UNICEF: Number of Palestinian children killed doubles

Number of Palestinian children killed doubles

Report, IRIN, 12 October 2006

A Palestinian youth surveys a demolished building after it was targeted in an Israeli air strike on Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, 12 October 2006. (MaanImages/Wesam Saleh)

JERUSALEM – The number of Palestinian children who have been killed so far this year in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip almost doubles the number killed for the whole of 2005, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Many of the children died after being shot by Israeli troops during military operations or were killed in Israeli air strikes on houses.

On Thursday, 13-year-old Suhaib Kadiah became the 92nd Palestinian child to be killed this year when she was shot dead by Israeli troops during an incursion into the Khan Younis area of Gaza.

The Israeli army said it was looking for tunnels and other infrastructure it said was being used by militants. Suhaib was among five members of the same family that were killed in a firefight.

In July alone, 36 children were killed in Gaza after Israel launched a military operation following the capture of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants.

A total of 52 Palestinian children were killed in 2005. Overall, 819 children have been killed since the beginning of the second intifada [Palestinian uprising against Israeli military occupation] in 2000, according to UNICEF statistics. (continued)