More kids killed in Gaza in 3 weeks than all global conflict annually since 2019, Save the Children says
'These are children that had futures, that had lives ahead of them,' says Save the Children rep
More children have been killed in the Gaza Strip over the last three weeks than in every other armed conflict annually since 2019, says Save the Children.
Citing numbers from Gaza's Health Ministry, the international charity said Sunday that 3,195 children have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7. That number had risen to 3,457 as of Monday afternoon. The CBC has been unable to independently verify the figures.
Another 33 children have been killed in the occupied West Bank, and 29 children were killed in Israel, the charity said, citing figures from local health authorities.
"These are children that had futures, that had lives ahead of them, that have families that loved them," Dalia Al-Awqati, head of humanitarian affairs for Save the Children Canada, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
"We have to do everything within our power to make sure that these grave violations do not continue. And that includes calling for a ceasefire, and calling for that ceasefire now."
By comparison, 2,985 children were killed in armed conflicts around the world in 2022, 2,515 in 2021, 2,674 in 2020 and 4,019 in 2019, according to annual reports by the United Nations secretary-general on children and armed conflict.
"To see the comparison is really eye-opening," Al-Awqati said. "This is horrific. And the fact is it's happening on our watch."
Canada calls 'humanitarian pause,' but not ceasefire
Israel is currently advancing its ground assault into the Gaza Strip after three weeks of heavy bombardments and a siege that has largely cut off more than two million people from food, medical supplies and fuel. Gaza's health ministry says 8,306 Palestinians have been killed.
Israel says its military actions in Gaza are in retaliation for a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 in which Hamas militants invaded several Israeli communities, killed 1,400 people, most of them civilians, and took more than 200 people hostage, including an estimated 30 children.
Save the Children is one of several organizations — including the World Health Organization and the Vatican — calling for an immediate ceasefire in the region. Protesters across Canada and much of the world have echoed those calls.
"It is imperative to the livelihood, to the survival, of over a million children in Gaza," Al-Awqati said. "As a humanitarian aid organisation, as a neutral and impartial aid organisation, we can tell you that the impact has been huge. We've been warning of a catastrophe. We are at the catastrophe."
On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for "immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce."
Bob Rae, Canada's permanent UN envoy, proposed an amendment to the resolution condemning the "deliberate cruelty" of Hamas on Oct. 7 and calling for the release of all hostages. After the amendment failed, Canada abstained from the final vote.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he supports a "humanitarian pause" to deliver aid to Gaza. But Al-Awqati says that's not enough.
"We need to be able to reach populations in need where they are," she said. "And we need to be able to do that safely."
Israeli PM says he won't 'surrender to barbarism'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a ceasefire on Monday.
"Just as the United States would not agree to a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor or after the terrorist attack of 9/11, Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas after the horrific attacks of October 7th," he said during a televised address on Monday.
"Calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism."
But Al-Awqati says it's innocent people who are facing the brunt of the violence.
She's currently based in Toronto, but has been co-ordinating with Save the Children teams on the ground in the region. Staff in Gaza, she says, are relaying stories of overcrowded hospitals with no clean water, and children being operated on, sometimes amputated, without anesthesia.
Al-Awqati says she has worked in conflict zones around the world and never before "seen children being deprived, to this extent, of water, of food, of health services."
The Israeli government and U.S. President Joe Biden have cast doubt on the official death toll in Gaza, noting those numbers come from the Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas.
The ministry has stood by the death toll, saying Hamas does not dictate its casualty reports, which are largely compiled by doctors in the field. They are frequently cited by international governments, UN agencies, and global aid groups.
The World Health Organization told CBC News it believes the ministry's counts "largely reflect the level of death and injury."
"These numbers, they're coming from the ground," Al-Awqati said, adding they are reflective of what aid workers are seeing for themselves.
"Everything that we are seeing from the ground supports the fact that children are being hurt the most. The impact on civilians is grave."
With files from Reuters. Interview with Dalia Al-Awqati produced by Chloe Shantz-Hilkes
