Nowhere safe in Gaza as attacks in the north and hospital ablaze in the south put the lives of children and families at risk

GAZA, 14 October 2024 – Up to 400,000 Palestinians were on Monday trapped across northern Gaza, with at least 300 people reportedly killed in nine days of bombardment, and a hospital sheltering thousands ablaze in the south with no end in sight to the incessant attacks on civilians. 

At Al-Aqsa Hospital in the so-called “humanitarian zone” in the south, patients and families sheltering in tents were on Monday engulfed by a massive fire triggered by an Israeli airstrike with reports of deaths and multiple causalities. Civilians in the north were directed to the “humanitarian zone” under orders issued by Israeli forces on 7, 9 and 12 October. Al-Aqsa Hospital is just metres away from where children are receiving a second round of polio vaccines.  

Middle East Regional Director for Save the Children Jeremy Stoner said: 

“What we’re seeing now in Gaza looks like the depths of hell with reports day after day of attacks on children and families. Nowhere is safe. 

In the north, an already starving population has been cut off from food for two weeks while trying to dodge bombs and bullets in a kill zone they cannot leave.  

In the south – the area to which families in the north were directed for their safety – bombs dropped by Israeli jets have set off a fire that is searing through Al-Aqsa Hospital and tents in the hospital grounds, with reports of rescuers finding burned and charred bodies. ‘Evacuation orders’ are at risk of becoming ‘execution orders’ as children are denied the means to survive.  

What military goals could justify such mass-scale slaughter of civilians? The notion of collateral damage must never be used to excuse the predictable killing of children. A year ago, there was international outcry when an Israeli rocket damaged Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, injuring four staff members. How devastatingly far we have descended. 

 Today, Save the Children has begun a second round of polio vaccines for children in our Deir Al-Balah clinic, as children face bombs and fire just 500m away. Never has it been clearer that this is a war on children, their protection only upheld if they’re deemed a risk to those beyond their borders. Without a ceasefire, these vaccinations simply postpone rather than prevent children’s pain. Without immediate international action, children and families across the Gaza Strip face a death sentence – today, tomorrow, in a week, in a month, by bombs, bullets, fire, disease or starvation. Anywhere, any time. 

Gaza is what can happen without the rules of war. Except there are rules – for parties to the conflict, and for the international community – which are not being respected. The only impactful action taken by some member states is to send the weapons being used to kill children and burn patients and families in hospitals and tents. Humanity has lost its way if those with the ability – and legal obligation – to stop this slaughter choose not to.”