three questions on the number of children dead in the Gaza Strip

Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, many children have been among the victims.

The Hamas Ministry of Health announced, Wednesday March 13, a new toll of 31,272 people killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas triggered after the massacres of the Palestinian Islamist movement of October 7 . Franceinfo answers three questions on the number of children dead in the Palestinian enclave.

How many children have died in Gaza?

More than 12,300 children have died in the Palestinian enclave since October, according to the Hamas health ministry. Its figures are taken up by the United Nations. More children have been killed in the Gaza Strip in four months of war with Israel than in four years of conflicts across the world, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the Gaza Strip agency, wrote on Tuesday March 12. UN for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).

For example, there is Hind, a 6-year-old girl found dead on February 10 in Gaza in her family’s car, or Saly, another 5-year-old girl, killed in the bombing of her house in Khan Younes in mid-October. Compiling a list of children who have died in the Palestinian enclave since the start of the Israeli offensive would take hours.

Are these death figures in Gaza verifiable?

These figures from the Hamas Health Ministry, confirmed by the Palestinian Authority, are what the UN calls “reported figures” – that is, reported by a third party. Philippe Lazzarini compares them to consolidated figures which are based on identity checks, investigative work, and which are mentioned in the United Nations annual report, namely the 12,193 children who died in conflicts across the world since 2019. The methodology raises questions, which, obviously, in no way alters the tragedy experienced by the children of Gaza.

Since October 7, a child in Gaza has died every fifteen minutes. Everyone in the enclave knows a child or teenager who died under Israeli army bullets or in bombings. “I met dozens of children and each had a story of losing a loved one, a little sister or a brothernoted Jonathan Crickx who was in Gaza a little over a month ago as communications manager for Unicef ​​Palestine. In addition to this, we have the appearance of more and more diseases. Hepatitis A or chronic diarrhea are diseases, when not treated appropriately, from which children can die.” Whatever the precise figures, the toll is staggering, explains the UN.

What is Israel’s position?

The spokesperson for the Israeli army, Colonel Olivier Rufo, responds with two arguments. First of all, Hamas is responsible for the October 7 attack and therefore for the Israeli response, as bloody as it was. Secondly, the figures put forward by UNRWA and its boss are not credible since the UN agency employed members of Hamas suspected of having participated in the October 7 massacre. “It is impossible today to know exactly how many civilian deaths there have been because the figures come from the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is totally 100% Hamasexplains Colonel Olivier Rufo. Another question that would be good to ask the director of UNWRA who, it seems, is very busy with Israel and less with Hamas.”

Behind these postures, and this open conflict between the UN and Israel, children continue to die in Gaza. It is less bombs than hunger that threatens: one in six minors suffers from severe malnutrition in the north of the enclave.