It has been a month since Israeli occupation forces have been bombarding the Gaza Strip killing thousands of innocent Palestinians. The indiscriminate and barbaric attacks have seen many hospitals and schools being targeted and thousands of children losing their lives. As per international agencies, the number of children killed every day in the attacks is more than in most other conflicts around the world. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report, the bombardment by Israel has claimed the lives of 4,104 innocent children in Gaza. The report also mentioned that the majority of the residents in Gaza, numbering around 1.5 million, are internally displaced due to the war.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) surgeons are treating toddlers whose skin is charred from widespread burns in Gaza. “The images of suffering, dead and wounded children will haunt us all. This is a moral failing,” ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric said in a statement.
Under the Geneva Conventions passed in 1949 and accepted international rules of conflict state that children must be protected and treated humanely. But reports from the ground in Gaza prove that the occupation forces of Israel have flouted all international rules and regulations and have the blood of thousands of innocent toddlers on their hands. They have also murdered hundreds of healthcare workers and scores of journalists while destroying hospitals, ambulances and schools. Sixteen hospitals are out of service in Gaza, and 32 medical care facilities are out of operation.
Local media have reported that the conditions are inhumane and catastrophic in the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces have been bombing several hospitals and refugee camps making it impossible for aid agencies and other organisations to offer services to the wounded and displaced.
At the 17th meeting of Their Excellencies Speakers of the Shura, Representatives, National and Ummah Councils in the GCC countries, hosted by Doha yesterday, Speaker of the Shura Council H E Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim expressed his strong anger and denunciation of the heinous massacres and genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and in the occupied Palestinian territories, describing them as cleansing and barbaric crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces amid shameful silence and in full view of the international community.
It is surprising that even with all these heinous massacres going on for a month now, the international community is not able to put a stop to these barbaric crimes. It is a shame that the call for an immediate ceasefire from all the concerned parties is not being implemented.
