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GAZA WAR

10 children are losing one or two legs each day: UNRWA

10 children are losing one or two legs each day: UNRWA

A horse-drawn cart loaded with belongings is prepared for evacuating people in the yard of the Asma school run by UNRWA, in the Shati camp for Palestinian refugees west of Gaza City on June 25, 2024. (Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP)

Ten children per day are losing one or both of their legs in the war in Gaza, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in the region (UNRWA), said on Tuesday.

"We have 10 children who are losing one leg or two legs on average every day," Lazzarini told reporters in Geneva.

Citing figures from the UN children's agency UNICEF, he said that figure "does not even include the arms and the hands, and we have many more" of these.

"Ten per day, that means around 2,000 children after more than 260 days of this brutal war," Lazzarini added.

He said amputation often takes place "in quite horrible conditions," sometimes without anesthesia.

Save the Children said on Monday that up to 21,000 children are estimated to be missing in the chaos of the war.

The Gaza Health Ministry says at least 37,658 people have been killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive following Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

UNRWA coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, but Lazzarini warned the agency was facing relentless attack and a deep funding crisis.

"We have cash until the end of August," he said Tuesday, adding that the agency still had "a shortfall of about $140 million... to bridge the end of the year."


Ten children per day are losing one or both of their legs in the war in Gaza, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in the region (UNRWA), said on Tuesday."We have 10 children who are losing one leg or two legs on average every day," Lazzarini told reporters in Geneva.Citing figures from the UN children's agency UNICEF, he said that figure "does...