Image of a memorial to some of the children killed in Gaza at a protest in Toronto, November 4. Since then at least another 2,000 children have been killed in Israeli attacks.
Celebrated annually on November 20, UNICEF's World Children’s Day is an annual day of action for children promoting children’s rights, safety, education, health and happiness.
But as Al-Jazeera noted today:
This year, it comes amid Israel’s war on Gaza.
About half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people are children. Since October 7, Israeli attacks have killed at least 5,500 children, according to Palestinian officials. That is one Palestinian child killed every 10 minutes.
An additional 1,800 children are missing under the rubble, most of them presumed dead. A further 9,000 children have been injured, many with life-changing consequences. Many of these children have lived through the trauma of multiple wars.
Image from a vigil in Santiago, Chile on November 17 calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the killing of children. Members of the Palestinian community and supporters laid out children’s shoes in front of the La Moneda presidential palace.
Today (November 20) UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that in all the reports issued during his tenure, on children in conflict, it was clear that the current war in Gaza has seen thousands of child deaths - compared with hundreds, in conflicts in Yemen and Syria.
He said that “what is clear is that we have had in a few weeks thousands of children killed.”
Al Jazeera has created an infographic listing the names and ages of less than half of those children killed over the past six weeks. You can read the names here.
