GAZA, (PIC)
The Palestinian Center for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons said that the anniversary of Palestinian Children’s Day, which falls on April 5 of each year, is an occasion to remember the tragedy of hundreds of children missing under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli shelling in the Gaza Strip, or those who disappeared on roads.
It warned that the anniversary comes in light of a catastrophic reality experienced by the children of the Strip as a result of the continuous Israeli attacks, which have turned their lives into an open theater for death, loss, and disappearance.
In a statement today, Sunday, the Center confirmed the continuation of the tragedy of thousands of children who are still missing or under the rubble. Data indicates that about 2,700 children remain under the debris of destroyed buildings, out of approximately 8,000 missing persons, at a time when the martyrdom of 21,510 children were recorded during 29 months of the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The human rights center stressed that these figures reflect the scale of the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe that has affected the most vulnerable group, in a flagrant violation of all rules of international humanitarian law and human rights law.
The Center noted that contact with about 200 children has been cut off and their traces have vanished in scattered areas of the Gaza Strip, which indicates that they have been subjected either to enforced disappearance by the Israeli army, or to direct targeting that led to the loss of their bodies on the roads. The Center explained that its researchers documented cases of abduction followed by operations of enforced disappearance without revealing the fate of the children or their places of detention, especially in the vicinity of aid distribution centers and areas under Israeli military control.
It confirmed that testimonies from released detainees showed that a number of these children were subjected to grave violations during their detention, while the fate of others remains unknown until now.
According to the statement, a large percentage of the missing children had headed to humanitarian aid distribution points or while attempting to obtain flour from areas classified as high risk.
Meanwhile, other children were lost while gathering firewood or during their return to their destroyed homes in an attempt to extract what could be used to secure the minimum requirements for life, which reflects the scale of the daily risks faced by children in an environment lacking the minimum elements of safety.
The human rights center stressed that the remains of thousands of children staying under the rubble constitutes a complex violation of human dignity, and doubles the suffering of their families who live in a constant state of anxiety and uncertainty. Furthermore, the failure to take serious measures to recover the bodies and determine the fate of the missing persons perpetuates the policy of impunity and deepens the humanitarian wound in the Palestinian society.
The Center demanded urgent and effective international actions to stop this tragedy, including pressure to open safe corridors for rescue teams, providing appropriate equipment, enabling them to access destroyed areas, and accelerating the operations of clearing rubble and recovering bodies.
It also demanded independent international investigations into the crimes of enforced disappearance against children, ensuring the accountability of those responsible for them, and the immediate disclosure of the fate of all detained or missing children.
The Center concluded by emphasizing that the protection of children during times of armed conflict is a legal and moral obligation imposed by the rules of international law, and that the continued targeting of them or exposing them to the risk of death, loss, and enforced disappearance represents a crime that does not lapse by prescription.