Israel-Hamas war: At least 17,000 children in Gaza left unaccompanied or separated from parents, says UN

The United Nations saidon Friday (Feb 2) that at least 17,000 children in the war-torn Gaza Strip have been left unaccompanied or separated from their parents. Addressing a press conference, UNICEF spokesperson Jonathan Crickx said, "This figure corresponds to one per cent of the overall displaced population -- 1.7 million people." Each one "is a child who is coming to terms with a horrible new reality."

He added that tracing who the children were was proving "extremely difficult", as sometimes they were brought to a hospital where they may be wounded or in shock, and they couldn't even say their names. The UNICEF spokesperson said that during conflicts, it was common for extended families to take care of children who lost their parents.

However, due tolack of necessities such as food, water or shelter, extended families were themselves distressed "and faced challenges to immediately take care of another child as they themselves are struggling to cater for their own children and family."

'Over a million children in need of mental health'

Jonathan Crickx also told reporters on Friday that more than a million children in Gaza needed mental health and psycho-social support. Before the Israel-Hamas war started in Oct last year, UNICEF estimated that more than 500,000 children in the Palestinian territory needed such help.

"They present symptoms like extremely high levels of persistent anxiety, loss of appetite, they can’t sleep, they have emotional outbursts or panic every time they hear the bombings," he said.

"Children don't have anything to do with this conflict. Yet they are suffering like no child should ever suffer," the UNICEF spokesperson added and called for a ceasefire so that UNICEF could conduct a proper count of children who are unaccompanied or separated, trace relatives, and deliver mental health support.

Hamas gives initial support to Gaza truce plan: Qatar

On Thursday, Qatar's foreign ministry said that Hamas gave initial support to a proposal for the cessation of fighting in Gaza and the release of hostages. Last Sunday, US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators met with Israeli intelligence officials in Paris where they proposed a six-week pause in the fighting and a hostage-prisoner exchange for Hamas to review.

However, a source close to Hamas told the news agency AFP that there was still no consensus on the proposal. "There is no agreement on the framework of the agreement yet... and the Qatari statement is rushed and not true," the source said.

(With inputs from agencies)