The Palestinian death toll from Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip has climbed to 8,306, the Health Ministry in the blockaded enclave said on Monday.
“The fatalities include 3,457 children and 2,136 women, while more than 21,048 people were injured,” ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told a news conference in Gaza City.
He said 25 hospitals were forced out of service and 25 ambulances were targeted in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
“The occupation deliberately seeks to paralyze ambulance service,” the spokesman said.
The Israeli army has widened its air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip, which has been under relentless airstrikes since the surprise offensive by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7.
More than 1,538 Israelis were killed in the Hamas attack.
Child Killings on Record
The number of children killed in three weeks of the Israeli bombing of Gaza now exceeds the number killed annually in all the world’s conflict zones since 2019 when 4,019 were killed.
At least 3,195 out of the 7,703 people killed in Israel’s bombing of Gaza since 7 October were children, 40 percent of the total, with 1,000 children still missing and assumed buried under the rubble, Save the Children has said.
“The use of explosive weapons in densely populated urban areas like the Gaza Strip is catastrophic for children,” Save the Children told The New Arab.
“Not only do they destroy their homes, schools and hospitals, they can also lead to life-changing injuries.”
An updated death toll since the statement was released has shown that 4,357 out of 8,306 Palestinians killed in Gaza since 7 October are children, accounting for more than 50 percent of the war dead. This is in line with the general age demographics of the Strip, which is home to 2.3 million people, around half of them children.
The high proportion of children killed indicates that Israel is not limiting its strikes to military targets, as it claims, but indiscriminately bombing in one of the world’s most densely populated areas, with homes and hospitals, churches and mosques all victim to the assault from the skies.
A third of hospitals in the Gaza Strip are no longer functioning due to Israel’s “total blockade” of essential goods such as medicine, fuel, and electricity, which are essential to keeping medical facilities running.
According to Doctors without Borders, anesthesia shortages have led to children having limbs amputated without pain relief, while vinegar is also being used by surgeons to treat bacteria.
“The risk of children dying from injuries has never been higher,” said Save the Children.
Jason Lee, Save the Children’s country director in the occupied Palestinian Territory, said: “Three weeks of violence have ripped children from families and torn through their lives at an unimaginable rate… with violence not only continuing but expanding in Gaza right now, many more children remain at grave risk.”
Lee said only a ceasefire can guarantee children’s safety. “Children must be protected at all times, especially when they are seeking safety in schools and hospitals,” he added.
