Israel Left 400,000 Children Traumatized in Gaza

The head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Gaza, Pernille Ironside, said Wednesday that nearly 400,000 Gaza kids were in urgent need of psychological and social support to overcome the trauma they have experienced during the Israeli genocidal attacks on the besieged Palestine enclave.

Ironside added that rebuilding the children's lives will be part of a much larger effort to rebuild the sector once the fighting stops permanently.  

She questioned, “How do we expect parents and those who care for children to take care of them and raise them positively when they themselves are not able to live as human beings?”

“There are people who lost all their family members in one blow,” she added at a press briefing.

Israeli's disproportionate attacks on Gaza had a catastrophic and impact on children.

Israel’s nearly month-long war on Gaza has had a “catastrophic and tragic impact” on children as they have seen their parents and friends die and witnessed terrible amputations, Ironside added. 

"It is an extraordinary thing to live through, and especially to survive and witness the use of incredibly damaging weapons that tend to slice people with terrible amputations and maimings, shredding people apart in front of children eyes and in front of their parents as well," the UNICEF official pointed out.

Ironside warned that children are at risk of contracting communicable diseases due to the lack of electrical power and sanitation in the blockaded Palestinian territory, adding that such illnesses could be fatal among children, particularly those aged under five. 

Tel Aviv's regime's 29 days of relentless offensive against the Gaza Strip has claimed the lives of at least 1,880 Palestinians, including 430 children and wounded over 9,600 others. 

Delegations from Palestine and Israel held separate meetings with Egyptian officials in Cairo on Wednesday, as the 72-hour ceasefire in the Gaza Strip enters its second day. 

UNICEF estimates that it will take about US$50 million to shelter families whose homes were destroyed in the war during the next few years.