On World Children’s Day, Gaza mourns 20,000 children killed in two years

According to Shahab News Agency, Hamas issued a statement on World Children’s Day, emphasizing that Palestinian children have been victims of the organized terrorism of the Zionist regime for the past seven decades. The movement demanded the trial of the occupying leaders and the safeguarding of children’s rights.

The statement read: “On World Children’s Day, Palestinian children have been victims of the organized terrorism of the Zionist enemy for seven decades. We call for the prosecution of Israeli leaders, the protection of Palestinian children, and the assurance of their legitimate rights, equal to those of children in other countries around the world.”

Hamas added: “The United Nations commemorates November 20 as World Children’s Day, while Palestinian children, as a result of the crimes of the occupying regime, face a harsh reality in which the foundations of life—such as food, medicine, clean water, healthcare, education, and psychological support—have been destroyed. This is a blatant violation of international treaties and human values, as well as a disregard for UN resolutions.”

The statement continued: “This year, World Children’s Day comes amid a war of genocide and starvation in Gaza, which over the past two years has led to the martyrdom of more than 20,000 children, thousands of children missing under rubble, over 30,000 children losing one of their parents, and thousands of children wounded or ill in urgent need of treatment outside the region.”

Hamas emphasized: “In the West Bank and the 1948-occupied territories, children’s suffering continues due to deliberate killings, ethnic cleansing, house demolitions, road and school closures, forced displacement, denial of education, targeting Palestinian identity, and the promotion of crime in society. The number of children martyred in the West Bank over the past two years has exceeded 300.”

On World Children’s Day, Hamas highlighted the following points:

1.     Utilize this occasion to expose the crimes of the occupying regime against Palestinian children and hold the international community accountable for protecting them and ensuring a dignified life with access to education, food, and medicine like other children worldwide.

2.     Count the crimes of the occupying regime against children as crimes against humanity that cannot be forgotten or erased over time, and stress the need to prosecute the occupying leaders and settlers as war criminals in the International Criminal Court.

3.     Place Israel on the shameful list of organizations and entities that violate children’s rights and compel it to halt its crimes, as impunity encourages further offenses.

4.     Call on humanitarian and human rights organizations to fulfill their responsibilities in exposing the crimes of the occupying enemy, protecting Palestinian children, and ensuring they can live with dignity and security in their own land.

5.     Emphasize that targeting children is part of the occupiers’ policy to break the will of the Palestinian nation, and that Palestinian children in Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the 1948-occupied territories will remain symbols of resistance and resilience until the criminal occupying regime is destroyed.