For almost a year, Israeli forces have rained bombs down on the people of Gaza, killing more than 14,000 Palestinian children. Homes, schools and hospitals have been wiped off the map. These bombs are being dropped from planes made with British parts.
Thousands of children who have survived the bombardment have been left with life-changing injuries. More than 10 children per day, on average, have lost one or both of their legs in Gaza since the war erupted[1].
Children are seven times more likely to die from blast injuries than adults. And the injuries they experience are distinct.
When an airstrike hits, their small bodies are thrown further by the force of the blast. Shrapnel and debris are more likely to tear through their thinner skin and muscles, resulting in devastating internal injuries. Their still-growing bones are more vulnerable to fractures or long-term deformities and they have less blood to lose.
If children survive the blasts, they find themselves dealing not only with physical trauma and disability, but also the acute stress caused by growing up in a conflict zone.
Explosive weapons are now the number one cause of casualties to children in conflict globally. That’s why Save the Children and partners launched the Centre of Paediatric Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College London. In Gaza, we’ve distributed 1,000 copies of our paediatric blast injuries field manual to help medics on the ground. This is desperately needed - three out of every four children Save the Children has treated since opening our field hospital in Al-Mawasi have suffered from blast injuries.
Our paediatric nurse, Becky, told us:
“We treated a 10-year-old boy who had some shrapnel in his thigh that had shattered his femur… He had multiple operations, but he was so distressed by the way his leg looked that he couldn’t even look at it. He was doing this silent crying that was heartbreaking."
13-year-old Solave*s leg had to be amputated after she was hit by a large piece of shrapnel. In her mother’s words:
“She completely collapsed when she realised her leg was gone. She refused to know the truth and turned her back on us. She assumed her leg was still with her. We tried to offer her support and tried to reassure her that she would get a prosthetic. But she was asking how she would get to her classroom because it’s on the third floor of her school.”
With Gaza’s health system decimated and aid operations under attack, children lack adequate pain relief and child amputees don’t have access to wheelchairs or prosthetics.
The UK Government has a responsibility to do everything in its power to stop this, to uphold International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and protect children. This includes immediately suspending all arms sales to the Government of Israel.
Under its arms export control regime and as a signatory to the Arms Trade Treaty, the UK Government must suspend arms sales where there is a clear risk they may be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of IHL.
For almost a year, multiple UN representatives and experts have raised the alarm about the widespread violations of IHL taking place in Gaza[2]. In June, the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory concluded that Israeli authorities are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity[3]. Many other States – like Spain, Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands - suspended arms sales to Israel months ago.
Nothing excuses the way Israel has chosen to conduct its military operations in Gaza. There are no circumstances in which a State is freed from its obligations under international humanitarian law. The rules that exist to protect children must be upheld everywhere, at all times, or they become meaningless.
With the Foreign Secretary’s announcement of a partial suspension of arms exports to Israel this week, Ministers have finally recognised the clear risk that the Government of Israel is breaking international humanitarian law.
Even now, by opting for only a partial suspension, the UK Government is falling short of its legal and moral obligations. The exemption of parts for the F-35 fighter jets that are being used to drop bombs on children in Gaza[4] is particularly egregious.
Until the Government fully suspends all arms sales to the Israel, the UK will remain complicit in the war on Gaza’s children.
[1] ‘Ten weeks of hell’ for children in Gaza: UNICEF
[2] Clear violations of IHL, including hostage-taking, have also been committed by Hamas and other Palestinian Armed Groups in Gaza and while Save the Children globally is calling for the suspension of arms transfers to all parties to the conflict, the UK Government only sells arms Israel.
[3] Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory Concludes that Israeli Authorities and Hamas Are Both Responsible for War Crimes | OHCHR
[4] CAAT - MAPPED: All the UK companies manufacturing components for Israel’s F35 combat aircraft
