UNICEF says over 13,000 children killed in Gaza

The U.N. children’s
agency said on Sunday over 13,000 children have been killed in
Gaza in Israel’s offensive, adding many kids were suffering from
severe malnutrition and did not “even have the energy to cry.”
“Thousands more have been injured or we can’t even determine
where they are. They may be stuck under rubble … We haven’t
seen that rate of death among children in almost any other
conflict in the world,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine
Russell told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” program on Sunday.
“I’ve been in wards of children who are suffering from
severe anemia malnutrition, the whole ward is absolutely quiet.
Because the children, the babies … don’t even have the energy
to cry.”
Russell said there were “very great bureaucratic challenges”
moving trucks into Gaza for aid and assistance.
International criticism has mounted on Israel due to the
death toll of the war, the starvation crisis in Gaza, and
allegations of blocking aid deliveries into the enclave.
A U.N. expert said earlier this month that Israel was
destroying Gaza’s food system as part of a broader “starvation
campaign.” Israel rejected the accusation.
Israel’s military assault on Hamas-governed Gaza has
displaced nearly its entire 2.3 million-person population,
caused a starvation crisis, flattened most of the enclave, and
killed over 31,000 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
It has also led to accusations of genocide being probed in the
World Court.
Israel denies the genocide charges and says it is acting in
self defense after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel from Hamas that
killed some 1,200, according to Israeli tallies, and took scores
of hostages.
One in three children under age 2 in northern Gaza is now
acutely malnourished and famine is looming, the main U.N. agency
operating in the Palestinian enclave said on Saturday.