At least 17,000 children in the Gaza Strip have been left unaccompanied or separated from their families nearly four months into Israel’s assault on the enclave, the United Nations children’s agency estimates.
Nearly all children in the strip also require mental health support, UNICEF said on February 2. Before the assault erupted, UNICEF estimated that more than 500,000 children in Gaza needed mental health and psycho-social support.
“Each child has a heartbreaking story of loss and grief,” said Jonathan Crickx, UNICEF’s chief of communication for the occupied Palestinian territories. Now, it believes that “almost all children are in need” of such help. “That’s more than one million children,” Crickx said.
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