Iran Press/ America: Nearly all children in the strip also require mental health support, UNICEF said on Friday.
“Each [child] has a heartbreaking story of loss and grief,” said Jonathan Crickx, UNICEF’s chief of communication for the occupied Palestinian territories.
“This [17,000] figure corresponds to 1 percent of the overall displaced population – 1.7 million people,” he told a media briefing via video-link from Jerusalem, saying the number was an estimation as it is near impossible to verify information under current conditions.
Each one “is a child who is coming to terms with a horrible new reality”, he added.
Crickx said that tracing who the unaccompanied children were was proving “extremely difficult”, as they were sometimes brought to a hospital wounded or in shock, and “they simply can’t even say their names”.
He said that during conflicts, it was common for extended families to take care of children who lost their parents.
However, in Gaza, “due to the sheer lack of food, water or shelter, extended families are themselves distressed and face challenges to immediately take care of another child as they themselves are struggling to cater for their own children and family”, said Crickx.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced the latest death toll of the Israeli Occupation aggression against the Gaza Strip, with the number of martyrs rising to 27,131 since Oct. 7, 2023.
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