UNICEF warns of growing child toll in Lebanon conflict
UNICEF warns of the "silent normalization of horror" in Lebanon, where over two months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah have resulted in the deaths of more than 200 children and injuries to over 1,100, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder reported during a press conference in Geneva.
James Elder discussed how the unacceptable is becoming acceptable. The UNICEF spokesperson also expressed hope that such a massacre of children, as seen in the Gaza Strip, will never happen again in the future.
"We now see terrifying similarities between the situations in Gaza and Lebanon," the UNICEF spokesperson noted.
The organization does not assign blame to any side for the deaths of Lebanese children. However, as Elder pointed out, "anyone following the media should have a clear idea of how these children died, where the rockets were fired from, where the children were located, and where they were fleeing... just like in Gaza."
The conflict escalated almost two months ago when Israel began massive airstrikes on Lebanon, followed by a ground operation in the southern part of the country, declaring the elimination of the threat from Hezbollah as the objective. The Shiite group, recognized by the West as a terrorist organization, has been regularly shelling Israel since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip, which has been met with strong counterattacks.
According to the Ministry of Health in Beirut, after more than a year of mutual attacks, the death toll in Lebanon has exceeded 3,500 people, most of whom died in the last two months. It is estimated that about 1.2 million people have fled their homes. Lebanese media and authorities report that some of the victims are civilians.
Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian Authority, in the ongoing conflict of over a year by Israel against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, nearly 44,000 people have died. The Hamas-controlled authority emphasizes that most of the victims are civilians, especially women and children. The UN analyzed data concerning over 8,000 killed in Gaza during the first six months of the war and confirmed that 44 percent of them were children and 26 percent were women.
