More than 39,000 children have lost one or both parents in Gaza, according to a new report by the Palestinian Statistics Agency.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian children have lost their parents since the start of the War of Israel against the besieged Gaza Strip, according to the Central Office of Palestinian Statistics.
In a press release on Thursday, the day before the Palestinian children’s day, the agency said that 39,384 children in Gaza lost one or both parents after 534 days of Israeli aggression, which ravaged the tiny enclave and moved most of its population with 2.3 million.
The office said that among them, around 17,000 children who have been deprived of both parents since October 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal offensive.
“These children live in tragic conditions, with many people forced to take refuge in torn tents or destroyed houses, in an almost total absence of social care and psychological support,” said the office statement. “The Gaza Strip suffers from the greatest orphan crisis in modern history.”
According to the press release, at least 17,954 children were killed during Israeli attacks in Gaza, including 274 newborns and 876 infants below one year.
“Seventeen children also frozen to death in tents that house displaced people, and 52 others died of famine and systematic malnutrition,” he added.
The office warned that 60,000 children are at risk of death due to serious levels of malnutrition and imminent famine.
Since the resumption of his offensive in Gaza after a fragile ceasefire has brought a few weeks of respite, Israel has sealed vital borders-prohibiting the entry of an essential humanitarian aid, including flour, fuel and medical supplies in the band.
Even before the last cease-fire came into force in January, which lasts about two months, Israeli forces kept the border crossings largely closed, which reflects thousands of convoys with aid supplies.
The Gaza Government’s media office has moved this decision, saying earlier this week that the Israeli government applies a policy of “systematic famine” by interrupting the entrance to aid and flour for a whole month, forcing bakeries to close.
Children and minors, those under the age of 18, represent approximately 43% of the Palestinian population combined 5.5 million in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, the office said.
Since he resumed his fatal campaign on March 18, the Israeli army has killed more than 1,160 Palestinians in Gaza.
At least 50,523 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, most women and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
The report indicates that since October 7, Israeli forces have stopped more than 1,055 children, mainly in the West Bank, in what he said to be an “unprecedented” escalation against Palestinian children. More than 350 remain detained in Israeli prisons installations.
