The figure exceeds the annual number of children and adolescents murdered in conflict zones in the world since 2019, the Non-Governmental Organization stressed in a statement.

Save the Children stressed that this population sector represents over 40 percent of the people who died in the Gaza Strip. It also warned that another thousand are reported missing and are assumed to be buried under the rubble, so the number of deaths may be much higher.

Three weeks of violence ripped children from their families and tore their lives apart at an unimaginable rate, the numbers are horrifying, Jason Lee, director of the NGO in the Palestinian territories criticized. “The death of a child is too much, but these are serious violations of epic proportions, a ceasefire is the only way to guarantee their safety,” he stated, and called on the international community to put people before politics, and recalled that minors must always be protected.

The organization stressed that it is deeply concerned about the likelihood that the expansion of the Israeli forces’ ground operation in Gaza will inevitably lead to more child victims.

According to Palestinian authorities, 3,195 children have been killed by bombs in the Gaza Strip and another 33 by gunfire from soldiers or settlers in the West Bank. Another 29 minors have died in Israel.

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