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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Eyes forced shut, hospital crammed: Children fill Rafah graveyards</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Al Mayadeen English</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">May 1, 2024<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><p>James
Elder, the UNICEF's global spokesperson, reports that the European
Hospital in Rafah holds scores of severely wounded dying children. <br></p><img src="cid:ii_lvo7c0bi0" alt="190af30a-5fd4-49d5-a7d6-62f089f90f7f.png" width="464" height="315"><br><div><ul id="gmail-content-slick-0"><div aria-hidden="false"><li>
Palestinian children stand amid the debris of a house
destroyed by overnight Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern
Gaza Strip. (<em>AFP</em>)
</li></div></ul>
<p>UNICEF's global spokesperson <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/allowing-gaza-children-s-sacrifice-means-death-of-humanity">James Elder</a> has reported on the many horrors <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-forces-behind-displacing-palestinian-communities--hr">he witnessed in Rafah</a>, warning that a potential invasion would be "catastrophic".</p>
<p>During three visits to the European Hospital's ICU in Rafah, Gaza, Elder recalls how he observed many <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/health/gaza-s-resilient-children--coping-with-trauma-amid-genocide">youngsters lying on the same bed</a> after a bomb tore their house. Despite the physicians' best attempts, they all died.</p>
<p>Elder recalls how mere weeks earlier, the world was outraged at the killing of <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/un-team-receives-bodies-of-wck-foreign-aid-staffers-killed-b">seven World Central Kitchen humanitarian aid workers</a> and a week later, a UNICEF van was attacked, as it attempted to deliver much-needed aid.</p>
<p>He questions whether things could get any worse in Rafah from "the
looming famine to soaring death tolls" and notes that it seems <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/gaza-can-no-longer-count-dead-bodies--wsj">that in Gaza things can always get worse</a>, citing the "breaking of humanity's darkest records."</p>
<p>Elder emphasizes that Rafah would <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/day-208--34-568-killed--77-765-injured-in-gaza">completely implode if attacked</a>,
as there are over 1.4 million residents residing there in deplorable
conditions. "There is simply nowhere left to go in Gaza," he says,
citing the severe shortage of <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/gaza-on-the-brink-of-famine--un-backed-report-warns">water for drinking and sanitation</a> and the one shared toilet per 850 people. </p>
<p>According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics on Thursday, before the Israeli aggression began, <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/population-density-in-rafah-at-17-500-individuals-per-square">Rafah had a population density of 4,360 people per square kilometer</a>, whereas now it has reached 17,500 individuals per square kilometer.</p>
<h2>The city of children</h2>
<p>The spokesperson details that the city is a <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/health/gaza-s-resilient-children--coping-with-trauma-amid-genocide">haven for young children</a>,
in addition to housing Gaza's largest remaining hospital, the European
Hospital, which is now more crucial than ever after Gaza's health system
has been destroyed.</p>
<p>Since the Israeli aggression began in Gaza more than 6 months ago, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have destroyed hospitals, <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/dozens-killed--injured-as--israel--bombed-rafah-bound-ambula">bombed ambulances</a>, and killed or detained <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/us--uk-doctors-relay-israeli-atrocities-in-gaza-to-washingto">hundreds of healthcare workers</a>.</p>
<p>The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health Tlaleng Mofokeng announced last week that at least <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/libya-preparing-to-launch-medical-relief-convoy-to-gaza">350 healthcare workers have been killed</a> and <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-forces-killed-over-360-gaza-health-workers-since-oct">520 others have been injured in Gaza since October 7</a>.</p>
<p>According to the UN special rapporteur, many teenagers would
volunteer in Gaza's hospitals to help medical workers deal with the vast
number of those injured and killed, but they have not been listed among
the casualties since they weren't officially registered as medical
workers.</p>
<p><a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/gaza-nasser-hospital--not-functional-anymore---who-chief">"The health system in Gaza</a>
has been completely obliterated and the right to health has been
decimated at every level. The conditions are incompatible with the
realization of everyone to the highest attainable state of physical and
mental health," she added. </p>
<p>Elder looks back on how Gaza was called a <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/iof-turned-gaza-into-children-s-biggest-graveyard--euro-med">graveyard for children in October,</a>
disclosing that he saw new graveyards in Rafah only last month piled
with the remains of innocent children targeted by Israeli strikes,
calling it the worst devastation he has seen in "20 years with the UN."</p>
<p>In December, Elder made a statement in which he called the attack on Gaza a "<a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/unicef-spokesperson---this-is-a-war-on-children">war on children</a>"
from inside a crowded hospital in Gaza, criticizing the international
community's impotence, saying the "inaction by those with influence is
allowing the killing of children."</p>
<p>The UNICEF spokesperson demanded a humanitarian ceasefire and
increased flow of humanitarian aid and sadly recalled how a woman in
Gaza pleaded with him to urge the world to respond to their plight. </p>
<p>Although he attempted to relieve her of her anxiety, the woman
continued to plead, because, as Elder puts it "she assumed the world did
not know what was happening in Gaza. Because if the world knew, how
could they possibly let this happen?"</p></div></div></div>
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