More than 39,000 children have lost one or both parents in Gaza, according to a new report from the Palestinian Statistics Agency.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics has lost parents since the start of the war in Israel’s besieged Gaza Strip.
In a statement on Thursday, the eve of Palestinian Children’s Day, the agency said 39,384 children in Gaza have lost one or both parents after the 534-day attack in Israel.
The bureau said it was about 17,000 children who have been deprived of both parents since October 2023 when Israel launched the massacre attacks.
“These children live in tragic circumstances, and many are forced to take shelter in torn tents and destroyed homes. “The Gaza Strip is struggling with the biggest orphan crisis in modern history.”
At least 17,954 children were killed in the Israeli attack in Gaza, according to the statement. This includes 274 newborns and 876 infants under the age of 1.
“Seventeen children also frozen and frozen in tents protecting displaced people, while 52 people died of starvation and systemic malnutrition,” he added.
The department warned that 60,000 children are at risk of death due to malnutrition and serious levels of looming hunger.
Since resuming attacks in Gaza after a fragile ceasefire provided weeks of rest, Israel has sealed a key boundary intersection.
Even before the final ceasefire came into effect in January, it lasted for about two months, when Israeli forces nearly closed the border crossings and drove away thousands of fleets carrying aid supplies.
The government’s media office in Gaza said earlier this week that the Israeli government was applying a “systemic starvation” policy by halting aid and flour intrusions for a month and forcing bakeries to shut down.
Children and minors under the age of 18 account for around 43% of Gaza’s 5.5 million Palestinian population, as well as children and minors in the occupied West Bank, the department said.
Since resuming the fatal campaign on March 18, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,160 Palestinians in Gaza.
At least 50,523 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, most of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
The report said since October 7, Israeli forces have detained more than 1,055 children, mostly in the West Bank, and is an “unprecedented” escalation against Palestinian children. Over 350 remaining in Israeli prison facilities.
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