Over 50,000 children killed, injured in Israeli war on Gaza: UNICEF

More than 50,000 children have been killed or injured in Israel's deadly war on Gaza since October 2023, the UN children's fund said on Wednesday.

"The children of Gaza need protection. They need food, water, and medicine. They need a ceasefire. But more than anything, they need immediate, collective action to stop this once and for all," UNICEF's Middle East Director Edouard Beigbeder said in a statement.

He said at least 1,309 children have been killed and 3,738 others injured since Israel resumed its air assaults on Gaza on March 18.

"How many more dead girls and boys will it take? What level of horror must be livestreamed before the international community fully steps up, uses its influence, and takes bold, decisive action to force the end of this ruthless killing of children?"

On Friday, Palestinian doctor Alaa Najjar, a physician at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, lost nine of her 10 children, and her husband, also a doctor, is in critical condition as a result of an Israeli airstrike on their home.

And on Monday, at least 31 people, including 18 children, were burned to death in an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City.

"These children-lives that should never be reduced to numbers-are now part of a long, harrowing list of unimaginable horrors: the grave violations against children, the blockade of aid, the starvation, the constant forced displacement, and the destruction of hospitals, water systems, schools, and homes. In essence, the destruction of life itself in the Gaza Strip," Beigbeder said.

The Israeli army, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing over 54,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war crimes against civilians in the enclave.