Statement by UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Edouard Beigbeder.
“These past 19 months, Gaza has been deadly for children and there are no safe spaces. From North to South, children are being killed and maimed in hospitals, in schools-turned-shelters, in makeshift tents, or in their parents’ arms.” “Children’s rights in Gaza are being gravely violated every day and urgent action is needed to protect children from widespread grave violations of their rights and threats to their survival. Nineteen months into this conflict, children have suffered violence without relent, including indiscriminate attacks. They have suffered multiple months-long blockades, denying them of essential food, water, and health supplies. They have suffered repeated displacements – being forced to relocate again and again, in search of safety and shelter. They have suffered in ways unimaginable. Their scars will endure a lifetime.”