“I woke up and everything was black. I have not seen anything. Everything collapsed. We were bombed. My mother was there. “Come with me.” “Nothing will happen to you,” he told me. Sarah, 13 years old. She is the only survivor of her family. He lost his parents in an Israeli airstrike. Left an orphan, she is now recovering from physical injuries. This is the story of a miracle: In more than two months of bombing, 7,729 minors were found in Gaza. The “unprecedented” numbers are a warning to those who have checked data from other conflicts.

“The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world for a child. Dozens of girls and boys die and are injured every day. Entire neighborhoods where children used to play and go to school have turned into piles of rubble, devoid of life,” he says. Adele Khodr, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. The figures reflect a shocking reality: of the 17,478 deaths recorded to date (with several thousand still trapped under the rubble) More than 44% are minors.

“They fall asleep not knowing if they will wake up alive.”

A life that will never know adulthood has been cut short. “Parents fall asleep holding their children tightly, not knowing if they will wake up alive the next morning,” he says. Philippe Lazzarinicommissioner general UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, after a recent visit to the Gaza Strip. “Fear and anxiety are constant for more than 2 million people in the Gaza Strip, be they children, women or the elderly,” he admits. UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterreswarned a few weeks ago that the Gaza Strip was on track to become “Children’s Cemetery”

To the 7,729 minors counted by the Gaza Ministry of Health, we must add the thousands who have gone missing under the rubble of bombed buildings. According to data published this Saturday by a human rights organization Euro-Med Monitorthe total death toll will be higher: 23,012 Palestinians, including 9,077 children. “With hundreds more children remaining trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings with little chance of survival, the total number of child deaths is likely to exceed 10,000,” the agency warns.

About half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are under 18 years of age. The figures accumulated over seven weeks of bombing are without recent precedent. “On average, a child dies every 10 minutes in Gaza. “I think in this sense we are close to humanity’s darkest hour,” he said this week. Richard Pieperkorn, World Health Organization Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In October, Israeli airstrikes killed twice as many Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip as the total number of Palestinian children killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1967, according to the non-governmental organization Defense for Children International-Palestine.

The “most indiscriminate” campaign against civilians

The data also shows that the Israeli airstrike campaign in the Gaza Strip is the most indiscriminate in terms of civilian casualties. An analysis published this week by an Israeli newspaper Haaretz compares the proportion of civilian deaths compared to the total number of deaths from air attacks with previous operations conducted between 2012 and 2022. If then the average number of civilians was about 40%, now it exceeds 61%. “An unprecedented massacre,” said Yagil Levi, professor of sociology at the Open University of Israel and author of the report.. “This proportion is significantly higher than the average number of civilian casualties in all conflicts in the world during the 20th century, in which civilians accounted for approximately half of the fatalities,” Levy emphasizes.

The death toll shows just one of the peaks of the Israeli military offensive. In accordance with Euro-Med Human Rights MonitorThere are more than 18,000 wounded Palestinian children in Geneva, many of them in critical condition. Dozens more people had their legs amputated, and hundreds suffered severe burns to various parts of their bodies. “Our team on the ground describes encountering children who were missing limbs and suffering from third-degree burns, as well as children who were shocked by the ongoing violence around them,” UNICEF condemns.

And the war left not only the wounded and disabled. And also a procession of orphans like Sarah. Euro-Med Monitor estimates that between 24,000 and 25,000 children in the Gaza Strip have lost one or both parents, and the homes of approximately 640,000 have been destroyed or damaged, leaving them with nowhere to live. “The future of hundreds of thousands of children remains unknown as 217 schools in the Gaza Strip were damaged or destroyed during Israeli attacks, severely impacting education in the strip,” they add.

Amputations, disease and hunger

“The tragic reality of children is that they hide to survive explosions, mourn the death of their parents and siblings, run with their families or collect firewood to stay warm instead of playing or going to school. “Education is a forgotten dream for children frightened by the possibility that this day will be their last,” he condemns. Aaron Brentacting director of a public organization CARE in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“The children of Gaza are being indiscriminately attacked by Israel in the midst of a genocide that has now lasted three months straight,” insists Euro-Med Monitor. They also face hunger and the spread of disease caused by overcrowding, lack of drinking water and lack of hygiene due to the collapse of the health system, which also did not escape the bombing. “With a significant increase in cases of diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, skin infections and hepatitis A, the most vulnerable people are at particular risk – children, pregnant and lactating women, women who have just given birth, people with disabilities,” they said. cry from Doctors of the World.

“Intentionally depriving civilians of food, water and fuel and deliberately preventing the delivery of aid is use starvation as a method of war, which inevitably has a fatal impact on children,” Save the Children says. “Successive relocation orders issued by the Israeli government forcing civilians to relocate to deadly “safe zones” only further endanger the civilian population by pushing them into areas that cannot accommodate them or provide them with necessary access to basic services, and that they continue to be attacked,” they add from the non-governmental organization, which criticizes “the inaction of the international community, which represents a mortal blow to children.”

Israel pushes Palestinian children and families into “death zones” called “safe zones”

“Israel is pushing Palestinian children and families into “death zones” called “safe zones.” I saw children and families wandering the streets of undestroyed Gaza, with no food, nowhere to go and nothing to survive. Even internationally funded humanitarian aid, the last lifeline in the Gaza Strip, has been suffocated by Israeli restrictions,” complains Jason Lee, director of Save the Children in the Palestinian Territories, currently based in the Gaza Strip.

Mental health epidemic

Another silent epidemic, mental health, has been plaguing the children of Gaza for many years. After 16 years of siege, minors knew no other Gaza other than harsh restrictions. Since 2008, they have survived five Israeli offensives. Before the current violence, four out of five children reported suffering from depression, sadness or fear, and previous research has found even more mental health problems. A report by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimates that before October 7, the date of the Hamas attacks and the start of the Israeli crackdown, 13% of children and minors aged 5 to 17 suffered from anxiety. In 2023, about 52,450 children and minors suffered from stress, and 13,000 may have suffered from signs of depression.

“We see women and children across the Gaza Strip under enormous stress and facing unimaginable horrors. Infant mortality, hunger and psychological trauma are reaching unprecedented levels. The current situation is pushing them to the breaking point, making it impossible to do anything other than focus on survival,” admits Hiba Tibi, regional director for the Middle East and North Africa of the international non-governmental organization CARE. “Mothers tell us that their children have stopped talking or eating because of what they have seen and experienced. Others cry and scream at every loud sound they hear. Two months of war traumatized an entire generation of children,” he laments.

One million displaced children

In addition to the continuous bombing, where there is no safe place, there is a mass exodus of people to the south of the sector, which is not immune from air attacks. “About a million children were forced to leave their homes. Now they are being pushed further south into tiny, overcrowded areas without water, food or protection, putting them at greater risk of respiratory infections and water-borne diseases. Their lives are further threatened by dehydration, malnutrition and disease,” warns UNICEF.

“Israel must be held accountable for its clear violations of international humanitarian law, as evidenced by the killing of Palestinian children and the denial of their special needs for vaccines, food, clothing and shelter, needs clearly recognized in the 1977 Geneva Conventions and their Protocols. “- say from Euro-Med Monitor. As the United States and its Security Council veto power block a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, organizations such as UNICEF are calling for a cessation of hostilities to save the lives of minors who have so far escaped death. “An immediate and lasting humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to end the deaths and injuries of children, the only way to protect civilians, and the only way to ensure the urgent delivery of desperately needed life-saving assistance.”