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SvennoJ on 12 March 2024
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UN: More children killed in four months of war on Gaza than in four years of global war

The head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has shared data on X that shows this staggering figure. More than 12,300 children were killed in Gaza between October 2023 and February 2024, the data shows, compared to 12,193 children killed in global conflict from 2019 to 2023.

“This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future,” Philippe Lazzarini wrote.



At least 17,000 children in Gaza separated from families: Report

The UK-based Palestinian Return Centre submitted a report to the UN on the treatment of Palestinian children by Israeli forces in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Here’s a summary of what it said:

  • More than 12,000 Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza in attacks by Israeli forces since October 7, with many others facing amputations and life-changing injuries.
  • The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates at least 17,000 children in Gaza are “now unaccompanied or separated from their families”, amid Israel’s five-month war on the coastal enclave.
  • Israeli forces “systematically” detain Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, leading to the detention of at least 200 kids since the war in Gaza began. They’re often subjected to psychological and physical torture.
  • “The suffering of children in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, must not fade into the background of the current conflict – it is part of it,” says the report.
  • Deliberately targeting and causing harm to civilians is considered a war crime.



Continuation of Gaza war ‘serves Netanyahu’s political agenda’

Hassan Barari from Qatar University says truce negotiations are faltering because of a lack of will on the part of the Israeli and US governments.

“The problem here is all the pressure is being placed on Hamas, especially from the Americans,” he told Al Jazeera. “What the Israelis are saying is: ‘Release the hostages and we’ll come back and bomb you.’ Hamas wants to end the war, which has been catastrophic for everyone.”

Barari said the Americans are failing to put real pressure on the Israelis to get a deal done. “The only one who can really sway the Israeli government is the Biden administration, and it is not doing this.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is stalling on a captive-prisoner exchange agreement as a “pretext” to continue the war, he added.

“It is not his number one priority otherwise he would have agreed on a deal. He’s trying to tell everyone that military pressure is the only way. But his objective is not really to release the hostages because the continuation of the war serves his political agenda,” said Barari.



Stating it in pounds now so it seems more....

US army announces latest aid drops on Gaza

The army’s Central Command (CENTCOM) says that at 2pm local time (12:00 GMT), it dropped airdropped aid boxes containing “5,280 pounds of food, including rice, flour, pasta, and canned food” over north Gaza, in a joint operation with the Jordanian air force.

The US has been carrying out these aid drops for the past several weeks in an effort to alleviate the acute starvation of northern Gaza, even as top humanitarian officials have repeatedly said that there is no substitute for existing land routes.

Last week, an aid airdrop by a still-unconfirmed party killed several Palestinians when its parachute failed to open.

5,280 pounds is only 2.4 metric tons, 1/10th of a truck load, only enough to feed 1,600 people for a day. Pathetic.


More useless propaganda

US military ships depart for Gaza pier construction

Four US Army vessels departed a base in the US state of Virginia, carrying about 100 soldiers and equipment needed to build a temporary port on Gaza’s coast for desperately needed aid deliveries.

The new facility – which will consist of an offshore platform for transshipment of aid from larger to smaller vessels and a pier to bring it ashore – is expected to be up and running “at the 60-day mark”, US Army Brigadier-General Brad Hinson told journalists.

About 500 troops from the 7th Transportation Battalion (Expeditionary) will take part in the operation, Hinson said, describing it as “the premier watercraft unit in our Army.” “They can provide sustainment support over the water in austere environments. They are trained to do this, and they’ve gone on many exercises to be ready to provide this capability,” he said.

With hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing starvation, the plan has been criticised while Israel refuses to fully open land crossings for aid deliveries.

 

Land based aid is the only thing that really works

WFP says food for 25,000 Palestinians delivered to Gaza City

The UN’s World Food Programme says it was the first successful delivery since February 20. “With people in northern Gaza on the brink of famine, we need deliveries every day + we need entry points directly into the north.”

UN officials last month accused Israel of “systematically” blocking aid from reaching desperate Palestinians in Gaza, warning at least one-quarter of the enclave’s population is a step away from famine without urgent action.



Better than aid drops, but needs to be ramped up 20 fold.