Press Release
Over 14,000 Children Killed in Gaza and Yet the Capable Muslim Armies Who Could End this Bloodbath Stand Still

On Friday 19^th April, UNICEF stated that the number of children killed in Gaza as a result of the Jewish entity’s relentless bombardment of the Strip has surpassed 14,000. The true death toll is feared to be much higher due to those missing under rubble. An overnight IDF strike on the 20^th April on Rafah also killed 18 children, just hours after the US House of Representatives approved a $26 billion package of support to the Jewish entity, much of which was military aid. In early April, Save the Children reported that 1 in 50 of Gaza’s children have been killed or injured in these last 6 months, amounting to around 26,000. UNICEF Communication Specialist Tess Ingram stated that at least 70 children were being injured each day in Gaza, and that one child was killed or injured every 10 minutes. In a press briefing, she described the horrific ordeal suffered by the children she had met in a recent visit to Gaza, including 14-year-old Yousef, who described being strip-searched by occupation forces, left naked and questioned for hours, and then shot at when released. The bullet penetrated his pelvis causing serious internal and external injuries requiring reconstructive surgery.

All this is alongside, the starvation campaign that the children of Gaza have been subjected to due to the Jewish entity’s blockade of essentials into the Strip, that has caused the death of dozens of children from malnutrition and dehydration. According to UNRWA, 1 in 3 children under 2 in northern Gaza is now acutely malnourished. Aid workers describe babies and children not “even having the energy to cry”, while others are languishing in pain due to life-threatening and life-changing injuries for which there is inadequate medicines and pain-relief. Furthermore, according to Save the Children, the Jewish entity has damaged or destroyed nearly 90% of all school buildings in Gaza. The aim is clearly to rob Gaza’s children of any future and to leave those who survive this genocide in physical and psychological torment.

This is indeed a “War against Children” by the criminal Jewish entity. Gaza has become a graveyard for Gaza’s children. And yet those who could end this bloodbath for good – the brave soldiers in the Muslim armies remain chained to their barracks. We ask our brothers in the Muslim armies – how much more of this slaughter can you bear to witness before you rise to your Islamic duty of being the defenders of your Ummah? How many more 1000’s are to be killed before you move against this murderous occupation? How much more can you bear of the cowardice and treachery of these rulers and regimes you serve, who continue their peace-agreements, normalization and economic cooperation with this cancerous Jewish entity, even supplying it food while the children of Gaza starve? You know that they will never give you the order to defend your brothers and sisters! You know that there is no government, no state, no leader today who will protect the Muslims and liberate our lands! The children of Gaza and this entire Ummah is calling upon you to stop this genocide! We know your heart burns and your blood boils at what you see! So what is holding you back? How will you answer to your Rabb (swt) for your inaction? How can you look your own children in the eyes, if you abandon the children of Gaza? The question is simple – which one of you wishes to gain the immense reward and huge honour of protecting this Ummah, liberating the land of Al-Isra wal Miraj, and embracing the legacy of Salahuddin Ayubi? So uproot the thrones of these traitorous Muslim regimes and give your Nusrah for the establishment of the Islamic leadership of the Khilafah (Caliphate) based upon the method of the Prophethood which will mobilise you to liberate every inch of the Blessed Land of Palestine and make you heroes of your Ummah! Allah (swt) says,

[وَمَا لَكُمْ لاَ تُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ وَالْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاء وَالْوِلْدَانِ الَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا أَخْرِجْنَا مِنْ هَـذِهِ الْقَرْيَةِ الظَّالِمِ أَهْلُهَا وَاجْعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ وَلِيًّا وَاجْعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ نَصِيرًا]

“And what reason have you not to fight in the way of Allah and for the oppressed among men and women and children who say: Our Lord! Take us forth from the town whereof the people are oppressors and grant us from You a protector and grant us from you a helper.”[An-Nisa: 75]

Women’s Section
in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir