Children are dying in Gaza – an internationally-supported peace deal is overdue

There has to be a real solution to this humanitarian catastrophe and the never-ending conveyor belt of violence, writes Bel Trew

The health ministry in Gaza says Israeli airstrikes have killed 31 people, including six children and four women, one of them elderly (AFP/Getty)

Gaza is being bombed and Palestinian children are being killed again. Palestinian militants are firing volleys of rockets at Israel again. And like last May, those indiscriminate rockets have travelled as far as Jerusalem.

There is a sickening familiarity to violence that has erupted over the last few days between the Israeli military and militants – specifically Palestinian Islamic Jihad – over the tiny blockaded crumbling strip.

This round of conflict has killed six Palestinian children. Israel also closed goods and fuel crossings into Gaza on Tuesday, and so the power supply has been on for just a few hours, putting water, sanitation and medical facilities at risk. The blockaded strip, which is home to over two million people despite being just 25 miles long, is already extremely fragile. The impact of this surge of violence will be huge.