The Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Catherine Russell, has declared the Gaza Strip as the most dangerous place in the world for children.
This statement came during her address to the United Nations Security Council following her visit to southern Gaza.
Russell highlighted the alarming death toll, with more than 5,300 children killed in just 46 days, averaging 115 child deaths daily. Children constitute forty percent of the casualties in Gaza, an unprecedented figure.
Beyond the immediate casualties, Russell expressed concerns about epidemic risks, exacerbated by the near absence of potable water, especially for infants, and the impacts of malnutrition.
The children of Gaza face extreme danger due to catastrophic living conditions. All one million children in the region are facing food insecurity, which could soon escalate into a nutritional crisis.
Over the coming months, the most severe forms of malnutrition could increase by thirty percent in Gaza, endangering children’s lives even further.
Russell stressed that simple humanitarian ceasefires are not enough. Children need immediate relief for survival, and humanitarian workers need safe passage and the ability to move freely.
UNICEF is urgently calling for an immediate ceasefire to halt the massacre.
The Director of the United Nations Population Fund, Natalia Kanem, expressed her concern for the pregnant women in Gaza and their newborns.
Amidst conflict and destruction, there are currently 5,500 pregnant women expected to give birth in the next month, with about 180 women giving birth daily under horrific conditions.
