Shibbir Ahmed, United Nations, New York: At least 300 children have been killed in the besieged Gaza Strip over the 300 days since a so-called ceasefire agreement went into effect, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), which stated that the truce has proven to be a complete failure for the children of Gaza. The ceasefire agreement was signed in October of last year with the aim of halting military operations between Hamas and Israeli forces, but violence has continued despite the deal.

Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, expressed outrage, stating that a ceasefire in which an average of one child dies every day is a total failure to protect children. He added that hundreds of children are spending their days in hospital beds with severe injuries, and that the children of Gaza are still waiting for the peace they were promised.

Despite the agreement, the procession of children's deaths in Gaza has not stopped. Premature and sick babies are being born to hunger-stricken mothers. A severe humanitarian crisis has been created due to a lack of adequate medical supplies and relief, and an entire generation in Gaza is being deprived of basic amenities and education. With renewed Israeli airstrikes and military operations, Gaza's families have been forced to seek shelter in only one-third of the territory, living subhuman lives amidst rubble and piles of garbage.

UNICEF spokesperson Louise Wateridge stated that due to a lack of adequate incubators, two or three newborns are often placed in a single machine. Newborns just days old, born in partially functioning hospitals lacking sufficient medicine and equipment, are fighting desperately to survive. She said the international community has accepted this situation, but this carnage must be stopped, adequate relief must be allowed to enter, and children must be protected. While the world calls it a ceasefire, families in Gaza are still burying their children, as a ceasefire does not mean children should die every day.

According to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), a total of 1,209 people have been killed and 3,943 injured in Gaza since the ceasefire was declared on October 10 of last year. Additionally, a recent attack on a medical warehouse near Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah destroyed emergency medical supplies provided by the World Health Organization (WHO).