In Gaza, where nearly half of the population is under 18, a children's rights crisis is unfolding

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In Gaza, where nearly half of the population is under 18, a children's rights crisis is unfolding
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Honestly disgusting how the media overlooks this. No idea what these children have ever done. Irrespective of what side you support this is genocide and this should not be tolerated.

"noooo these children voted for Hamas they deserve every bit of suffering they get"

Fucking assholes.

These children can’t have voted for hamas. The last election in Palestine was in 2006.

Well I'm sure they would if we would let them not starve until the next one. Ben and his psychotic entourage, probably.

They will see all of this and serve as warriors in the next generation of hatred. Just like the other side too.

And I wonder how many of those who voted for them in 2006 are still alive...

Children didn't vote for the Nazis in the 1930s either but they still died when we bombed German cities. Children die in wars, it's an unfortunate fact, and Hamas just declared war on their neighbours.

Israeli children die: "bomb all of Gaza, kill as many kids as needed until Hamas is over"

Palestinian children die: "it's just war, mate, what can I say? War sucks :("

Screw this crap.

There's a huge difference between an official declaration of war and warning civilians and sneaking in in early morning and killing them in their beds isn't there?

I'm sorry but from where I am looking, whenever a civilian is killed, it's a tragedy.

And that includes Israel as much as Hamas.

Unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world and we have to weigh things up sometimes that aren't pleasent.

So Israel can win because it's stronger. In a nutshell.

This was the top story on NPR's up first podcast today. They didn't exactly blame Isreal directly, but they also didnt defend Israel and suggest this is somehow justified. They stuck pretty close to here is what is happening on the ground, here's voices of those affected, this is a humanitarian tragedy and will only get worse. They mentioned a woman in Gaza rationing milk for her baby due to the food shortage, that stuck with me. So I guess #notallmedia.

The coverage on the NYT The Daily podcast was spot on what I would expect from the outlet that cheared us into invading Iraq. Trash podcast, I don't know why I'm still subscribed. Should have dumped it after they spent a whole episode making a martyr out of the praying football coach.

NPR's coverage has been very good so far. They are trying their best to remain impartial in a difficult situation where there is a humanitarian crisis. I think it's the right thing to do. The media doesn't need to point fingers at Israel when they can just report the facts and people can see where the blame lies.

I'll second this. Every time they mention the Israeli casualty toll, they mention the Palestinian right at the same time.

While interviewing someone about Israeli response, they took the time to raise the question about plans for Palestinian civilians (unfortunately the answer was "we must destroy Hamas", clearly indicating the civilians dying is perfectly fine by him).

Israelis themselves in Israeli media: our own president propped up Hamas until we reached this here attack today

International media: Baaaa it's Hamas' fault! Do you condemn Hamas? I said, do you condemn Hamas?

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Gaza has a population of 2+ million and HALF those are under 18? What? That's a crazy statistic.

That's what war and siege does. People lose children a lot so they have more children.

This is what it means to live in Gaza:

0–14 years: 44.1% (male 415,746/female 394,195)

15–24 years: 21.3% (male 197,797/female 194,112)

25–54 years: 28.5% (male 256,103/female 267,285)

55–64 years: 3.5% (male 33,413/female 30,592)'

65 years and over: 2.6% (male 24,863/female 22,607) (2018 est.)

Edit: source https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_State_of_Palestine

Maybe I don't know, don't bring more people into the world if they live on a literal battlefield? I don't even want to bring kids into america right now. I can't imagine how selfish one would have to be to bring a child into a warzone where their life expectancy is half the norm and they will suffer the entire time.

This is just something all humans do during war. I would never want kids either but I won't blame others for doing a completely human thing. Not having children would mean a slow extinction for them.

You live in the most sheltered country in the world and somehow have a very in depth perspective for what it's like to live in a battlefield?

Yeah those damn Palestinians should just self-genocide because of the genocide happening to them! selfish, smh

/s

Are you trying to argue that a battlefield is a place to raise a child? 😂

Maybe the isrealis should stop making it a battlefield.

Agreed! Both sides should stop the bloodshed. What's happening with this war is horrible.

It's only a battlefield when Israel makes it into one, and Israel hasn't invaded Gaza for something like 20 years.

This is such an ignorant take and yet you felt compelled to share it as if it's some obvious truth. I wish I could walk around with that kind of confidence.

You probably think they should just move too, right? Such a simple easy answer, I wonder why they can't....

Right, because Israel is forcing them to have kids. Great comparison!

It's either have kids or go extinct... And your comment seems like you are literally saying to them "go extinct because Israel has/had a right to control your procreation process and land".

Gross

If you want to bring children into a world where they will suffer and die young, that's your choice. I would rather go extinct if I'm not able to relocate (and no, I'm not saying relocation is an option for the people of Gaza).

More like I am against genocide and don't judge humans for doing human things. It's like saying people a crossed all existence should just not have kids and we should all die cause of your personal reasons.. just like a religious person should do, your should keep your views to yourself and stop preaching them.

I understand why humans procreate and sometimes don't have any control or luxury to that control like first world countries do.... But it sounds like you rather shame humans for doing human things than actually come up with helpful solutions.

Blaming the victims of circumstances for trying to still be Human doesn't make you superior, no matter how many times you type it from behind your privileged existence on a keyboard.

I'm an antinatalist, so I don't think anyone should be having kids, regardless of location, status, etc.

What a sad existence that you should just live out yourself and let others do what they want. Kinda like religious person.. do you, leave me and mine alone. Keep your life practice to yourself ☺️

I don't think it should be forced on others, I just view having kids as unethical. Aren't you the one forcing your way of life on children by bringing them into existence?

They aren't having more sex. You have 18 years to be a child, and then another ~60 to die. At low life expectancy, the chances of you being a child is very high.

They have a life expectancy of 74, which isn't really that bad. Egypt has like 71?

That's the life expectancy for the entire Palestinian population, not Gaza. In Gaza, only 2.6% (as of 2018) made it to retirement age (65 or above).

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Well yea, every area that suffers long wars suffers from that. In Niger 50% of the population is under 15. I saw so many kids looking for work it hurt my soul.

Poverty in the US is a solvable joke by comparison.

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And those kids will grow up hateful and resentful of Israel, which will make it easy to mold them into the sort of people who commit the atrocities Hamas committed. Israel is creating their own future problem.

Yes. Even if Israel "eradicates" Hamas, the idea is still there, and with the trauma that these adults and children have gone through would probably take decades to heal, and even then many won't heal at all and become extremists.

Israel is creating their own future problem.

Which monsters like Netanyahu love. More excuse for genocide and conquest.

Kids in Germany in the 40s experienced bombing, and went on to form the European community with countries that were responsible for said bombing and acknowledged their country was in the wrong for voting in the Nazis. Why can't Palestinian kids have the same emotional realisation?

Because Germany didn't then exist under decades of apartheid where they were denied basic services just due to the accident of their birth. Even East Germans had it far, far better than Gazans.

The Nazis played on Germans agrievement over how they were treated post WW1 to gain support, Gaza only ended up on the situation it is now because surrounding countries kept attacking Isreal over the last 70 years and lost land to them, then Hamas/the PLO/etc have played on similar agrievements to get themselves into the leadership position and have now lead them into a war.

Gaza only ended up on the situation it is now because surrounding countries kept attacking Isreal over the last 70 years and lost land to them, then Hamas/the PLO/etc have played on similar agrievements to get themselves into the leadership position and have now lead them into a war.

Just FYI, Gazans are refugees who were forced to the Gaza strip by.... ISRAEL! Woohoo.

Yes, war creates refugees, always has. Maybe all those surrounding nations that went to war with Isreal should have considered that.

Are you actually claiming Israel has no culpability when it comes to the suffering of the people of Gaza?

Yes, and when you do that, no journalists will chase you to scream, "BUT DO YOU CONDEMN ISRAEL?"

No, not no culpability, but understandable reasons for what they've had to do for their own safety over the years.

One would think not escalating situations might be better for their own safety...

Seems to be the escalation was Hamas invasion of their country on Saturday from where I'm sitting.

Gaza is not Hamas and Hamas is not Gaza. Those children are innocent and they're nearly half the population, as the post says. When you put a huge number of innocent people under siege, and kill more of them than were killed on your side, you're escalating.

Like it or not, Hamas are the defacto leader of Gaza, voted for in 2006. You can make all sorts of arguments about what's happened after that, but if the people of Gaza have made no attempt to remove them from leadership since then this is the outcome.

How many of those children voted for Hamas in 2006? Exactly how many?

How many children voted for various governments that lead their countries to war throughout history?

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Hamas are the defacto leader of Gaza, voted for in 2006. You can make all sorts of arguments about what’s happened after that, but if the people of Gaza have made no attempt to remove them from leadership since then this is the outcome.

Sure, let's blame the civilian Palestinian deaths on the Israelis that voted this current gov't into power...

Oh wait, this isn't how it works

What? The Isrealis were moved out of Gaza before the 2006 elections.

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Israel didn't exist there prior...

They took land (rather, were given land by western empires that wasn't there's to give) and kicked out and killed those who were there. Yeah, that's didn't create any resentment at all I'm sure and it's all the attacks that happened in response that caused it.

Someone else can always be blamed. To act like Israel doesn't share in the blame is probably one of the most ignorant statements I've heard.

Actually, we did have the right to give out that land as we won it from the Ottomans.

And the Ottomans had the right to the land because...

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Adding onto the other poster's comment, another reason is because the US will never pour unlimited money and resources into these people making sure they do.

Europe didn't pull itself up by its own bootstraps after WWII.

Why can’t Palestinian kids have the same emotional realisation?

75 years of collective trauma

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Who would have thought that cutting energy and infrastructure along with limiting food supplies would cause a humatrian crisis in a densely populated camp....

Just yesterday fake news said, Gaza residents deserve it and Israel has every right to do it.

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We are so worried about AI destroying us, yet here we are bombing children on both sides. We are the problem.

The Palestinians I've met who moved to Canada, were surprised that I didn't have horns as a Jewish person. Some less funny stereotypes too but that one was.... surprising given the physical proximity of Gaza to Jewish settlements.

I've made some friends with people who came from there, and once they're comfortable with opening up, what they say about the education over there makes perfect sense as to why the hate continues.

When you're teaching kindergarten kids to stab or drive over Jews, not Israelis, Jews there's not much hope for you to NOT be a terrorist.

The UN needs to do a better job of deradicalizing the education system over there, how that happens is way beyond my understanding.

I'm not saying Israelis can't be assholes, but I'm absolutely positive they're not teaching that hate in their education system.

but I’m absolutely positive they’re not teaching that hate in their education system.

I don't know about that, but I know they do it in the army: https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2010/aug/17/israel-palestinian-territories

If Israeli authorities taught Israelis that Palestinians are not sub-human, you would not have all these Israeli Palestinians now being fired from their jobs, and you would not have these shitty photos from that Guardian article, in which this is described as "widespread".

Dehumanizing Palestinians is Israel's first and foremost tool... without it, you cannot make people commit atrocities. Jews were also dehumanized during the holocaust to reach the same result of ethnic cleansing and genocide.

You think Israel should continue to allow Gazans to cross the border and work in Israel after war has been declared?

Are you mad? Like are you seriously fucking crazy? They've been attacked, first thing you do is secure your borders.

You think Israel should continue to allow Gazans to cross the border and work in Israel after war has been declared?

Yes. Israel is wrong to commit ethnic cleansing and all the other crimes in Gaza.

This ethnic cleansing lie is so obviously and clearly debunked. It's shocking that people are so stupid enough to repeat it .

There are millions of Arabs living peacefully within Israel's borders. Gaza itself has one of the highest birth rates in the world and has a growing population.

Those are facts. Those facts quite clearly prove claims of genocide to be completely fabricated. No ethnic group of people are being wiped out.

One of these two groups is calling for the extermination of the other group. That is Hamas.

How was it debunked "clearly and obviously"? None of the thighs you said in any way debunk the fact that Israel is illegally killing and removing people from their land.

How's it debunked? By reality! A genocide needs more people to die than to be born, which obviously isn't happening. Even on the cultural front, there's no removal from society happening.

Now you've got Hamas indiscriminately bombing Jerusalem, including Holy Arab religious sites, with the iron dome protecting those. Israel yet again proving it cares more about Arab lives and culture than Hamas does.

Really why are there Jewish people today after the holocaust? Because your definition of a genocide and what doesn't make it one is dumb as fuck frankly.

You realize Jews still haven't recovered from the Holocaust in terms of population?

That's what a genocide looks like, if Jews had grown their population in the 40s, you'd possibly have an argument but really you should delete your stupid comment.

You realize Palestinians haven't recovered from Israel and are still oppressed every day? How can you not see that Israel is the Nazis in this scenario???

I realize that the surrounding nations made the decision to invade Israel as soon as they became a country and they've been suffering from that choice ever since.

I realize that there is no concerted effort to kill Arabs, no one's getting sent to gas chambers or used for medical experiments. Comparing this to the Holocaust demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of that historic event.

To claim Palestinians haven't recovered from Israel when Israel has been the victim of at least a half dozen military attacks by it's neighbors, again just shows you don't understand the dynamics of the region and you're really coming across as one of those people who just learned where these places are on social media.

After 75 years of being attacked, Israel is going to exterminate the threat. Just like any country would do.

you’re really coming across as one of those people who just learned where these places are on social media.

I'm Palestinian.

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