GAZA, Mar 18 (Reuters/AFP/BBC): The UN children's agency said on Sunday over 13,000 children have been killed in Gaza in Israel's offensive, adding many kids were suffering from severe malnutrition and did not "even have the energy to cry."
"Thousands more have been injured or we can't even determine where they are. They may be stuck under rubble ... We haven't seen that rate of death among children in almost any other conflict in the world," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell told CBS News' "Face the Nation" program on Sunday.
"I've been in wards of children who are suffering from severe anaemia malnutrition, the whole ward is absolutely quiet. Because the children, the babies ... don't even have the energy to cry."
Russell said there were "very great bureaucratic challenges" moving trucks into Gaza for aid and assistance.
International criticism has mounted on Israel due to the death toll of the war, the starvation crisis in Gaza, and allegations of blocking aid deliveries into the enclave.
A UN expert said earlier this month that Israel was destroying Gaza's food system as part of a broader "starvation campaign." Israel rejected the accusation.
Israel's military assault on Hamas-governed Gaza has displaced nearly its entire 2.3 million-person population, caused a starvation crisis, flattened most of the enclave, and killed over 31,000 people, according to Gaza's health ministry. It has also led to accusations of genocide being probed in the World Court.
Israel spy chief to
discuss Gaza
truce with Qatar PM
Israel's intelligence chief, Qatar's premier and Egyptian officials are expected to hold talks in Doha Monday on a potential Gaza truce and hostage exchange deal, a source with knowledge of the talks told AFP.
The meeting between Mossad chief David Barnea, Qatar PM Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egyptian envoys "is expected to take place today", the source said on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the talks.
The talks in the Qatari capital are the first after weeks of intense negotiations involving Qatari, US and Egyptian mediators failed to secure a truce between Israel and Hamas for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began last week.
The war began when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack from Gaza on October 7 that left about 1,160 dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Palestinian militants seized about 250 Israeli and foreign hostages during the October 7 attack, but dozens were released during a week-long truce in November.
Israel believes about 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 -- eight soldiers and 25 civilians-who are presumed dead.
Israeli troops
raid Gaza's Al
Shifa Hospital
Israeli troops raided the compound of Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital early on Monday in an operation that Palestinian health authorities said caused multiple casualties and set off a fierce fire in one of the buildings.
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