UN Report: Over 200 Children Killed in Lebanon in Less Than Two Months
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Raven Ruma - . November 19, 2024
- . Update: November 19, 2024 8:39 pm
The United Nations organisation for children (UNICEF) has reported that since Israel began its military operation against its northern neighbour two months ago, more than 200 children have been killed in Lebanon.
Over the past two months, an average of over three children have been killed in Lebanon every day according to UNICEF which acknowledged the fact that “the intolerable is quietly transforming into the acceptable” on Tuesday.
“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,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said in a press conference which took place in Geneva.
It cautioned that similar to Gaza “those with influence” were not putting up a strong enough defence in spite of the terrible toll on Lebanon’s youngsters.
“For the children of Lebanon, it has become a silent normalisation of horror.” He also added that “many, many more” have been injured and traumatised daily.
Elder said that in the last ten days alone there have been at least six attacks in Lebanon that have killed children usually along with their families.
He cited a number of “chilling” resembles between Gaza and Lebanon including the fact that hundreds of children have been forced to flee their homes, that hospitals are being attacked, that all schools are closed, that children are showing “alarming signs” of emotional distress and that “the escalation of children killed is eliciting no meaningful response from those with influence.”
The representative noted that UNICEF’s most recent request had less than 20% funding, indicating that as the attacks get more intense, so does the amount of need.
“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,” Elder said.
“And once more, the cries of children go unheard, the world’s silence grows deafening, and again we allow the unimaginable to become the landscape of childhood,” he added by calling it “a horrific and unacceptable new normal.”
Israel and Lebanon have been fighting across the border. In late September Israel launched an airstrike targeting locations it says are part of the Hezbollah organisation.
According to Lebanese health authorities, since last October Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed over 3,500 people, injured around 15,000 and displaced over a million.
On October 1 of this year, Tel Aviv launched a ground invasion into southern Lebanon which started escalating the conflict.
Gaza, Lebanon. UNICEF, War, Health, Children Mortality, Children Mental Health.
