'A child killed every 10 minutes in Gaza': Israel-Hamas war kills nearly 10,000 Palestinians

A child is killed and two children are injured every ten minutes in Gaza, the Palestinian health ministry said on Sunday. Around 4,800 children are among at least 9,770 Palestinians who have died in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip since October 7, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip was quoted by Reuters as saying.

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In total, there are around 16,50,000 children in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian foreign ministry said. "About 1,950 civilians, including at least 1,050 children, in Gaza Strip, are still under the rubble," it said on Sunday. Meanwhile, about 1,250 children among 2,000 people are reported missing, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Palestinian territory.

Meanwhile, in Israel, more than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the October 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.

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The clash between Israel and Palestinian military group Hamas escalated following the latter's surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7. A day later, Israel declared a "state of war" against Hamas. Since then, people wailing over a body and many others screaming from under the rubble is a common sight in the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip.

Amid the ongoing chaos, mass destructions and bombing, children are among the worst-affected sections of the society. According to officials, 246 schools across Gaza had been bombed amid hostilities as of November 2.

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"There are no colours adorning the skies of Gaza, the children do not look at fireworks, colourful balloons, or kites. Rather, they look at the death bombs dropped by Israeli warplanes as they are about to fall on the heads of their friends, and perhaps on their own heads. They look in fear at the unknown future" — this is a quote from one of the tweets posted by the Palestinian foreign ministry on November 4.

The foreign ministry has been posting heart-wrenching visuals from the war-hit Gaza. One of the videos showed a boy, trapped under the rubble, being rescued. His eyes were closed and his face was all smudged with dust.

In another such video, a shell-shocked kid was seen trembling with fear following the Israeli strike on Gaza Strip, while others around him tried to pacify him.

'Human shields'

Amid the pandemonium, the Israel Defence Forces accused Hamas of using a "human shield" in Gaza. They claimed to have found ground troops found rocket launchers a few meters from a children’s swimming pool and about 20 to 30 meters from residential buildings in the northern Gaza Strip town of Bet Hanoun. Another launch site was identified in an old children’s playground.

“This is further proof of Hamas’ deliberate use of civilian infrastructure and civilians - including children - as human shields for its military operations,” the military said.