Gaza's children have suffered hell on earth for nearly 18 months as over 18,200 children have been massacred and tens of thousands maimed, many irreversibly incapacitated. Gaza now has the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history, per the UN. Let that sink in: the largest cohort of child amputees. Imagine a playground where every other child is missing a limb — or more.

These aren't faceless statistics. These were children who ran unshod in the streets, whispered dreams to their siblings and bubbled with laughter until their stomachs hurt. Gazan children, like any child, have an inalienable right to safety, love, dignity and the chance to grow up. But these same children either lie entombed under rubble or fight to survive with lost limbs, shattered families, lost homes and deep psychological scars.

Many have lost entire families and are left alone in a world that has forsaken and reduced them to a cold acronym: WCNSF (wounded child, no surviving family). Isn't it a clinical, bureaucratic label for something so devastatingly cruel?

Almost........

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