Israel and militant group Hamas have reached a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza, to take effect on January 19, after 15 months of bloodshed that devastated the Palestinian enclave and inflamed the Middle East. The accord outlines a six-week initial ceasefire with gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. Hostages held by Hamas, which controls Gaza, are to be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
On December 15, UNICEF reported at least 14,000 child deaths in Gaza. This does not include those unidentified, missing or buried under rubble. According to Save the Children, 30% of the children killed till October 10 were under five; according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 6% were under one. Among them, 169 had been born since the conflict began. War Child Alliance found 96% of Gaza’s children to be mentally disoriented and in imminent fear of death. There is something monstrous in that a child should at all conceive of death, let alone fear it.
The world knew what was happening but saw no reason to care, let alone intervene. Instead of growing outrage as the child deaths kept mounting, the world seemed bored. Very many nations, including our own, shook their heads and clucked at the ‘civilian deaths’ while conniving with the international order that made them inevitable.
Foreign policy might be dictated by our export prospects, or the need for jobs or weaponry or even spyware. But the ghosts of 14,000 dead children will keep haunting us, pleading for a world of humane values for our own children to grow up in...
(The article and the video are adapted from The Telegraph Op-Ed piece by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Professor Emeritus, Jadavpur University)
Video Producer: Shohini Bose
Video Editor: Rajbir Singh
