GENEVA: 15 children have been killed in Lebanon and 62 injured over the last seven days, the United Nations said on Friday, despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Unicef, the UN children´s agency, called the figures “staggering” and stressed that under international humanitarian law, children had to be protected at all times during conflict. And the World Health Organisation (WHO) said more than 600 people had been killed in Lebanon since the ceasefire was supposed to have taken effect on April 17.
“According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, 77 children have reportedly been killed or injured over the past week alone,” Unicef spokesman Ricardo Pires told a media briefing in Geneva.
“Fifteen children killed and 62 injured in seven days. That´s an average of 11 children every 24 hours.
“We understand the vast majority of these children were impacted by airstrikes in south Lebanon. Only yesterday, seven children were killed and 30 injured,” he said.
The ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah has never been strictly observed.
Both sides accuse each other of violating it and justify their attacks by the other camp´s alleged breaches.
In total, since the ceasefire was announced, 55 children have been killed and 212 wounded, Pires said.
