UNRWA: 10 Children Lose One Or Both Feet Every Day In Gaza

Illustration of children in Gaza. (Wikimedia Commons/gloucester2gaza)

JAKARTA - Ten children lose one or both of their feet every day in the ongoing Israeli genocide war in the Gaza Strip, according to Secretary-General of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini.

"Basically, on average every day we have 10 children who lose one or two feet. This gives you an overview of the type of childhood that a child can experience in Gaza," said Lazzarini, at a press conference by the UNRWA Advisory Commission in Geneva, Switzerland, launching WAFA June 26.

Citing figures from UN Children's agency UNICEF, he said the figure "doesn't even include arms and hands, and we have more" than this.

"Ten per day, it means about 2,000 children after more than 260 days of this brutal war," said Lazzarini.

He said amputations often occur "in very dire conditions," sometimes without anesthesia.

The day before, Save the Children said up to 21,000 children were thought to have disappeared due to the Hamas-Israeli war in the Palestinian enclave.

Commenting on the situation in the occupied West Bank, Lazzarini voiced his deep concern about "the situation in the West Bank where we continue to say a kind of silent war is going on."

"If there is no Gaza today, the West Bank will make headlines. More than 500 people have been killed since October 7th. However, what was also surprising when we went to the West Bank was the intensity of the operation that took place in refugee camps or in villages," he said.

Meanwhile, Gaza's health authorities announced on Tuesday that at least 32 people were killed and 139 others injured in the Israeli attacks that occurred in the past 24 hours.

That brings the death toll of Palestinians as a result of Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, now surging to 37,658 people, while injuries increased to 86,237 people.