Ashraf al-Qudra, also disclosed that the healthcare system in Gaza is completely out of service and is in a state of complete collapse.
“It is out of service, either due to bombing or a lack of personnel and medical supplies. We call for urgent interventions for the collapsed health system. The international community did not take into account our warnings about hospitals going out of service.”
Dr. Ashraf al-Qudra
The World Health Organization in Palestine posted on X that since October 7 it has “documented 171 attacks on health care in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
It claims that “493 people have been killed in health attacks including 16 health workers on duty.”
In a report, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) stated that Israeli blockade on Gaza Strip had taken a heavy toll on the enclave’s economy even before the war.
Gaza, which has been under a crippling air, land and sea blockade since 2007, was experiencing “suppressed human potential and the right to development”, according to the annual report.
“The result of the restrictions and closures and military operations has been the suppression of investment and productive activities and the collapse of the economy of Gaza, as well as its separation from the world and the rest of the Palestinian economy in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
UNCTAD
The report noted that two-thirds of Gaza’s population was living in poverty, while its unemployment rate of 45% was one of the highest in the world.
The report said conditions were worse in Gaza than for Palestinians living in the West Bank, with a 65% probability of being poor and a 41% probability of dropping out of the labour force in despair.
It added that the impact of the Israel-Gaza war on the region’s economy was “impossible to determine.”
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