TEHRAN - Children in Gaza face an increasingly dire reality that has transformed everyday life into a nightmarish existence. The pervasive lack of access to essential resources, including food, water, fuel, and adequate sanitation, coupled with relentless bombings, has turned their lives into an ongoing battlefield within the besieged territory.

Tragically, the number of casualties has surpassed 8,300, with an alarming proportion consisting of innocent children. Israel has launched an extensive media campaign, attempting to dehumanize and justify the brutal killings of Gaza's civilian population. Deliberate targeting of hospitals, schools, mosques, churches, and other places of shelter persists as the world bears witness with eyes wide open.

Heartrending measures have become necessary as parents resort to writing their children's names on their bodies, preparing for the grim task of identifying their young, mutilated corpses in the event of a white phosphorus bomb strike—a weapon that inflicts severe damage and eats away at human flesh. Arab states appear unresponsive to the plight, while the West, with an alarming determination, continues to support the appalling crimes committed by the Israeli regime.

Trapped in Gaza, the children find themselves in a race against time for survival. Apart from having their anguishing images shared on social media, their imminent plight seems to be getting disregarded by everyone else, in particular the mainstream media in the West. Even prominent American media outlets, self-proclaimed champions of human rights, prefer airing the antics of Israeli pets rather than the immense suffering that’s been endured by Palestinian children in the past 24 days.

According to a nongovernmental organization called Save the Children, more Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza in the last three weeks than the total killed around the world in each of the last four years. “The number of children reported killed in just three weeks in Gaza is more than the number killed in armed conflict globally- across more than 20 countries- over the course of a whole year, for the last three years,” noted the NGO’s report published on Sunday, warning that a potential ground offensive by Israel into Gaza would bring even more distress to Palestinian children.

The U.S. of course has resorted to its usual tactic of engaging in the blame game. Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden expressed doubt regarding the figures released by Palestinians. “I have no confidence in the number that Palestinians are using,” he said, adding that he has no notion “Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed”. The White House later cited Hamas’ alleged control over Gaza’s Health Ministry to put the figures to question. It has however failed to elaborate on its strategy for ascertaining the “true” number of Palestinian casualties or outline any concrete steps to address the ongoing loss of life.

In response to Biden’s remarks, the Palestinians Health Ministry in Gaza released the list of the Palestinians killed since October 7, while pairing each name with a government identification number. The list contained more than 150 pages and showed that more than 7000 Palestinians had been killed as of October 26. Nearly 3,000 of the dead were children.

While the U.S. pushes to marginalize the Palestinians and their struggle, the Tehran Times has decided to honor the memory of 1,000 of the Palestinian children who have been massacred by the Israeli regime over the past three weeks. We hope that such heart-wrenching tragedies come to an end and that the Palestinian children’s right to live is respected by the Israeli regime and the West.