469 children killed in Gaza: UNICEF

A senior official of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said that a total of 469 children were killed in Gaza, where the situation is ‘dire’ because of its debilitating effect on the one million Gaza Strip inhabitants under the age of 18. ‘This situation is very dire in terms of the impact and the toll (it) has on children,’ Pernille Ironside, chief of Gaza occupied Palestinian territory field office for the UNICEF, was quoted as saying by Xinhua at a press conference on Thursday, a day after renewed fighting broke out between Hamas and Israel. ‘In the last 48 hours, nine more children have been killed,’ she said. ‘Unfortunately, this brings our (death toll) to 469 children as of this morning,’ she said. The latest round of fighting came shortly after a 24-hour ceasefire extension between Israel and the Palestinian militants announced by the Egyptian government earlier this week. The impact from fighting has been vast on a physical level because of casualties, injuries and the damage to the Strip’s infrastructure, she said, adding that more importantly, it has had a destabilising emotional and psychological impact on children, according to UNB.