A Classroom Dies Every Day in Gaza… and the UN Cries Out: No Words Can Describe It

NYN | Reports and Analyses 

Children in Gaza are enduring one of the darkest chapters in the history of human conflict, with their suffering surpassing the limits of description, according to official testimonies from the United Nations.

The Executive Director of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, stated during a briefing before the UN Security Council on Wednesday that the number of children killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began has exceeded 17,000.

Russell described the tragic reality by saying:

“A full classroom of children has been killed every single day for nearly two years in Gaza.
These children are not politicians—they are in absolute catastrophe. They are in pain, and they are asking: Why has the world abandoned us?”

She added that children are being targeted even as they stand in line for life-saving humanitarian aid, highlighting the absence of any safe haven in the besieged territory.

Russell also noted that those children who survive the war will face a life forever changed by poverty, trauma, and the lack of safety, education, and basic care.

UNRWA: A Worsening Nutrition Crisis

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has revealed alarming indicators of malnutrition among Gaza’s children. According to the agency, one in every ten children examined in its clinics shows symptoms of malnutrition—a phenomenon that was rare before the war.

A nurse working in Gaza commented:

“We used to only read about malnutrition in books and documentaries. Now, we see it every day in the eyes of the children.”

Since January 2024, UNRWA’s medical teams have conducted health checks on more than 240,000 children under the age of five, while medicines, nutritional supplies, hygiene materials, and fuel are depleting rapidly under an intensifying blockade that tightened further in March.

No Words Can Describe the Tragedy

Catherine Russell concluded her statement with a sentence that encapsulated the entire humanitarian catastrophe:

“We cannot describe the situation As UN testimonies and humanitarian appeals continue to pour in, the children of Gaza remain alone in paying the price of war—amid a silence from the international community that grows heavier with each passing day.