GAZA, (PIC)
“My soul, this is my soul” with these words, a grief-stricken mother in Gaza expresses the height of her anguish in bidding farewell to her daughter, who was murdered by the criminal Zionist treacherous planes after the bombardment of their home in Gaza, while the patient father conceals the tears of his wife with the words of sympathy and the remnants of patience with which the people of Gaza have dazzled the entire world despite the enormity of the suffering and the greatness of the sacrifices, after they have offered from their children more than 15,000 martyrs and tens of thousands of wounded and injured. The darkest paradox is that this scene occurs on the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression.
The patient father continues to carry the body of his martyred daughter in his hands, repeating cries of anger that confirm that the entire people of Gaza are behind the resistance, no matter the sacrifices, calling on the resistance and its leadership to avenge the blood of these children who were the victims of the world’s silence, injustice and incapacity, and furthermore, its support for the Israeli killing machine with money and weapons that kill the children of Gaza day and night.
Thus, the children of Gaza continue their sacrifices for more than eight months, found either carried on shoulders as martyrs, or wounded and injured, or making the deeds of their elders in search of a decent morsel after their fathers and providers have been martyred, or found like the steadfast people of Gaza, planted on the rubble of their homes destroyed by the Israeli bombardment.
A stain of shame
In this context, the Secretary-General of the Royal Committee for Jerusalem Affairs, Abdullah Kanaan, said that more than 16,000 innocent children martyrs have risen in Gaza by the Israeli killing machine since last October, constituting a third of the victims of the Israeli brutal aggression on the Strip, to which are added more than 120 child martyrs in the West Bank.
Kanaan explained in press statements on the occasion of the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, which falls on June 4th every year and was decided in 1982 based on the suffering of the Palestinian child, that this international occasion exposes the Israeli occupation, pointing out that these numbers of child martyrs are a disgrace to all those who support the occupation and its crimes, which demonstrates that genocide, ethnic cleansing, the erasure of generations, and the obliteration of the human identity of the place are the core objectives and essence of Zionist plans.
He pointed out that there are twice as many injured and sick children who are besieged and deprived of urgent relief aid, in addition to a systematic and comprehensive war against them at the educational, social, economic, and family levels.
He added that the killing, arrest, captivity, and constant deprivation would not be erased from the Palestinian children’s minds.
Appeal to humanitarian organizations and living consciences
The Royal Committee for Jerusalem Affairs, on the occasion of the International Day for Innocent Child Victims of Aggression, made a humanitarian appeal to global human rights and humanitarian organizations to urgently rescue the childhood in Palestine, which is protected by all laws, constitutions, and international agreements, noting that the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989 appear powerless or lacking the genuine will, at the very least, to save the children of Gaza and the cities of Palestine from injustice.
He emphasized that this occasion is a message to the living consciences of organizations and the media to rescue the Palestinian child, whose rights and dreams have been shattered under the shells of Israeli aircraft and artillery, as the duty today is to expose the crimes of the occupation and convey the suffering of the children of Palestine that has captivated world public opinion.
The live scene of Gaza’s children
On the International Day for Innocent Child Victims of Aggression, a number of children from Gaza roam the streets of the city selling loaves of bread to help their families meet their basic needs amidst the economic crisis caused by the devastating Israeli war.
These children obtained the loaves of bread after spending long hours in a queue in front of one of the bakeries operating in the city of Gaza under the scorching sun, according to the Anadolu Agency.
These children do not enjoy their rights like the rest of the world’s children, as they face harsh conditions of violent raids and on-the-ground killings of their loved ones by Israel, or arrests or injuries, in addition to the starvation and thirst that local Palestinian institutions say is deliberate.
According to UN institutions, these conditions inflict severe physical and psychological harm on the children, who are in urgent need of psychological intervention and support.
Ahmed Qasem, one of the children selling bread on the streets, says, “I sell bread to help my family with daily expenses.” However, he expressed his hope to regain his childhood that the war has taken away, saying, “I wish I could be like the rest of the children of the world, playing and buying candy.”
An endless nightmare
In a post on the “X” platform on Tuesday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that children in Gaza are “going through an endless nightmare.”
It continued, “Bombardment, forced displacement, lack of food and water, and lack of access to education cause trauma to an entire generation.”
It indicated that its psychosocial support teams continue to work to relieve the children of the enclave.
The black list of criminal entities
For its part, Hamas Movement, in a statement on the occasion of the International Day for Innocent Child Victims of Aggression, called on the United Nations to include Israel on the black list of criminal entities against children.
The Movement said, “The occupation committed the most heinous crimes and horrific massacres against the Palestinian people, foremost of whom are the innocent children. According to UN reports, one child is injured or killed every 10 minutes in Gaza.”
It explained that the number of “martyrs from the children since last October 7 is estimated at about 14,000 martyrs; exceeding their recorded number over four years of conflicts in the entire world.”
It pointed out that Israel detains more than 200 Palestinian children in its prisons, including more than 20 children from Gaza, where “it commits various forms of beatings, harsh interrogation, physical and psychological torture, deliberate medical neglect, and prevention of visits.”
The Movement called on the international community and the institutions concerned with children’s rights to assume their political and humanitarian responsibilities towards the children of Palestine, work to release the detainees among them from the occupation prisons, and take action to rescue and protect them from its brutality and sadism.
The Israeli war on Gaza left more than 119,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
Israel continues its aggression, ignoring a Security Council resolution calling on it to cease fighting immediately, and orders from the International Court of Justice demanding that it stop its aggression on Rafah and take immediate measures to prevent genocide and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
