One of the world's best-known children's educators delivered an emotional plea for governments to act to protect Palestinian children on Friday, apologising directly to a young girl from the occupied West Bank, saying world leaders had failed an entire generation.
Rachel Accurso, better known as 'Ms Rachel', struggled to hold back tears as she hosted an online press briefing held alongside the release of a new report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.
The children's educator repeatedly urged governments to move beyond statements of concern, saying the international community had failed to stop the suffering of children in Gaza .
"We are watching children, children who are just like our own, try to survive a genocide, and yet there's been no action, no accountability, no one demanding and ensuring that this nightmare is put to a stop," she said.
The briefing opened with testimony from Sara, a Palestinian girl from the occupied West Bank, who described growing up around Israeli military raids, tear gas, settler violence and repeated disruptions to her education.
"The right to play is not always safe for us," she said, recalling how Israeli forces fired tear gas into a playground when she was ten years old.
"I want to speak to the world and say this clearly. Palestinian children are just like every other child. We have rights, we have dreams, and we have the right to a safe and better future," she said.
Visibly moved by the testimony, Accurso responded by apologising directly to the young girl.
"On behalf of the grown-ups of the world, I apologise, because you have been so failed," she said.
She later added that Palestinian children were "equal to all the children in the world".
The briefing coincided with the publication of a new report by the UN Commission of Inquiry examining the impact of Israel's military campaign on Palestinian children since October 2023.
The report documented numerous instances of snipers and quadcopters targeting children, even babies, with shots to the head.
The report concluded that Israeli forces had deliberately targeted Palestinian children and documented widespread physical and psychological harm, attacks on schools and healthcare facilities, and the long-term effects of the war on children's development.
It also examined increasing violence against children in the occupied West Bank.
Chris Sidoti, a member of the Commission, told journalists the inquiry had relied on eyewitness testimony, medical records, CT scans, X-rays, satellite imagery and forensic evidence before reaching its conclusions.
"Our conclusions are that the Israeli Defence Forces are intentionally targeting children in Gaza," he said.
"That's a very serious conclusion to have reached, but it is one that we have reached on the best available evidence," he added.
Sidoti said investigators had also documented children dying from causes indirectly linked to the war, including starvation, disease and the collapse of healthcare services.
"We have absolutely no idea how many children have died in Gaza since the latest fighting began," he said. "We know that there are almost 22,000 children's bodies that have been identified, but that's just the beginning."
He urged governments to implement the Commission's recommendations, saying states had legal obligations to act.
"The time for action is now, but it's long past as well," he said.
Emergency physician Dr Mahmooda "Mimi" Syed, who volunteered in Gaza during two medical missions, described repeatedly treating children with gunshot wounds.
"Something that I documented when I was there and collected evidence was forensic and medical evidence of children who were shot by gunshots, single shots to the head, to the neck, to the chest," she said. "I saw this every day in both hospitals [where] I worked."
Syed said evidence collected by medical teams had since been published by Brown University's Costs of War project and "corroborates the UN Commission's report on the fact that Israeli soldiers are deliberately shooting children".
She described operating on a baby whose leg had been shredded without adequate pain medication or surgical equipment, before recalling a two-year-old who died from liver failure after contracting hepatitis A because of contaminated water and the collapse of sanitation systems.
"I never thought in my entire career that I would have to do anything like this," she said.
She also described widespread malnutrition among children, saying she regularly saw blackened, decaying teeth caused by severe nutritional deficiencies.
Growing emotional as she concluded, Syed appealed directly to world leaders while reflecting on her own family.
"I implore you, as a physician who took a Hippocratic oath, and a mother of three small children myself, I implore you to implement the recommendations made by the Commission of pursuing accountability for all of the crimes that have been committed," she said.
"If we can't protect our children, we are doomed as a species. It just simply cannot be the norm," she added.
When asked by The New Arab about the long-term physical and mental effects of the war on children, including the impact of nearly three years without education, Syed said the consequences were already evident.
"These children are undergoing suffering and devastation and cruelty every day. Still," she said, adding that "violence has a long-term impact on growing children and their brain development. So, we're seeing it now, but we will continue to see this if this doesn't stop."
Before opening the floor to questions, Accurso introduced a video message from children in Gaza who had lost one or both parents, noting that the Commission's report estimated more than 58,000 children had been orphaned during the conflict.
Closing the briefing, Accurso made a final appeal to governments and journalists.
"What does it say about us as countries and leaders if we can't take these actions to stop the killing, maiming, starvation of children, it's just devastating, and I know people around the world are horrified and heartbroken and exhausted, and I just hope we can stop saying things and start doing things, because it is our sacred duty to take care of all of the children of the world," she said.
Addressing journalists directly, she added: "Please be people who cover this, and who make this madness, and this cruelty stop. [...] We all know what's happening."