17,000 children in Gaza live without one or both of their parents: Media office

By Nour Abu Aisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – About 17,000 children in the Gaza Strip are now living without one or both of their parents due to killing or arrests by Israeli forces since they began “genocide” against Palestinians on Oct. 7.

Director-General of Gaza Media Office Ismail al-Thawabteh said at a press conference at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, “around 17,000 Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip have been living without their parents since the genocide began, with some of them losing both parents due to martyrdom, arrest, or disappearance.”

Al-Thawabteh said the number of children killed since the beginning of the "genocide" has risen to 12,150.

He also pointed out that “the total fatalities of the war have reached 35,000, martyrs and missing persons, including 8,300 women, 340 medical personnel, 46 civil defense personnel, and 123 journalists.”

He noted that the office has documented the “loss of about 7,000 individuals under the rubble, as they could not be rescued due to the continuous bombardment and the lack of fuel.”

Al-Thawabteh accused Israel of “stealing more than 300 bodies of the dead and martyrs from 13 cemeteries it attacked and bulldozed in the Gaza Strip.”

He said, “The occupation destroyed dozens of corpses and stole vital organs from them, some of which were later returned and buried in mass graves in the south of the Gaza Strip.”

Al-Thawabteh issued a dire warning regarding "the deepening famine in northern Gaza Strip after the depletion of flour, rice, and animal feed that the citizens there used to eat."

He pointed out that more than two million displaced Palestinians in shelters in all governorates of the Strip “are living a very difficult life, as they cannot find food, water, or medicine.”

Al-Thawabteh said that more than 700,000 displaced people have been contracted with infectious diseases due to harsh displacement conditions and the absence of services.

Israel imposed a suffocating blockade on Gaza, including banning the entry of fuel, food, and medicine, exacerbating the humanitarian situation amid Israel’s ongoing onslaught since Oct. 7, 2023.

According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), humanitarian aid entering Gaza in general meets only 7% of the population's total food and relief needs.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala