DOZENS of Palestinian children staged a protest on Monday to deliver an ‘urgent appeal to stop the killing of Gaza’s children’ to international community organisations and human rights groups through Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights.
The demonstration, held at the Media Solidarity Centre in western Gaza City, called for an immediate end to the genocide, an end to Israel’s starvation policy, and urgent international intervention to protect children.
They carried banners that read: ‘Stop the genocide, save childhood,’ ‘Stop the war against Gaza’s children,’ ‘Gaza’s children are not numbers,’ and ‘Children in Gaza are dying of hunger.’
They chanted for an end to the killing, displacement, and deliberate starvation carried out by the Israeli occupation forces.
Around one hundred children joined the event. Sixteen-year-old Rimas al-Hindi, displaced from Gaza City’s al-Zaytoun neighbourhood to al-Shati refugee camp, said she now lives in a tent with no basic necessities, under constant fear of bombing and the agony of hunger.
‘We live in unbearable psychological conditions. We want the world to hear our voices and act to end the killing and genocide,’ she said.
Thirteen-year-old Rahaf al-Fayoumi echoed the same plea. ‘We want to live in safety, away from fear, death, and hunger,’ she said.
‘We have the right to live like other children in the world, to focus on our studies and our lives instead of running from one place to another under bombardment,’ she added.
Fifteen-year-old Rama Khader explained that the protest aimed to urge the international community to witness the reality Gaza’s children endure. ‘We came here to speak about our stolen rights, our right to live in safety, to have health services, to get an education,’ she said.
‘Every child here has lost relatives, friends, homes, some lost everything. The world must exert pressure to stop this horrific war.’
Mohammed al-Bardawil, a lawyer with Al-Dameer Association, confirmed that his organisation received the children’s appeal and will forward it to international human rights bodies and UN special rapporteurs.
‘The protest was organised at the request of the children themselves, who live in catastrophic conditions under this ongoing genocide,’ he said. ‘They want their voices heard in order to be rescued from starvation and constant danger.’
Al-Bardawil stressed that the genocide has killed at least 18,000 children since October 7th, 2023. ‘For 22 months, children and civilians have been exterminated without protection, in direct violation of international conventions,’ he said.
He added that the Israeli blockade, preventing food and medicine from entering Gaza, has put 70 to 80 per cent of children at risk of malnutrition. Over the past weeks alone, 122 children have died due to starvation.
- The Health Ministry in Gaza has issued an urgent appeal to all relevant parties to reinforce blood banks in the enclave’s hospitals, as the number of wounded continues to surge under Israel’s ongoing genocide, now in its 23rd month.
In a statement yesterday, the ministry warned that hospital blood banks are suffering from a severe and dangerous shortage of blood units and components. The daily demand now exceeds 350 units of blood.
The type of life-threatening injuries arriving at hospitals require additional blood units in order to save lives.
The ministry added that sources for replenishing blood stocks, including community blood donation campaigns, have declined sharply due to widespread famine and severe malnutrition.
Around 100 Palestinians are killed and more than 600 are wounded each day as Israeli airstrikes continue across the Gaza Strip.
