Amid soaring child deaths, rising malnutrition, ceaseless bombardments, and a shattered health system, conditions in Gaza have deteriorated to “unspeakable” levels, top UN officials warned the Security Council on Wednesday.
Gaza has remained under near constant bombardment by Israeli forces since October 2023, when a terrorist attack coordinated by Hamas killed some 1,200 people in Israel and took another 251 hostage. Following the attack, Israel declared war against Hamas. But nearly two years into the campaign, Gaza’s civilian population is bearing the brunt of both the ongoing attacks and Israel’s blockades and restrictions on food and aid.
Speaking before the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher described the situation:
Food is running out. Those seeking it risk being shot. People are dying trying to feed their families. Field hospitals receive dead bodies, and medical workers hear stories firsthand from the injured – day after day after day.
Reliable casualty figures are always difficult to pin down in conflict. With that caveat in mind, the latest figures shared by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) place Palestinian fatalities at 58,380 since October 2023, including 17,921 children—some 31 percent of that total.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell described that figure as “the equivalent of an entire classroom” of children killed every day.
Israel is obligated under international humanitarian law to protect civilians. In December, a group of UN human rights experts chastised Israel for its failure to do so, saying: “Rather than abide by these rules, Israel has openly defied international law time and again, inflicting maximum suffering on civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory and beyond.”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, while the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is hearing South Africa’s case alleging Israel is violating the Genocide Convention, with the ICJ having issued provisional measures ordering Israel to prevent genocidal acts and ensure humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians in Gaza
