 "Displaced children take part in activities for mental healthcare, organized by the International Medical Corps, at a shelter housing them in Dekwaneh, east Beirut, Lebanon, on November 7, 2024. AP File")
The United Nations said on Tuesday that an average of three children have been killed every day in Lebanon, totaling over 200 deaths in less than two months since Israel escalated its strikes against Hezbollah, following a year of attacks by the militant group on Israel.
“Despite more than 200 children killed in Lebanon in less than two months, a disconcerting pattern has emerged: their deaths are met with inertia from those able to stop this violence,” AFP James Elder, spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, telling reporters in Geneva.
“Over the last two months in Lebanon, an average of three children have been killed every single day," he said.
“Many, many more have been injured and traumatised,” he added, highlighting that in the past two months, more than 1,100 children had been hurt in the violence.
Hezbollah began launching rockets into Israel in October last year in support of Hamas in Gaza.
Since September, Israel has carried out extensive bombing campaigns in Lebanon, primarily targeting Hezbollah strongholds, though some strikes have also hit areas outside the group’s control.
As a result of the ongoing clashes, more than 3,510 people in Lebanon have been killed, with the majority of fatalities occurring since late September.
Elder said that since the war erupted in Gaza after October 7 last year, at least 231 children had been killed in Lebanon.
“We must hope humanity never again witnesses the ongoing level of carnage of children in Gaza, though there are chilling similarities for children in Lebanon,” he was quoted as saying.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsHe pointed to the hundreds of thousands of children who have become homeless in Lebanon, and “disproportionate attacks, of which many frequently hit infrastructure children rely on”.
“Medical facilities are being attacked and health workers are being killed at an increasing speed,” he said.
He highlighted that as of November 15, more than 200 health workers had been killed and 300 injured, according to Lebanese authorities.
“The most worrying parallel to Gaza,” he said, was that “the escalation of children killed is eliciting no meaningful response from those with influence”.
“In Lebanon, much the same as has become the case in Gaza, the intolerable is quietly transforming into the acceptable. And the appalling is slipping into the realm of the expected.”
With inputs from agencies