Zionist occupation’s war on Gaza claims over 13,000 children’s lives, leaving 38,000 orphaned

The Zionist occupation’s genocidal war on Gaza has claimed the lives of more than 13,000 children, with an estimated 25,000 injured and at least 25,000 hospitalised for malnutrition, according to U.N. agencies.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that of the 40,717 Palestinian bodies identified so far in Gaza, one-third—13,319—were children.

The U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, said the estimate of 25,000 children injured came from its analysis based on information collected together with Gaza’s Health Ministry.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said nearly 19,000 children had been hospitalised for acute malnutrition in the four months before December.

That figure also came from UNICEF, which said it was from data collected by U.N. staff in Gaza focusing on nutrition, in coordination with all pertinent U.N. agencies.

The Gaza Health Ministry reported that over 38,000 Palestinian children have been orphaned, with 32,151 losing their fathers, 4,417 losing their mothers, and 1,918 losing both parents.

Yasmine Sherif, executive director of the U.N. global fund Education Cannot Wait, told a press conference that 650,000 school-age children haven’t been attending classes and the entire education system has to be rebuilt because of the widespread destruction in Gaza.

Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said, “A generation has been traumatised,” pointing to the UNICEF finding that 1 million children need mental health and psychosocial support for depression and anxiety.