'Nothing Short of Genocide': Israel Kills 200 Children

[Warning: This post includes graphic images that some may find disturbing.]

Nearly 200 children are among those killed by Israel in Gaza over the last three days since the powerful U.S. ally broke a cease-fire agreement and began a massive bombing campaign with the blessing of the Trump administration.

According to figures released Thursday by the Gaza Health Ministry, 504 people—mostly innocent men, women, and children–have been killed since Israel broke the cease-fire agreement on Tuesday, with more than 900 wounded in the attacks.

Al-Jazeera reports Thursday that at least 110 people were killed since dawn on Thursday. It was not clear if any of those fatalities were included in the ministry's latest figures.

In the widespread bombing unleashed Tuesday, over 400 people were killed, more than 180 of whom were children. The bombings and military operations continued on Wednesday and into Thursday.

"I do not spend too much time concerned with who the Israeli military says they targeted in attacks like this," Miranda Cleland, an advocacy officer with Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP), said in remarks to Middle East Eye following the first wave of attacks. "Instead, look at the evidence: 183 dead children, comprising almost half of yesterday's death toll, tells me that this is a war on children."

"Eighteen thousand dead children since October 7, 2023 tells me this is a war on children, regardless of what the Israeli military says."

According to the Guardian:

The death toll is expected to rise as further casualties are dug from rubble in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis and the northern town of Beit Lahiya.

The timing of the strikes in the new Israeli offensive, which began on Tuesday, appears to have increased the proportion of women and children among the victims, with many sleeping when the missiles struck.

Fresh military ground operations by Israeli forces in the north of Gaza on Thursday were accompanied by directives that no Palestinians would be allowed to travel into the north from the south.

Meanwhile, leaflets dropped by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) over Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun in the north, as well as eastern Khan Younis in the south, ordered residents to leave their homes but aid organizations and the United Nations have said people have nowhere safe to go.

In a statement on Wednesday, Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, denounced the latest barrage of bombings as well as the ongoing blockade of relief. "For nearly three weeks," Fletcher said, "Gaza has now been completely sealed off to food, medicine, fuel, cooking gas."

Cleland's colleague at DCIP, the group's accountability program director Ayed Abu Eqtaish, said this week that Israeli forces have signed a death warrant for Palestinian children in Gaza as they carry out nonstop attacks, continue to destroy civilian infrastructure, and prevent any humanitarian aid from reaching Palestinians in need. This is nothing short of genocide."

For his part, Fletcher, said international law is clear: "Civilians... must not be targeted."

"The gains we made during the ceasefire in supporting survivors have been reversed. Families are being forced to move, and living once again in fear of bombardment and death," he added, while calling for an immediate halt to the bombings and for aid to be allowed to reach those in need. "The blockade of lifesaving aid must be lifted. The hostages must be released. Civilians must be protected. The ceasefire must be renewed."