June 4 of each year marks the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, which was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in August 1982 at its seventh emergency special session on the Palestinian issue.
This day was adopted in the wake of the concern that prevailed in the United Nations in the wake of reports that revealed a horrific number of innocent Palestinian and Lebanese child victims, who were the victims of the acts of aggression committed by Israel during the invasion of Lebanon.
The United Nations notes that children are the most affected group in situations of war and armed conflict, while the recruitment and use of children in war, killings, sexual violence, kidnappings, attacks on schools and hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access; The most common violations.
And about the purpose of adopting this day, according to the United Nations website, is to recognize the suffering of children who are victims of physical, mental and psychological abuse around the world.
This day confirms the commitment of the United Nations to protect children´s rights, under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in November 1989, and deals with children´s rights and government responsibilities towards them.
The international organization stresses that recent years have witnessed an increase in the rate of violations committed against children in many conflict areas, calling for more efforts to be made to protect 250 million children living in countries and regions experiencing conflict, to work to strengthen international humanitarian law and human rights, and to ensure accountability for violations Child Rights.
39 years after the adoption of the International Day for Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, the violations targeting children in Palestine remain evidence that Israel does not pay any attention to any of the universal declarations of human rights and does not abide by the agreements that guarantee protection for Palestinian civilians, especially children who are killed and wounded by the occupation’s violations arrest and deportation.
Statistics issued by the Ministry of Health show that more than a quarter of the martyrs who rose during the recent Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip are children, as the number of martyrs among children reached 66 out of 260 martyrs.
The aggression does not leave its physical impact on the children, as the Save the Children organization issued a warning about the psychological suffering that will haunt the children of the Gaza Strip in the coming years.
The organization reports that children in the Gaza Strip suffer from fear and lack of sleep, and show signs of anxiety such as constant shaking and involuntary urination.
According to the United Nations Children´s Fund "UNICEF", the impact of the bombing during the days of the aggression was very violent on children because it targeted their homes, which usually symbolize a sense of safety.
According to UNICEF, many children will suffer from the effects of shock, especially those who waited under the rubble for hours before being rescued.
The organization stated that before the recent Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, one out of every 3 children needed psychological support to help them deal with the violence, pressure and fear they are exposed to in their daily lives due to the situation and the Israeli siege.
About 180 children are currently imprisoned in the occupation’s prisons, distributed in the prisons of “Megiddo”, “Ofer” and “Damoon”, and since 2015, the Palestinian Prisoners Club has monitored more than 7,500 cases of arrests of Palestinian children.
Addameer Foundation for Human Rights has documented more than fifty thousand arrests recorded among Palestinian children since 1967.
According to Defense for Children International, 85% of Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons were subjected to physical violence during their detention.
