(PRESS TV) – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says Israel’s recent deadly military assault on the besieged Gaza Strip has left nearly 400,000 Palestinian children in immediate need of psychological help.
Pernille Ironside, the head of the UNICEF office in Gaza, said on Tuesday that about 373,000 Gaza kids were in urgent need of psychological and social support to overcome the trauma they have experienced during the Israeli onslaught on the coastal enclave.
Tel Aviv’s nearly month-long war on Gaza has had a “catastrophic and tragic impact” on children as they have seen their parents and friends die and witnessed terrible amputations, Ironside added.
“It is an extraordinary thing to live through, and especially to survive and witness the use of incredibly damaging weapons that tend to slice people with terrible amputations and maimings, shredding people apart in front of children’s eyes and in front of their parents as well,” the UNICEF official pointed out.
She also warned that children are at risk of contracting communicable diseases due to the lack of power and sanitation in the blockaded Palestinian territory, adding that such illnesses could be fatal among children, particularly those aged under five.
The warning comes as skin diseases have already been detected as many Gazans have been left without clean water for weeks now.
The Israeli regime’s 29 days of relentless offensive against the Gaza Strip has claimed the lives of at least 1,875 Palestinians, including 430 children, and wounded over 9,600 others.
A 72-hour humanitarian truce between the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas and Israel took effect at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Tuesday.
