Killing of Palestinian children needs to stop: UNICEF

The killing of Palestinian children "needs to stop," the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Sunday.

"Children in the State of Palestine have been caught in a tragic and vicious cycle of violence for too long. This is a war disproportionately affecting children," said Adele Khodr, UNICEF Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa.

"The killing of children needs to stop. We need a cease-fire. Now," added Khodr.

"In the past 72 hours, three Palestinian children were killed in the latest military operation in Tulkarem in the West Bank, and at least another 14 children were reportedly killed in Rafah," she said.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

At least 34,097 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 76,980 injured since then, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Hostilities have continued unabated, however, and aid deliveries remain woefully insufficient to address the humanitarian catastrophe.