‘Leave us alone’: Amid war in Israel & Gaza, children fearful yet their ‘voices are not being heard’

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called Wednesday for urgent international action to protect children and civilians in the Israel-Gaza war, urging Hamas to free child hostages and Israel to halt its air strikes. “Children must never be held hostage, anywhere in the world,” Lula wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Hamas needs to free the Israeli children who were kidnapped from their families. Israel needs to stop its bombing so Palestinian children and their mothers can leave the Gaza strip via the Egyptian border,” he said. “There needs to be a minimum of humanity in the insanity of war.” Lula said Brazil would use the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, which it currently holds, to promote efforts for an “immediate and definitive” end to the conflict, which erupted Saturday when Hamas militants stormed through the Gaza security barrier in a devastating onslaught. Around 150 Israeli residents, including civilians, children and women as well as foreign nationals, are believed to be held by Palestinian militants in Gaza. Authorities in Brasilia say two Brazilians, a man and a woman, have been killed in the violence in Israel, which Lula condemned Saturday as “terrorist attacks against civilians.” For more on the harrowing plight of the children under siege in the Middle East amid a brutal war between Israel and Hamas, FRANCE 24 is joined by James Elder, Spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).