UNICEF: Over 13,000 children killed in Gaza war, many more suffering severe malnutrition

The UN children’s agency says over 13,000 children have been killed since war erupted in Gaza on October 7, adding many kids were suffering from severe malnutrition and did not “even have the energy to cry.”

“Thousands more have been injured or we can’t even determine where they are. They may be stuck under rubble… We haven’t seen that rate of death among children in almost any other conflict in the world,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell tells CBS News’ “Face the Nation” program on Sunday.

Children suffering from malnutrition in Gaza will be stunted for life, "if they survive," @unicefchief says. "It's a painful, painful death for children."

In maternity wards, "babies don't even have the energy to cry. It's a devastating thing to see," she says. pic.twitter.com/A9PYnacHPc

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 17, 2024

“I’ve been in wards of children who are suffering from severe anemia malnutrition, the whole ward is absolutely quiet. Because the children, the babies… don’t even have the energy to cry.”

Russell says there were “very great bureaucratic challenges” moving trucks into Gaza for aid and assistance.

The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 7 massacres, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, mostly civilians, many during horrific acts of brutality and sexual assault.