(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Save the Children estimates 21,000 children are missing in Gaza [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-07-01 On Monday, June 24, Save the Children, which has been providing services and support to Palestinian children since 1953, said that approximately 21,000 children are missing in Gaza. This includes 17,000 unaccompanied and separated children, and 4,000 children buried under the rubble. The aid agency’s child protection teams say “urgent action” is needed to protect separated and unaccompanied children. As a Save the Children child protection specialist in Gaza says: "Every day we find more unaccompanied children and every day it is harder to support them. We work through partners to identify separated and unaccompanied children and trace their families, but there are no safe facilities for them – there is no safe place in Gaza. The specialist explains that reuniting the children with family members is difficult “when ongoing hostilities restrict our access to communities, and constantly force families to move.” Neighbors and extended family members who have taken in lone children are struggling to meet their basic needs, such as shelter, food, and water. Many are with strangers - or completely alone - increasing the risk of violence, abuse exploitation and neglect. According to the agency’s child protection team, “the latest displacements caused by the offensive in Rafah have separated more children and further increased the strain on families and communities caring for them.” Mass casualties were reported following the latest attacks by Israeli forces in Rafah. After one attack, UN experts said that reports emerged of ‘people trapped inside burning plastic tents’ and ‘burnt alive’, and the Gaza Ministry of Health reported ‘bodies burned beyond recognition’. Save the Children warns that confirming identification of a body by the next of kin is almost impossible when whole families have been wiped out and entry restrictions mean the equipment and experts needed cannot get in. Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East says: Families are tortured by the uncertainty of the whereabouts of their loved ones. No parent should have to dig through rubble or mass graves to try and find their child’s body. No child should be alone, unprotected in a war zone. Children who are missing but living are vulnerable, face grave protection risks, and must be found. The regional director adds: As many have pointed out, Gaza has become a graveyard for children, with thousands of others missing, their fates unknown. We desperately need a ceasefire to find and support the missing children who have survived, and to prevent more families from being destroyed. Professor Juan Cole of the University of Michigan also writes in his blog informed Comment about the missing children in Gaza. He says: The 17,000 separated from their families are scavenging for food and forced to drink dirty water. Many of them have chronic diarrhea and are developing diseases like hepatitis. They are frightened and grieving, and deeply traumatized. Some are suffering from malnutrition and will suffer permanent cognitive and affective damage from which they will never recover. Some are wounded or amputees. Cole adds that “there are children who have lost the adults in their family and have formed tiny bands to fend for themselves, the tweens taking care of the infants and toddlers.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/1/2248825/-Save-the-Children-estimates-21-000-children-are-missing-in-Gaza?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/