Since October 7, Israel has brutally murdered nearly 13,000 children in Gaza, according to UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell, and many more are critically malnourished. She stated to CBS News, "Thousands more have been injured or we can’t even determine where they are." When Russell visited wards containing malnourished children who were too weak to cry, she reported that "the whole ward is absolutely quiet." She described Israel's conduct as a "genocidal" war and emphasized the difficulties in delivering relief because of bureaucratic roadblocks.

In northern Gaza, one in three children under the age of two suffers from acute malnutrition, according to UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. They alert the beleaguered enclave—which has been under constant Israeli bombing for more than five months—to impending famine. The Israeli government's high death toll, Gaza's famine situation, and allegations of an assistance embargo are drawing outrage from throughout the world. "No amount of international pressure will stop us from realizing all the goals of the war: eliminating Hamas, releasing all our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat against Israel," says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reiterating the threat of a ground assault on Rafah. He declared, “We will also operate in Rafah to accomplish this.”

At least 31,645 Palestinians have died in Gaza since October 7, primarily women and children, as a result of Israel's military onslaught, which has also forced over two million people from their homes.The UN's International Court of Justice is looking at claims of genocide that have been sparked by the Israeli operation. Israel has consistently refuted accusations of genocide and emphasized that it is acting in self-defense following Hamas' offensive on October 7, which it claims claimed more than 1,130 lives and captured more than 200.

BOB Post