‘Nowhere safe for 1 million children’: UNICEF warns of ‘devastating situation’ in Gaza

News Network

November 15, 2023

The executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has described the situation in the Gaza Strip as “devastating” amid Israel’s ongoing aggression, warning that the regime’s brutal assault has left "nowhere safe" for the enclave’s one million children.

Catherine Russell made the remarks in a statement released on the agency’s website on Wednesday following her visit to Gaza.

"Today I visited the Gaza Strip to meet with children, their families, and UNICEF staff. What I saw and heard was devastating. They have endured repeated bombardment, loss, and displacement. Inside the Strip, there is nowhere safe for Gaza’s one million children to turn," Russel said.

The UNICEF chief went on to say that more than 4,600 children have reportedly been killed, with nearly 9,000 injured in Gaza, adding that "Many children are missing and believed buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings and homes” due to Israeli strikes in populated areas.

She further noted that newborns in need of specialized care have died in one of Gaza’s hospitals as power and medical supplies run out due to the criminal blockade imposed by the Israeli regime.

Russell also said that in the neonatal ward of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, “tiny babies were clinging to life in incubators, as doctors worried how they could keep the machines running without fuel."

Elsewhere in her remarks, Russell warned that “The intermittent opening of Gaza’s border crossings to shipments of humanitarian supplies is insufficient to meet the skyrocketing needs,” adding that with winter around the corner, the need for fuel could become even more acute.

She also reiterated her call to ensure that children are protected and assisted, as per international humanitarian law, and to implement an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the blockaded territory.

Israel waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm into the occupied territories in response to the occupying regime’s intensified crimes against the Palestinian people.

According to the Gaza-based health ministry, at least 11,250 Palestinians have been killed in the strikes, most of them women and children, and more than 29,000 others have been injured in the Israeli strikes.

Tel Aviv has also imposed a “complete siege” on Gaza, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

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Syrian Town erupts after Israeli forces enter Beit Jinn; heavy casualties reported

News Network

November 28,2025

Several Syrians were killed and more than two dozen others injured in Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Damascus, amid intensified incursions by the occupying regime since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rule.

Syrian state TV reported that the casualties occurred during an overnight Israeli assault involving helicopters and drones on the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside. The attack followed an Israeli military unit’s entry into the town, where they were surrounded by local residents, leading to gunfire and direct confrontations.

According to the report, “The occupation army’s helicopters and artillery shelled Beit Jinn, located at the foothills of Mount Hermon, resulting in 13 martyrs and 25 injured civilians.” The broadcaster did not specify the full extent of damage.

Al-Ikhbariyah Syria confirmed that the shelling coincided with Israeli soldiers entering Beit Jinn, while artillery pounded surrounding areas. The broadcaster stated that the escalation began after local residents clashed with an Israeli patrol that had infiltrated the southern town and “kidnapped” three young men.

Following a two-hour exchange of heavy fire, Israeli forces withdrew and repositioned on the hill of Butt al-Warda at the town’s outskirts.

Israeli media acknowledged that six soldiers were wounded in the clashes—three of them seriously—describing the confrontation as a “sudden ambush” that forced the deployment of reserve units and air support to secure an exit route. No further details were provided.

The aggression has fueled renewed displacement from Beit Jinn, with residents fleeing to nearby villages amid increasingly frequent Israeli attacks.

The raid came just a day after Israeli troops carried out another ground incursion into Umm al-Luqas village in Quneitra province. According to SANA, an Israeli unit in four vehicles entered the village, raided several homes, and later withdrew.

Syria condemned the repeated incursions as violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and UN resolutions, urging the international community to enforce compliance and pressure Israel to halt its operations and withdraw fully.

Israel has expanded its attacks across Syrian territory following the collapse of the Assad government last year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize strategic positions.

Meanwhile, critics say the HTS-led interim government’s inaction and growing normalization gestures toward Israel have emboldened Tel Aviv to intensify its military operations. HTS, formerly linked to al-Qaeda, seized control of Damascus last December, formally ending Assad’s rule.

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