UNICEF: Inaction on Gaza Amounts to 'Approval' of Killing Children

A Palestinian girl wounded in an Israeli strike is assisted, after a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel expired, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, December 1, 2023. REUTERS/Arafat Barbakh
A Palestinian girl wounded in an Israeli strike is assisted, after a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel expired, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, December 1, 2023. REUTERS/Arafat Barbakh
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UNICEF: Inaction on Gaza Amounts to 'Approval' of Killing Children

A Palestinian girl wounded in an Israeli strike is assisted, after a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel expired, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, December 1, 2023. REUTERS/Arafat Barbakh
A Palestinian girl wounded in an Israeli strike is assisted, after a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel expired, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, December 1, 2023. REUTERS/Arafat Barbakh

UNICEF on Friday appealed for a lasting ceasefire to be implemented in Gaza, describing inaction as "an approval of the killing of children" after a week-old truce between Israel and Hamas collapsed.

"A lasting ceasefire must be implemented," James Elder, spokesperon for UNICEF, told reporters via video link from Gaza.

"Inaction at its core is an approval of the killing of children."

Barely two hours after the truce expired, Gaza health officials reported that 35 people had already been killed and dozens wounded in air strikes that hit at least eight homes.
Medics and witnesses said the bombing was most intensive in Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, and also targeted houses in central and northern areas.



Israel Fired at Vehicles Belonging to Syria's New Military, Killing 3

An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Israel Fired at Vehicles Belonging to Syria's New Military, Killing 3

An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

The Israeli army said it fired at vehicles in Syria loaded with weapons near a buffer zone established under a 1974 agreement between Syria and Israel.
The strike in the town of Ghadir al-Bustan in Quneitra province killed three people, including two members of Syria's Military Operations Administration, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Military Operations Administration is run Syria’s de facto leadership under Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which did not comment on the attack. The attack coincided with Syrian security operations to search homes for weapons, according to the war monitor.
The Israeli military said they located vehicles carrying weapons and “fired a warning shot adjacent to the vehicles, and the vehicles drove away from the area.” Asked about casualties, the Israeli military said it had no information, reported The Associated Press.
Israeli forces captured the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights following former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s fall last month. The military has been also conducting incursions outside the buffer zone, prompting local protests.