The organization’s Middle East regional director questioned what kind of military goals “could justify such mass-scale slaughter of civilians?”
Save the Children said on Monday that Gaza is what can happen without the rules of war, slamming world powers for continuing to send arms to Israel that are being used to “kill children and burn patients and families in hospitals and tents.”
“Humanity has lost its way if those with the ability – and legal obligation – to stop this slaughter choose not to,” Jeremy Stoner, the Middle East Regional Director for Save the Children said in a statement.
The statement by the charity organization comes while at least 400,000 Palestinians in the north of the Gaza Strip continue to be bombarded and under siege by Israeli occupation forces, for the last ten days with no way out, and on the echo of the latest heinous massacre in Deir Al-Balah, with displaced Palestinians set ablaze in their tents by Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Israel Uses ‘Booby-Trapped Robots’ in North Gaza to Escalate Killings – Euro-Med Monitor
“What we’re seeing now in Gaza looks like the depths of hell with reports day after day of attacks on children and families. Nowhere is safe,” Stoner said of the situation in Gaza.
The regional director stressed that in the north “already starving” Palestinians have been deprived again of food and water for the last two weeks “while trying to dodge bombs and bullets in a kill zone they cannot leave.”
Stoner condemned the Israeli occupation forces for misleading Palestinians in the south by directing them to the so-called “safe zones” before targeting them, pointing out that the evacuation orders issued by Israel “are at risk of becoming ‘execution orders’ as children are denied the means to survive.”
“In the south – the area to which families in the north were directed for their safety – bombs dropped by Israeli jets have set off a fire that is searing through Al-Aqsa Hospital and tents in the hospital grounds, with reports of rescuers finding burned and charred bodies,” he said.
“What military goals could justify such mass-scale slaughter of civilians?” he questioned while emphasizing that “the notion of collateral damage must never be used to excuse the predictable killing of children.”
“A year ago, there was international outcry when an Israeli rocket damaged Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, injuring four staff members. How devastatingly far we have descended,” Stoner questioned.
The Middle East regional director revealed that his organization has started the second round of polio vaccines in their Deir al-Balah clinic under extremely unsafe conditions “as children face bombs and fire just 500m away,” adding that without a ceasefire “these vaccinations simply postpone rather than prevent children’s pain.”
Hezbollah is intensifying its use of ballistic missiles and targeting Haifa with two surface-to-surface missiles, according to the Israeli Army Radio.
At least 45 Palestinians have been killed since dawn on Tuesday in the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Al-Jazeera… pic.twitter.com/ESyfDe0WsI
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 15, 2024
He confirmed that the ongoing genocide in the besieged Gaza Strip obviously has children as intentional targets.
“Never has it been clearer that this is a war on children, their protection only upheld if they’re deemed a risk to those beyond their borders,” Stoner stressed.
Stoner urged the international community to exert all efforts to stop the genocide and the one-year suffering of Palestinians in the Strip.
“Without immediate international action, children and families across the Gaza Strip face a death sentence – today, tomorrow, in a week, in a month, by bombs, bullets, fire, disease or starvation. Anywhere, any time,” he concluded.
Deir Al-Balah’s Inferno
Israel carried out a heinous massacre against displaced Palestinians sheltering in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on Sunday night.
Videos shared by activists and journalists captured harrowing scenes in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, which killed and wounded scores of Palestinians.
According to medical sources, the attack resulted in at least four fatalities, including a woman and a child, while about 40 others sustained serious injuries. Many of the victims suffered severe burns, with some bodies charred beyond recognition.
Inferno in Deir Al-Balah – Israel Burns Displaced Palestinians Alive at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital
The bombing ignited a large fire that engulfed around 30 tents. Eyewitnesses reported that the fire spread quickly due to the tents being made of nylon and other highly flammable materials.
Medical teams rescued several wounded individuals, including women and children, many of whom had suffered severe burns. It took civil defense teams 45 minutes to bring the fire under control.
The Gaza government’s media office confirmed that this was the seventh time Israeli forces have targeted the tents of displaced people within the grounds of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital since the war on Gaza began more than a year ago.
Bloody and Suffocating Siege
In the meantime, in the northern Gaza Strip, which Israeli forces have isolated from Gaza City, the siege continues.
For the eleventh consecutive day, residents have been denied access to food, water, and fuel.
Reports from Al-Jazeera indicate that Israeli forces are systematically destroying the remaining infrastructure in the area, including water wells, desalination plants, and solar energy facilities.
Eyewitnesses reported ongoing explosions and house demolitions by the Israeli army, with some homes in the Jabaliya refugee camp being leveled with their residents still inside. The bodies remain trapped beneath the rubble.
‘Criminal War of Extermination’ – Israeli Bombing Kills Children at Play in Shati
Meanwhile, ten Palestinians were killed and over 40 injured when Israeli artillery struck an aid distribution center in Jabaliy on Monday morning.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza expressed fears that many more people may have been killed in the streets or under the rubble of their homes, as medical teams are unable to reach them.
Residents reported that Israeli forces have effectively cut off the northern Gaza Strip cities of Beit Hanoun, Jabaliya, and Beit Lahia from Gaza City, preventing any movement between the regions.
Gaza Genocide Continues
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 42,289 Palestinians have been killed, and 98,684 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
‘Shameful’ – UNICEF Says Lives of Children Devastated by Wars in Gaza, Lebanon
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
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