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Terre des hommes calls on all parties involved to protect the rights and well-being of all children.
After days of escalating violence, the Israeli army entered the Gaza Strip on July 17. This piece of land, 41 km long, houses 1.8 million inhabitants, half of whom are children.
“A ground intervention leads to numerous casualties as civilians and especially children are caught in the crossfire” warns Juergen Wellner, country representative for Terre des hommes (Tdh) in Jerusalem. “We fear that many more children will be injured or even killed in this ground offensive. The severity of the violence and destruction is already unbearable for children. Humanitarian aid must start immediately”. “Terre des hommes calls on all parties to do everything to exercise the utmost restraint and to protect the rights and well-being of all children. Aid intervention must be facilitated, in accordance with international humanitarian laws and standards” states Marc Weil, Deputy Programme Director. Active in the Palestinian Territories for more than 40 years, Tdh is currently evaluating the children’s needs and plans to launch an emergency project shortly.
Facts and figures (situation as in 17th of July)
48 children killed, 521 injured. 57’900 of them in need of urgent psychosocial support 23’000 people in shelters 168’400 people in need of non-food items Health material and drugs as well as food assistance urgently required 50% of the sewage pumping system not functioning
