Israel's new attacks add to children's misery in Gaza

Israel's "treacherous" attacks have strained rescue operations and seen more children injured or killed in Gaza, according to a pediatrician in the Palestinian enclave, as the United Nations called for restoration of ceasefire in the battered territory amid fears of massive trauma for some 1 million children.

Ahmed Al-Farra, head of the pediatric department at Nasser Medical Complex and director of the Al-Tahrir Hospital for Children and Maternity, told China Daily that the Israeli government's "treacherous operations" against civilians in the Gaza Strip have caused a lot of difficulties and disturbances for the ambulance and rescue system.

Half of the victims, unfortunately, are children, Al-Farra said on March 21. "Now, a lot of children are in the pediatric ICU in Nasser medical complex and adult ICU with variation of injuries."

According to data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics last year, the number of children under 18 in Palestine totaled 2,432,534, with 1,364,548 children in the West Bank and 1,067,986 kids in the Gaza Strip. Since Oct 7, 2023, more than 14,000 children have been killed.

Al-Farra lamented that lack of medical supplies, such as needles, antibiotics gauze and cottons, exacerbated by the Israeli blockade, has made it difficult to treat patients in need of urgent medical attention.

"I saw a lot of variation of injuries. The type of injuries is very severe. A lot of them have fractured skulls and intraventricular hemorrhage. I saw a lot of cases with multiple shrapnel in the abdomen causing explosive injury and severe damage in the internal organs, destroying the kidney, liver and spleen," Al-Farra said.

"We saw a lot of cases with severe burns of third-degree, which is almost near the bone and unfortunately, they cannot survive due to the severity of the burns," he added.

Gaza-based health authorities announced over the weekend that the death toll from Israel's war had crossed 50,000.

Sam Rose, acting director of affairs in Gaza at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, warned on March 21 that if the ceasefire is not restored, it would lead to large-scale loss of life, damage to infrastructure and property, increased risk of infectious disease, and massive trauma for the one million children and for the two million civilians who live in Gaza.

Israel's resumption of military operations after cease-fire collapse has claimed at least 16 Palestinians in the early hours of March 24, Al Jazeera reported. This came hours after Israeli forces bombed the Nasser Hospital in Gaza, which killed at least two people, including Ismail Barhoum, a member of Hamas' politburo.

Hadi Rahmat Purnama, an assistant professor of international law and chair of the Centre for International Law Studies at the Faculty of Law at Universitas Indonesia, in Jakarta, told China Daily that Israel's attacks on the hospital was "definitely a violation of international humanitarian law", specifically the 4th Geneva Convention, which protects civilians and prohibits indiscriminate attacks against civilians.

"At the same time, a systematic and widespread attack against civilians is also considered to be a crime against humanity. Using civilian property or civilians as a shield cannot be justified by international humanitarian law," said Purnama.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a message posted on the social media platform X that a key "Hamas terrorist" who was operating from within the Nasser Hospital compound in Gaza was precisely struck.

"The strike was conducted following an extensive intelligence-gathering process and with precise munitions in order to mitigate harm to the surrounding environment as much as possible," said the IDF.

"Hamas exploits civilian infrastructure while brutally endangering the Gazan population — cynically using an active hospital as a shelter for planning and executing murderous terrorist attacks in a direct violation of international law," it added.

Meanwhile, at an Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee meeting held in Cairo on March 23 with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas, the parties condemned the resumption of hostilities and targeting of civilians and called for an immediate return to the full implementation of the ceasefire-hostage and detainees release agreement that went into effect on Jan 19 this year.

They also reiterated the plan that "ensures that the Palestinian people will remain on their territory", and rejected any displacement or expulsion of the Palestinian people out of their territory, Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, warning of grave repercussions that would result from displacement actions.