TEHRAN: Charity group, Save the Children, said an average of more than 10 Palestinian children per day have lost one or both of their legs since the Israeli regime launched its devastating war on Gaza on Oct 7.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said more than 1,000 children in Gaza have had one or both legs amputated during that period, reported Iranian news agency IRNA.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) stated that due to the conflict, the healthcare system in Gaza has been severely impaired, leading to a shortage of doctors, nurses, and essential medical supplies such as anesthesia and antibiotics. Consequently, many operations on children were conducted without anesthesia.
While 13 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza remain partially functional, they are operating on a fluctuating basis, said WHO, adding that the nine partially functional hospitals in the south are operating at three times their capacity.
Save the Children’s Country Director for the occupied Palestinian territory, Jason Lee said the suffering of children in this conflict is unimaginable, adding that it is unnecessary and completely avoidable.
“Only a definitive ceasefire will end the killing and maiming of civilians and allow in desperately needed humanitarian aid – including critical medicines for wounded children – at the scale and locations required”, he reiterated.
Some 22,000 Palestinians have been killed and a further 57,000 injured in the three months since Oct 7, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. – BERNAMA-IRNA
