UNICEF: No Safe Place for Children in Gaza

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - "There is no safe place in Gaza," said UNICEF spokesperson Rosalia Bollen to GNT from Al Arabiya English in an interview on Monday, describing the area as a graveyard for Palestinian children and a landscape of daily tragedy.

According to Bollen, mass casualty incidents involving children have occurred "really on a daily basis" in the besieged territory since the 2023 Israeli genocide in Gaza.

The Gaza Ministry of Health has stated that the death toll has surpassed 58,000 people. The United Nations considers the data to be accurate.

"There’s at least 17,000 children reported killed within that toll. Those aren’t numbers. Those are boys and girls. There are toddlers and babies," said Bollen.

When asked about the claim that the Palestinian casualty figures cannot be relied upon, Bollen refuted the accusation.

"My colleagues and I have been present on the ground inside Gaza… UNICEF has had a continuous operational presence inside the Gaza Strip throughout this war," she said.

"We see the child injuries, we come across children who have been separated from their parents or even worse, whose parents have been killed," she added.

"So this is a daily occurrence that we simply come across and that we document."

Life-Altering Injuries

According to Bollen, injuries among Gaza's children are not only widespread but often life-altering.

"The sad reality is that this is not a unique case. It is not an exception," she said, referring to the story of a teenage boy at risk of having his hands amputated due to inadequate medical care.

"I have interviewed dozens of children myself inside Gaza… children who’ve been severely injured in bombardments, who have been lucky enough to survive the airstrike, but then are [not] able to access the medical care that they need because of the stress that the health system is under," she explained.

Hospitals in Gaza are overwhelmed and besieged, noted Bollen.

Seven UN bodies warned on Saturday that the fuel shortage enforced by Israel has reached "critical levels," threatening aid operations, hospital care, and an already chronic food vulnerability.

"Hospitals themselves have been turned into battle zones. They face very severe shortages of medicines… there’s just this constant flow of severely injured people day in, day out."

Bollen added, "I’ve seen children who’ve had their limbs amputated. I have seen children who’ve been burned on very large parts of their bodies. We’re not just talking about a couple of scratches. We are talking about children who will likely have to cope for the rest of their lives with their injuries."

Mental Health Crisis

Almost all of the approximately one million Palestinian children in Gaza are in need of mental health and psychosocial support, according to Bollen.

"They are trapped in a very dangerous and toxic state of permanent stress," she stated.

Most of the more than two million inhabitants have been displaced at least once during the war. Those who survived suffer injuries or the loss of family members.

"When you are in Gaza, you constantly hear the buzzing and the rumbling of drones and planes. You hear explosions. You hear planes approaching. You know a bomb is going to drop somewhere. You just don’t know where."

"Children whom I’ve interviewed talk about death. They’re afraid, they’re terrified of dying, but something they’re even more afraid of is that their parents will die and that they will be left on their own."

Despite the suffering they endure, Bollen noted that "there hasn’t been any respite for children" except for a brief ceasefire earlier this year.

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