UNICEF: Gaza’s childhood on the brink of extinction
Shafaq News – Gaza
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday that childhood is no longer surviving in the Gaza Strip, as Israeli military operations continue.
“The world is sounding the alarm about what an intensified military assault in Gaza City could bring — a catastrophe for nearly one million people who remain there,” UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram said.
“This unthinkable situation is not imminent — it is already happening. The escalation is ongoing,” she added, highlighting that malnutrition and famine are weakening children’s bodies, displacement is stripping them of shelter and care, and bombardment threatens every move they make. “This is what famine looks like in a war zone, and it was everywhere I looked in Gaza City.”
She stated that the situation in the Palestinian enclave is not incidental, but rather “a direct result of choices that have turned Gaza City — and the entire Strip — into a place where people’s lives are under attack from all directions, every day.”
Ingram expressed that “Palestinian life is being steadily and systematically dismantled,” calling on Israel to review its rules of engagement to ensure the protection of children and to allow humanitarian aid to enter. She also urged Hamas to release all hostages.
Since the conflict began, Israel’s offensive has killed more than 64,231 Palestinians and wounded 161,583. Among them, 2,356 died and more than 17,244 were injured while trying to obtain food aid.
