The Palestinian Prisoners Society says Israeli forces have been expanding the abduction of Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank.
In a statement released on June 24, the Society said at least seven children, including two brothers, had been kidnapped in the previous 24 hours.
It also noted that Israel’s military court extended the detention of three children from the town of Beit Ummar near the city of al-Khalil.
Reports of missing children are coming from the occupied West Bank, where 250 children have gone missing since early June.
Also on June 24, Save the Children said, overall, virtually 21,000 Palestinian children have been either missing, kidnapped, or buried under the rubble or in mass graves as a result of Israel’s campaign. Families of these children say they are unable to confirm their whereabouts and well-being due to intensified restrictions imposed by Israel.
In June, UNICEF said about 90 percent of children in Gaza lacked nutrition and faced “severe” threats to their “survival, growth and development.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said he was “shocked by the unprecedented number of children killed and maimed by the Israeli army and forces in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, including East al-Quds.”
A UN report published on June 3 verified “8,009 grave violations against 4,360 children” in Gaza and the West Bank.
Meanwhile, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said more than 50,000 children in Gaza require immediate medical treatment for acute malnutrition.
More grave violations against children were committed in Gaza and the occupied West Bank than anywhere else in the world last year, according to a UN report.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said more than 8,000 youngsters have been diagnosed and treated for acute malnutrition, including 1,600 children with the most dangerous form of the condition.
Israel’s savagery is having a catastrophic impact on the Gaza children, causing mental harm to them. Many are losing their lives due to the regime’s imposed starvation on the besieged Palestinian territory.
Nearly half of the more than 37,000 Palestinians Israel has killed in Gaza since October 7 were children.
The United Nations has added Israel to its “blacklist” as an entity harming children in conflict.
