Deaths of Gaza children more than just numbers, says Canadian UNICEF worker
OTTAWA — When Genevieve Boutin and her colleagues at the United Nations Children’s Fund were finished verifying the aftermath of last week’s carnage at the Gaza-Israel fence, they added seven more to their tally of dead children.
That included a statistical first — a girl — the first female killed among the 13 children shot since protests erupted at the fence on March 30, a burning fuse that exploded Monday into the bloodiest day between Gaza and Israel in four years.
They are among the 59 Palestinians shot by Israeli forces, a total that includes a Canadian doctor trying to help the wounded. A Hamas official has since said that 50 of those were from their militant group.
That Hamas number that has been seized on by Israel, and their Canadian supporters, to fire back politically at several world leaders — including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — for implying in their calls for an independent investigation of the incident that the Israeli military may have used excessive force.