More than 200 children have been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched strikes targeting Hezbollah in September, the United Nations said Tuesday.
James Elder, spokesman for UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency, told reporters: “Despite more than 200 children having been killed in Lebanon in less than two months, a worrying pattern has emerged: their deaths are occurring in response to this violence.” are caused by the inertia of those who are capable.” ,
“An average of three children have been killed every day in Lebanon over the past two months,” he said.
“Many people are injured and traumatized,” he said, highlighting that more than 1,100 children have been injured in the past two months.
Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel in October last year in support of the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza.
Since September, Israel has launched a bombing campaign in Lebanon, primarily targeting Hezbollah strongholds, although some strikes have also targeted areas outside the Iran-backed group’s control.
More than 3,510 people have been killed in Lebanon since the clashes began with Hezbollah attacks on Israel, according to the country’s authorities, with the majority of deaths recorded since late September.
Elder said at least 231 children have been killed in Lebanon since the Gaza war began following Hamas attacks on October 7 last year.
‘Chilling parallels’
He said, “We must hope that humanity will never again see the ongoing level of massacre of children in Gaza, although there are horrific parallels to those of children in Lebanon.”
He pointed to the millions of children left homeless in Lebanon and “disproportionate attacks, many of which are often carried out on the infrastructure children depend on”.
“Medical facilities are being attacked and health workers are being killed at a rapid pace,” he said.
He highlighted that according to Lebanese authorities, as of 15 November, more than 200 health workers had been killed and 300 were injured.
“The most worrying parallel to Gaza is that there is no meaningful response from influential people to the increasing number of children killed,” he said.
“In Lebanon, as has become the case in Gaza, the unbearable is quietly turning into the acceptable. And the horrors are slipping into the realm of the expected.”
20 peacekeepers injured
Meanwhile, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon condemned “the multiple attacks on its assets and personnel.”
“This has certainly been a very difficult moment,” said UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti, who lamented that the force had been “deliberately attacked by the IDF (Israeli military) in recent months”.
Over the past 13 months, it has suffered “162 impacts, more than a third of which have occurred in less than two months,” he told reporters via video from Beirut.
“More than 20 peacekeepers have been injured so far,” he said.
Tennenti said UNIFIL’s “towers and some of our positions have been attacked and heavily damaged”.
He insisted that UNIFIL would remain in place. “We still have all 50 of our positions,” he said.
“It is important to be there, to monitor, to assist the population of South Lebanon as much as possible.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
