One in six children live in conflict zones this year: UNICEF | Israel-Palestine conflict News

An estimated 473 million, or more than one in six children, live in conflict zones around the world, according to the United Nations children’s agency.

UNICEF’s statement was released on Saturday as conflict continues to rage around the world, including in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, among others.

In Israel devastating war in Gaza especially, at least 17,492 children were reportedly killed in the nearly 15-month conflict that reduced a large part of the enclave to ruins.

“By almost all measures, 2024 was one of the worst years on record for children in conflict in UNICEFhistory – both in terms of the number of children affected and the level of impact on their lives,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

According to Russell, a child growing up in a conflict zone is far more likely to be out of school, malnourished or forced to leave their home compared to a child living in a non-conflict area.

“This must not be the new normal. We cannot allow a generation of children to become collateral damage of the world’s uncontrolled wars,” said the director.

The proportion of children living in conflict areas has doubled – from about 10 percent in the 1990s to nearly 19 percent today, UNICEF said.

According to the report, 47.2 million children have been displaced by conflict and violence by the end of 2023.

Trends for 2024 point to further increases in displacement as various conflicts intensify, including in Haiti, Lebanon, Myanmar, the Palestinian Territories and Sudan.

In addition, according to the latest available data, since 2023, the UN has confirmed a record 32,990 serious violations of the rights of 22,557 children – the highest number since monitoring began under the mandate of the UN Security Council, UNICEF said.

There is an overall upward trend in the number of serious violations, with another increase likely this year, as “thousands of children have been killed and injured in Gaza, and in Ukraine“, the agency says.

Sexual violence against children has increased, their education has been affected, child malnutrition rates have risen and armed conflict has taken a greater toll on children’s mental health, UNICEF also reported.

“The world is failing these children. As we look to 2025, we must do more to turn the tide and save and improve children’s lives,” said Russell.

Gaza children ‘cold, sick, traumatized’

In Gaza – where the Israeli army has killed more women and children in the past year than in any recent conflict in a single year, Oxfam reported in September – the ongoing war is a “nightmare” for children, a UNICEF expert said last year. communications Rosalia Bollen week at a media briefing.

“The children in Gaza are cold, sick and traumatized,” Bollen said last Friday.

About 96 percent of women and children in Gaza cannot meet their basic nutritional needs, she said, complaining about the lack of aid that could reach children in the Strip.

“Gaza must be one of the most heartbreaking places on Earth for humanitarians. “Every small effort to save a child’s life undoes the fierce destruction,” Bollen said.

“For over 14 months, the children have been on the edge of this nightmare.”

Bollen said that many children in the besieged enclave do not have winter clothes, have to scavenge for food in the garbage and struggle with diseases.

She called for the use of political capital and diplomatic power to encourage the evacuation of injured children and their parents to leave Gaza and seek medical attention in East Jerusalem or elsewhere.

“This war should haunt each of us. The children of Gaza cannot wait,” she pressed.