The war in Gaza has seen children killed, starved, frozen to death, orphaned and separated from their families, the UN humanitarian chief says.
“A generation has been traumatized,” Tom Fletcher told a UN Security Council meeting called by Russia on Thursday about the war's impact on Gaza's youngest residents.
"Conservative estimates indicate that over 17,000 children are without their families in Gaza,” he said.
In his video briefing from Stockholm, Fletcher did not give any figures on the number of children killed. But he said, “Some died before their first breath – perishing with their mothers in childbirth.”
An estimated 150,000 pregnant women and new mothers are also “in desperate need of health services,” Fletcher said.
He said a million kids in Gaza need mental health and psycho-social support for depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, according to the UN children’s agency, UNICEF.
Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians, says over 47,000 Palestinians have been killed, more than half of them women and children, reported The Associated Press.
Israel blames civilian casualties on Hamas, saying militants operate in residential areas.
