The UN child rights committee has strongly condemned the Israeli killing of children in the Gaza Strip, saying there were “no winners in a war where thousands of children are killed.”

The committee censured the escalation of attacks by Israel against civilian targets in the Gaza Strip, which has claimed the lives of more than 3,600 Palestinian children since October the 7th.

“Grave human rights violations against children are mounting by the minute in the Gaza Strip, and there are no winners in a war where thousands of children are killed,” the committee, which monitors countries’ adherence to the international Convention on the Rights of the Child, said in a statement.

It also expressed its “outrage at the profound suffering of children” in the Israeli genocidal war.

“We also remain deeply concerned about children who continue to be held as hostages,” it said.

“The committee calls for an end to the devastating harm being wreaked on children’s lives in the occupied Palestinian territory. We add our voice to those calling for an immediate ceasefire. We urge the immediate release of child hostages, with their caregivers, as a first urgent phase towards the release of all hostages.”

Since the start of the aggression, the Tel Aviv regime has been committing war crimes in Gaza, killing at least 8,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring more than 23,000 others.

The UN committee’s independent human rights experts said there had been “devastating reports of acts that are forbidden by international humanitarian law, including maiming, injury, abduction, forcible displacement, deprivation of medical care, food, and water”.

They called on all parties to protect all children and provide them with the necessary medical and psychological support.

“The ceasefire should be the beginning of discussions aimed at establishing a just and lasting peace in the region so that all children can fully enjoy all their rights,” the UN committee said.