Goodbye to the lost children of Gaza. You were loved, you are remembered, you did not deserve it

There is no way to rationalise the horrors inflicted on Gaza’s innocent children. Now is the time to mourn them fully

UN analysis of verified deaths during a five-month period confirmed that of those who died, 44% were children. Most often, those children were five- to nine-year-olds; 80% of them killed in their own homes.

For the past week, Palestinians in Gaza have been returning to their homes, now mostly reduced to rubble — and to their dead who still lie beneath. It is only now we will start to get a fuller picture of the true toll of this war — only now that any kind of grieving or mourning can begin, a process that has been physically and emotionally denied to the Palestinians throughout the past 15 months. Once the final tally becomes clear, what will probably emerge is a colossal death toll of children.

Already, indications point to it being children that have made up the majority of casualties. UN analysis of verified deaths during a five-month period confirmed that of those who died, 44% were children. Most often, those children were five- to nine-year-olds; 80% of them killed in their own homes.