WP: 18,500 Palestinian children who have been killed in Gaza

Pic.: YouTube

The Washington Post publishes the names and ages of 18,500 Palestinian children who have been killed in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught almost 22 months ago.

The Post takes the numbers from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which says that it relies on hospital and morgue records, vetted reports from victims’ families and reliable media outlets to document each death. The ministry also presents the ID numbers of every single Palestinian it says has been killed in the war.

“Some were killed in their beds. Others, while playing. Many were buried before they learned to walk. Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),” the Post writes.

A breakdown of the figures indicates that 915 of the Palestinian children documented were killed before their first birthday. Each age year between 0 and 12 had at least 800 children who were killed. There were roughly 1,000 children killed for each of the ages between 13 and 17.

In mid-July, the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, released the names and ages of those confirmed killed during the war.

More than 900 were killed before their first birthday.

Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Palestinian children have been killed at a rate of more than one child per hour during the war. “Consider that for a moment. A whole classroom of children killed, every day for nearly two years,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell told the U.N. Security Council this month.

When asked about the death toll among children, the Israel Defense Forces said it “does not target children or other uninvolved civilians. The IDF takes extensive precautionary measures to prevent harm to civilians. The IDF operates in compliance with international law.”

Israel says its aim is to eliminate Hamas after the militant group attacked the country on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Thirty-eight children were killed and about three dozen were taken hostage. Hamas continues to hold about 22 hostages and the bodies of 27 others.

Though it is impossible to capture every death, Gaza’s Health Ministry is doing “unusually high-quality real-time casualty recording,” said Michael Spagat, an economics professor at the University of London and chair of Every Casualty Counts, an international charity focused on documenting the casualties of armed conflict.

“They are trying to be really careful and rigorous and are constantly trying to improve the list,” he said.

A peer-reviewed study published January in the Lancet said an analysis of different casualty records suggests that the official death toll could be a significant undercount.

The Washington Post analyzed the ministry’s list released on July 15 and sorted the names by age.

Since October 2023, children make up... Data as of July 29.

31% of deaths (18,592).

Total: 60,034

Dead children by age

Tens of thousands more children have suffered life-altering injuries.

Samer Attar, an American surgeon who has volunteered in Gaza on several medical missions, says he has seen young bodies charred beyond recognition. Others had missing limbs or massive head trauma — wounds he described as “physically disabling and emotionally scarring.”

In early April, at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, Attar recalled dozens of patients on the floor after an attack. The hospital had long since run out of beds. He described seeing a 10-year-old patient take her last gasp as blood poured from her mouth and nostrils. A young boy had his skull and abdomen partly ripped open. Two of his brothers were there next to him, begging doctors to help.

“I grabbed one brother’s hand and gave him the child’s hand. I took his other brother’s hand and put it on his heart, and just said, ‘I’m sorry he’s going to die. Just wait here until he passes,’” Attar remembered telling them before moving on to the next patient.

As Israel hits Gaza with airstrikes, it has also restricted — and at times completely blocked — the United Nations and other aid organizations from delivering food, water and medical supplies. Hunger is soaring. More than 147 people, including 88 children, have died of malnutrition across Gaza, the Health Ministry said.

Most of the living have been corralled into the south of the Gaza Strip, where aid is now mostly distributed by American contractors inside military zones. Israeli soldiers positioned nearby have repeatedly opened fire on desperate families seeking aid, witnesses have told The Post. The IDF has said it fired “warning shots” to prevent “suspects from approaching.” It added that after reports of harm to civilians at aid points, the Israeli military issued instructions “following lessons learned” to forces in the field.

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while trying to get food, the U.N. human rights office said on July 22.

On July 13, an Israeli airstrike hit a crowd lining up to fill water containers in central Gaza. Ten people, most of them children, were killed.

The Israeli military called it a “technical error” with a munition that caused it to fall “dozens of meters from the target.”

Here's what Israelis are writing on Tik Tok:

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Photo: AFP

Palestinians in Gaza are facing a “systematic genocide” as Israel aims to starve the population and eliminate their cause, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Tuesday.

“The war on Gaza is no longer a war to achieve political objectives or secure the release of hostages. It has become a war of starvation, genocide, and the elimination of the Palestinian cause,” Sisi told a press conference in Cairo with his Vietnamese counterpart, Luong Quang, the Anadolu news agency reported.

He stressed that the Palestinians in Gaza are facing a “systematic genocide,” adding that Egypt “will not be a gateway for the displacement of the Palestinian people.”

The Egyptian leader highlighted that more than 5,000 aid trucks are on Egyptian territory, ready to enter Gaza.

“History will hold many countries accountable for their stance on the war in Gaza, and the global human conscience will not remain silent for long.”

Sisi’s comments come amid a tight Israeli blockade that has left Gaza’s 2.4 million population on the verge of famine.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 188 people, including 94 children, have died from starvation and malnutrition since October 2023.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said Monday that Israel had allowed in just 674 aid trucks since July 27 – only 14% of the strip’s minimum daily requirement of 600 trucks.

“I’ve been looking for food since six in the morning and found nothing… I swear we haven’t eaten since yesterday,”

The Health Ministry said that at least 1,568 aid seekers have been killed and 11,230 others injured by Israeli fire near US-run aid distribution centers in Gaza since May 27.

On October 7, 2023, following a Palestinian Resistance operation in southern Israel, the Israeli military launched a genocidal war against the Palestinians, killing over 60,000, wounding more than 147,000, with over 14,000 still missing.

Despite habitual condemnation by many countries around the world of the Israeli genocide, little has been done to hold Israel accountable.

Israel is currently under investigation for the crime of genocide by the International Court of Justice, while accused war criminals — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — are now officially wanted by the International Criminal Court.

The Israeli genocide has been largely defended, supported, and financed by Washington and a few other Western powers.

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