Jerusalem’s Royal Committee secretary says Israel killed 16,000 children since October 7

AMMAN — Secretary-General of the Royal Committee for Jerusalem Affairs Abdullah Kanaan on Tuesday said that more than 16,000 innocent children have been killed in Gaza by Israel since October 7, constituting a third of the tally of the brutal Israeli aggression on the strip. Additionally, more than 120 children have been martyred in the West Bank.

Kanaan told The Jordan News Agency, Petra, on the occasion of the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, which is observed annually on June 4, and established in 1982 in response to the suffering of Palestinian children, that this international occasion exposes the Israeli occupation.

He pointed out that these numbers of deaths among children are a "stain" on the conscience of those who support the occupation and back its crimes, indicating that genocide, ethnic cleansing, the erasure of generations, and the obliteration of the humanitarian identity of places are the core objectives and plans of Zionism.

The secretary-general noted that there are double these numbers in terms of wounded and sick children who are besieged and prevented from receiving urgent relief aid, in addition to a systematic and comprehensive war against them at the educational, social, economic and family levels.

Kanaan said that the committee, on this occasion, delivers a humanitarian appeal to global human rights and humanitarian organisations, stressing the need to swiftly rescue childhood in Palestine, which all laws, constitutions, and international agreements agree on protecting and caring for in ordinary circumstances.

He pointed out that the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989 appear to be powerless or lack the genuine will, at the very least, to save the children of Gaza and the cities of Palestine from oppression.

The secretary-general noted that Jordan, under Royal directives, has implemented many programmes and initiatives and continues to make efforts in the educational, health and relief sectors to help save Palestinian children, women, and the elderly who are subjected to severe forms of torture in Gaza, Jerusalem and all cities of Palestine.