Gazan children suffer from ‘devastating levels of stress’: UN agency

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned on Saturday against the psychological toll facing the children in the Gaza Strip as a result of the ongoing Israeli onslaught on the besieged enclave. 'Children in Gaza are suffering devastating levels of stress,' said the agency in a statement on X. 'UNRWA team is working with children and adolescents to mitigate the impact of the horrors of war,' it added. 'Our counselors offer them hope and comfort,' the agency said, noting: 'We have to protect their present and their future.' 'Ceasefire Now,' reiterated UNRWA. Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 Hamas incursion which killed some 1,200 people. Tel Aviv, in comparison, has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians and wounded nearly 78,000 amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities in the Palestinian territory. Nearly seven months into the Israeli onslaught, vast swathes of Gaza lie in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave's population into internal displacement besides a crippling blockade on food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN. Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to prevent genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.