A month after the war between Israel and Hamas erupted, the Red Cross demanded Tuesday an end to the horrific suffering of civilians, and especially children, decrying a "moral failing".
"One month on, civilians in Gaza and Israel are being forced to endure tremendous suffering and loss. This needs to stop," the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement.
The Israeli military has relentlessly bombarded Gaza and is scaling up ground operations in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas, who killed 1,400 in Israel, and seized around 240 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
The Gaza health ministry has said the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 10,300 people, mostly civilians.
"Massive bombardments are gutting civilian infrastructure across Gaza, sowing seeds of hardship for generations to come," the ICRC statement said.
The organisation's president Mirjana Spoljaric said she had been particularly shocked to see the suffering that children have had to endure.
"Children have been ripped from their families and held hostage. In Gaza, ICRC surgeons treat toddlers whose skin is charred from widespread burns," she said in the statement.
"The images of suffering, dead and wounded children will haunt us all. This is a moral failing," she added.
Spoljaric also called for the immediate release of hostages seized by Hamas.
"They play no part in this conflict and we reiterate our offer as neutral actor to facilitate any future release operation," she said.
The organisation insisted that all parties to the conflict "must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law and spare all civilians from the conduct of military operations."
It pointed out that the military siege of Gaza had deprived people there of food, water and medicine, and warned that the "sparse aid" trickling in was not able to provide people with the essentials to survive.
"Safe and sustained humanitarian access across Gaza is urgently needed," it said, stressing that "critical services like health care, water, and electricity must be immediately restored in Gaza as a lifesaving priority."
It also decried attacks on healthcare, emphasising that "scenes of damaged hospitals and ambulances are unacceptable".
A man holds one of the injured children of Palestinian cameraman Mohammed Alaloul following an Israeli strike on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in Deir Balah in the central Gaza Strip, at the al-Quds hospital in the same city on Sunday. AFP
A Palestinian child sits next to the wrapped bodies of those killed in Israeli bombardment, prior to the corpses being taken from the Shuhada Al-Aqsa hospital for burial, in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday. AFP
A Palestinian man carries the body a child killed in Israeli strikes at a hospital, in the central Gaza Strip, Sunday. REUTERS
A child looks out from a car as Palestinians, including foreign passport holders, wait at Rafah border crossing after evacuations were suspended following an Israeli strike on an ambulance, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Sunday. REUTERS
Anadolu news agency cameraman Mohammed El Aloul reacts after several of his children and siblings were killed in Israeli strikes at a hospital in the central Gaza Strip, Sunday. REUTERS
A boy sits as Palestinians with foreign passports wait for permission to leave Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday. REUTERS
A girl looks on from behind a glass as Palestinians with foreign passports wait for permission to leave Gaza, at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday. REUTERS
Palestinian doctor Mohammad Abu Namoos, who chose to stay in Gaza to treat patients, says goodbye to his family before they leave the strip, amid the ongoing conflict with Israel, at Rafah border crossing, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday. REUTERS
Civilians leaving display their documents as dual national Palestinians and foreigners prepare to cross the Rafah border point with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Thursday. AFP
Palestinian children sit in front of the rubble of a destroyed building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday. AFP
Injured children await treatment at the emergency ward of the Al-Shifa hospital following an Israeli strike, in Gaza City on Sunday. AFP
Palestinians recover the body of a child from the rubble of a building, in Khan Yunis on Tuesday. AFP
