A War on Gaza’s Future? Israeli Assault Leaves 500 Kids Dead, 3,000 Injured, 373,000 Traumatized
As the Israeli offensive in Gaza resumes, we look at the impact the military campaign has had on the children of Gaza. More than 467 Palestinian children have died since July. That is more than the combined number of child fatalities in the two previous conflicts in Gaza. According to the World Health Organization, more than 3,000 children have been injured, of which an estimated 1,000 will suffer from a lifelong disability. The United Nations estimates at least 373,000 children require direct and specialized psychosocial support. And, based on the total number of adults killed, there may be up to 1,500 children orphaned. Gazan children’s right to an education has also been severely compromised with at least 25 schools reportedly damaged so severely that they can no longer be used. We speak to Pernille Ironside, chief of UNICEF’s Gaza field office.
"There isn’t a single family in Gaza who hasn’t experienced personally death, injury, the loss of their home, extensive damage, displacement," Ironside says. "The psychological toll that has on a people, it just cannot be overestimated, and especially on children."
Image Credit: UNICEF
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Three senior Hamas commanders have reportedly died in an airstrike on the Gaza Strip earlier today near the southern town of Rafah. The strike came one day after an Israeli airstrike killed the wife and seven-month-old son of Hamas’s top commander, Mohammed Deif. According to Agence France-Presse, at least six Palestinians, four of them children, were killed in Israeli attacks overnight in the northern town in Beit Lahia and in Gaza City. Another four Palestinians died in an airstrike on a graveyard in Gaza City. More than 2,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since Israel began its offensive seven weeks ago—six weeks ago.
AMY GOODMAN: Israel has lost 64 soldiers in the conflict. Three civilians in Israel have been killed. In a nationwide address in Tel Aviv Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed a continuous campaign against Hamas.
PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: [translated] Only the guarantee of the calm and safety of Israeli citizens will bring an end to this operation, and therefore, I will continue to operate with firmness and insistence. Operation Protective Edge is not finished, not for a minute. We are talking about a continued campaign.
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