KUALA LUMPUR: In the war-torn region of Gaza, a grim reality persists: with every 600 ticking seconds, a Palestinian child loses their life, transforming the once vibrant land into a haunting graveyard for countless innocent lives.
Almost every child in Gaza has been exposed to deeply distressing events and trauma by the widespread destruction, relentless attacks, displacement and severe shortages of essential necessities such as food, water, and medicine.
Over 4,000 innocent children have become casualties to airstrikes and bombardments by the Israeli warforce.
The total number of children reported killed in Gaza in just three weeks has already exceeded the annual number of children killed in conflict zones worldwide for three years since 2019, according to non-governmental organisation (NGO), Save the Children.
However, it is unknown as to how much white shroud is needed to wrap children's bodies as some are still trapped underneath rubble from the aftermath of persistent attacks through air and ground missiles.
According to the last three annual reports by the United Nations Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, a total of 2,985 children were killed in 24 countries in 2022, 2,515 in 2021, and 2,674 in 2020 in 22 countries. In 2019, 4,019 children were killed.
Since Oct 7, more than 4,324 children have been reported killed with at least 6,360 children in Gaza have also been injured.
They also said children make up more than 40 per cent of those killed in Gaza, with an additional 1,000 children reported missing in Gaza, presumed to be trapped under rubble, indicating that the death toll may be even higher.
Those who survive suffer from trauma, diseases, food and water shortages, and some are forced to drink saltwater or water from contaminated sources due to the disruption of drinking water facilities.
Children whose hands have their names written on- should they be the next casualty- had also issued a poignant plea to the world, begging for protection at a recent press conference at Al-Shifa Hospital.
"We come now to shout (speak out) and we invite you to protect us… We want to live, we want peace.
"We want medicine, food and education and we want to live as other children live," pleaded one boy to the world.
While other newborn babies are able to sleep in comfortable, cushioned cribs with a roof above their heads, 380 newborns in Gaza are calling the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) shelter their first home where the sounds of airstrikes serve as an unsettling backdrop to their earliest days of life.
Citing the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UNRWA said there were 50,000 pregnant women in the Gaza Strip and more than 180 were giving birth every day.
The Al-Rantisi Hospital for Children in western Gaza went out of service on Thursday after running out of fuel for its generators, leaving 38 Palestinian children who are suffering from kidney failure in grave danger.
"Thirty-eight children suffering from kidney failure are deprived of dialysis after the Al-Rantisi Hospital, the only hospital specialised for children in the Gaza Strip, stopped running as it ran out of fuel," said Ashraf Al-Qudra, the spokesman for the Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip.
The collapse of the health system in the Gaza Strip on Oct 24 had also left all the wounded, including children, women and the elderly losing treatment services.
This also puts hundreds of premature babies in danger without having any chance to live in a war-free country.
At least 10,812 Palestinians have been killed with more than 26,000 people injured in Israeli air and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip since Oct 7.