The global humanitarian group Save the Children said Thursday that roughly 30% of the kids killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since last October were under the age of 5 — likely a significant undercount given that thousands of the child victims of Israel’s U.S.-backed assault have yet to be identified.
Citing a recent list published by Gaza’s Ministry of Health, Save the Children noted that of the 11,300 identified children killed by the Israeli military between October 7 and August 31, at least 3,100 were younger than 5. Roughly 710 children included on the ministry’s list were younger than a year old, and 2,800 have not been identified.
“The occupied Palestinian territory is now ranked as the deadliest place in the world for children, who face constant exposure to violence in Gaza, a lack of access to adequate healthcare, and the highest rates of child malnutrition globally, with 83% of required food aid not making it into Gaza according to aid organizations,” the group said in a statement, demanding an immediate cease-fire to prevent further harm to Gaza’s young.
“Save the Children recently screened nearly 3,000 children under 5, finding that nearly 20% of them were suffering with moderate acute malnutrition and nearly 4% with severe acute malnutrition,” the group said. “Staff have reported seeing children scouring through rubbish and debris to find food.”
A 37-year-old mother of seven told Save the Children that her youngest son “is one year and a half and is malnourished.”
“There is no food or anything. Ali cannot walk or hold onto a chair, he cannot even crawl,” she said. “He does not eat eggs or meat or milk. Nothing is available.”
Save the Children’s analysis came amid Israel’s escalating assault on central and northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped and struggling to survive Israeli bombardments and famine conditions. Northern Gaza has been wholly cut off from humanitarian assistance for more than a week, and overall aid deliveries to the enclave have tanked in recent weeks.
As Reuters reported, the United Nations World Food Program said Wednesday that “aid entering the Gaza Strip has plummeted to its lowest level in months, forcing the agency to stop the distribution of food parcels this month.”
Gaza’s children have borne the brunt of Israel’s yearlong war, which has inflicted devastating psychological and physical harm. Many of the children who have survived Israel’s relentless attacks have been left with debilitating injuries and without parents. A report released Wednesday estimated that more than 50,000 Gaza children have been orphaned or separated from their parents by Israel’s assault.
“The damage caused has shattered the very foundations of life in Gaza and will threaten the future of Palestinian children for generations to come,” Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, said in a statement Thursday.
“It is heartbreaking to see such young children robbed of any hope. Life-changing injuries, starvation, a health and education crisis — the cumulative impact of such across-the-board harm is not only putting children’s lives at risk every day, but also their futures,” said Stoner. “There must be an immediate definitive cease-fire. For every day without a cease-fire, it gets harder to help children piece together the shattered shards of their lives. For thousands of children, it’s already too late.”
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today during our fundraiser. We have 72 hours to add 273 new monthly donors. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.