Defence for Children International, Worldwide Grassroots Movement for Children’s Rights, has called 2023 the “year of genocide” committed by Israeli forces, saying that at least 8,000 Palestinian children were killed in the Gaza Strip and 121 in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in 2023.
The rights group stated that the rate of killings of Palestinian children at the hands of Israeli forces during the past year is unprecedented, which indicates Palestinian children are major targets.
It also noted the number of children killed is expected to rise significantly as thousands are still missing in Gaza, trapped under the rubble of their bombed homes and presumed dead.
Furthermore, the cutting off of food, water, electricity, medical supplies and fuel and continuing indiscriminate attacks against hospitals, schools, bakeries, water stations and farmland will inevitably result in more child deaths.
Additionally, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, stated that in addition to the 23,210 people killed in Gaza, 59,100 have been wounded in Israeli attacks, many who will require long-term healthcare.
He cited multiple trauma cases such as spinal trauma, crush injuries, severe burns and amputees, adding, “I’ve never seen so many amputees in my life, including among children.”
“This will have such a long-term impact for everything,” Peeperkorn said.
Sean Casey, an emergency medical teams coordinator in Gaza, also warned that the enclave’s entire health system is rapidly breaking down as medical staff and patients flee facilities in southern Gaza.
“What we’re seeing is really worrying around a lot of the hospitals and an intensification of hostilities, very close to the European Gaza Hospital,” he said.
He added, “We are seeing the health system collapse at a very rapid pace.”
Since October 7, there have been about 600 attacks on hospitals and vital medical infrastructure in Gaza, according to WHO, killing 606 people within the healthcare facilities.
Hamas Leader Says Israel Has Failed To Achieve Its Goals
In other developments, Head of Hamas’s political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh asserted in a speech at the International Union of Muslim Scholars in Doha, Qatar that Israel has been unable to achieve its objectives for attacking Gaza.
He said that Israel has three main objectives in its ongoing war on Gaza: eliminating Palestinian resistance, recovering captives held in the enclave, and displacing Palestinians in Gaza from their homeland.
Haniyeh said that despite the high price of the war, “the enemy has failed to achieve any of its goals in the war.”
This came as the Israeli army confirmed on Tuesday, January 9, 2023, that nine more of its soldiers were killed while fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The military released the names and other information of five soldiers who died. They all belonged to a combat engineering team. A sixth soldier was “seriously wounded” during fighting in central Gaza.
Earlier, the army released the names and photos of four other troops. Two were killed by a rocket-propelled grenade in southern Khan Younis, another was shot dead by Hamas fighters, and the fourth died in an explosion.
The Israeli army said that it has lost 514 soldiers since the start of the war in October, including 180 during its ground offensive on the besieged enclave.
During his speech in Doha, the Hamas leader urged Muslim states to supply weapons to Palestinian fighters as the war in Gaza rages on.
“We see countries of the world pouring weapons into the occupation [Israel]… The time has come [for Muslim states] to support the resistance with weapons, because this is… not the battle of the Palestinian people alone,” Haniyeh averred.
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