Burak Bir
09 November 2023•Update: 09 November 2023
LONDON
Children in Gaza “should be asking if they are being taken to playgrounds and planning for their futures, not asking if they are being taken to graveyards and planning to die,” a British lawmaker said Wednesday, referring to the dire situation in the Palestinian enclave, especially for children.
Speaking in House of Commons, Naz Shah, the Labour Party MP for Bradford West, said she watched a video of a small girl being pulled out of the rubble asking her uncle if she was dead and whether he was taking her to a graveyard.
She said another video showed a girl who was barely five years old who was stuck under a collapsed building praying her final prayers in preparation for her death.
"Children at their age should not be asking whether they are going to a graveyard, but whether they’re going to a playground or buying ice cream or doing the usual things, not going to a graveyard and preparing for their death," she said.
Shah, who is also shadow minister for crime reduction, pointed out a recent video from Gaza where children outside Al-Shifa Hospital "felt they needed to do a press conference to call on the world to let them live."
"So Minister (Andrew Mitchell), when will the UK ramp up its effort to end the bloodshed and ensure Palestinian children just have the right to live?” she added.
In response, Mitchell, the Minister of State for Development and Africa, said what is happening to children in Gaza "appeals us all."
"The government understands and agrees with her analysis of the plight of children in Gaza. And we’ll do everything within the wider context to try and bring that to an end," he added.
Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since the Palestinian resistance group Hamas initiated a cross-border attack on Oct. 7.
At least 10,569 Palestinians have been killed, including 4,324 children and 2,823 women.
The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, is nearly 1,600, according to official figures.
