NEW YORK, December 1. /TASS/. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell has called on the parties to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to spare no effort to protect children as the Gaza Strip has become the most dangerous place for children again.
"Today, Gaza is again the most dangerous place to be a child. And winter is on the doorstep. All parties to the conflict must do everything possible to protect the lives and wellbeing of all children no matter where they are. No more children should die in this conflict," she wrote on her X (formerly known as Twitter) account.
On November 22, Hamas announced an agreement with Israel, which was brokered by Egypt and Qatar, on a four-day humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, which took effect on November 24. The deal stipulated the release of Israeli women and children being held hostage in Gaza in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on the morning of December 1 that Hamas had violated the truce in Gaza and opened fire on Israeli territory, thus prompting the IDF to resume combat operations in the Gaza Strip.
UNICEF said in late October that more than 400children die or receive wounds in the Gaza Strip every day. Gaza, according to a UNICEF official, is a cemetery for children. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one child dies every ten minutes in the Gaza Strip.