Palestinian Child Day: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates…

Press Statement

Palestinian Child Day: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates affirms that the world has failed the children of Palestine through its silence in the face of their suffering under Israeli occupation.

On this occasion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the State of Palestine, emphasizes that we are witnessing a level of suffering that cannot be ignored. Palestinian children are subjected to the gravest violations and crimes as a result of the ongoing Israeli illegal occupation and its criminal tools, which have deprived them of their most basic rights ; their right to life, peace, and safety.

The Ministry acknowledges that the ongoing Israeli genocidal war against our people in the Gaza Strip, has resulted in the unlawfully killing of over 17,952 Palestinian children and the injury of more than 34,000. Among them are hundreds who have lost limbs, their sight, or hearing. Reports indicate that, on average, 15 children in Gaza suffer permanent disabilities every day due to the Israeli occupation forces’ use of internationally banned explosive weapons. These children face a compounded catastrophe — physical and psychological disability, coupled with the collapse of the healthcare system due to the deliberate destruction of hospitals, targeting of medical personnel, and the prevention of medical aid and prosthetics from entering. The Ministry adds that the war has orphaned 39,384 children in Gaza, who have lost one or both parents. This is in addition to the war of starvation imposed by the Israeli occupation authorities as tool of their ongoing genocidal war, which has led to the death of 52 children due to starvation and severe malnutrition.

Furthermore, the genocidal war has resulted in the forced displacement of more than one million Palestinian children. Israeli targeting has extended to civilian areas protected under international humanitarian law, including homes, schools, and universities, depriving 700,000 Palestinian students of their right to education. In this regard, the ministry affirms that the deliberate targeting of the educational sector and staff is a form of cultural genocide, aimed at dismantling the educational and cultural fabric of Palestine.

The Ministry also stresses that the widespread crimes and assaults by the Israeli occupation army and illegal settler militias’ affect all parts of the occupied Palestinian territory. The occupation forces are carrying out large-scale military assaults on Palestinian cities and villages across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, through mass raids, killings, forced displacement, destruction of homes and infrastructure, and the arrest of thousands of Palestinians. Additionally, more than 9,500 Palestinian detainees are currently held in Israeli jails under inhumane conditions, including 350 children under the age of 18 which is unsurprising for a state that daily proves itself to be a settler-colonial regime practicing the ugliest forms of apartheid.

In this regard, the Ministry calls on the international community, human rights organizations, and the United Nations to fulfill their legal and moral responsibilities by taking immediate measures to stop the Israeli genocidal war and the crimes of the Israeli occupation forces and settler militias’ against our people. It urges the international community to ensure protection for the Palestinian people, particularly children, and not to exclude them from international protection. Furthermore, it calls for the necessary legal actions to hold Israel, the occupying power, accountable for its inhumane crimes against our people.