Save the Children: Up to 21,000 Palestinian children missing in Gaza

Up to 21,000 Palestinian children are estimated to be missing in the Gaza Strip, Save the Children said on Monday. 

They include 4,000 who are likely trapped under the rubble and presumed dead and 17,000 who are unaccompanied and separated from their families, the charity said.

An unknown number are buried in unmarked graves, while others have been forcibly disappeared by Israeli forces, including those "detained and forcibly transferred out of Gaza [with] their whereabouts unknown to their families amidst reports of ill-treatment and torture".

Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East, said: “Families are tortured by the uncertainty of the whereabouts of their loved ones. No parent should have to dig through rubble or mass graves to try and find their child’s body. No child should be alone, unprotected in a war zone. No child should be detained or held hostage".

Stoner said a ceasefire was needed "desperately" to help "support the missing children who have survived and to prevent more families from being destroyed".