Gaza, MINA – Gaza has become the place with the highest number of child amputees per capita worldwide since the beginning of Israel’s war, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Wednesday, Anadolu Agency reported.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini reported that up to 4,000 amputations have been carried out in Gaza since October 2023.
“The toll on children and childhood is beyond just the physical injury and the spreading hunger. Children’s scars are deep and invisible: anxiety, nightmares, aggression, fear,” Lazzarini said in a statement shared on social media platform X.
He added that many children are now forced into begging, looting, or child labor, calling it “a lost childhood.”
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Warning of long-term consequences, Lazzarini said, “The longer this goes on, the more the children will be haunted by their ongoing and deepening traumas for generations to come.”
He renewed his call for a cease-fire, “at least for the sake of children.”
The statement comes as UN investigators recently concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, where more than 65,400 people have been killed since October 2023. []
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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