About 21,000 Missing Children In Gaza, Not Including Those Buried In Mass Graves

Illustration of Gaza children. (Wikimedia Commons/gloucester2gaza)

JAKARTA - About 21,000 children in Gaza are thought to be trapped under the rubble, detained, buried in an unsigned grave, or separated from their families, Save the Children said on Monday.

In a newly published report, Save the Children said it was "nearly impossible to collect and verify information under current conditions in Gaza".

"Save the Children estimates around 21,000 children are missing in Gaza," the report said.

"At least 17,000 children are believed not to be accompanied and separated and about 4,000 children are likely missing under the rubble, with an unknown number also in mass graves," he continued.

The UK-based advocacy group said the latest wave of evacuations caused by Israeli attacks on Rafah, where thousands of Palestinians seek refuge, had separated more children from their families.

Save the Children regional director for the Middle East, Jeremy Stoner, called for an independent investigation and those responsible for being held accountable.

"Families are tortured by the uncertainty of the whereabouts of their loved ones," he said.

"No parent should have to dig up the rubble or mass graves to try and find the bodies of their children," he continued.

"Gaza has become a grave for children, with thousands more missing, their fate unknown," he said.

A number of unknown children have been "forced to disappear", including some who were "detained and forcibly transferred out of Gaza", with the whereabouts of those who remain unknown.

Meanwhile, more than 14,000 children have died in Gaza since the war erupted on October 7, according to the Ministry of Health and UNICEF in the Palestinian enclave.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education of Gaza said the number of children killed reached 15,000 earlier this month.

Separately, about 250 Palestinian children were also missing from the occupied West Bank in Israel's military detention system. Their families were unable to confirm their location and well-being due to increased visit restrictions since October.

Save the Children also called for a ceasefire.

"We urgently need a ceasefire to find and support the surviving missing children and to prevent more families from being destroyed," Stoner said.

Yesterday, Gaza's health authorities announced that the death toll of Palestinian civilians as a result of Israeli attacks since the conflict in the region broke out on October 7, 2023, had reached 37,626 people and 86,098 people were injured, the majority of the victims were women and children, quoted from WAFA.