A glimpse of life in Gaza, through the voices of its children

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• Nick Schifrin:

  Today's report warns, as many as 132,000 children under the age of 5 are at risk of death from acute malnutrition between now and next summer. Half of Gaza's population are children, and so many of them have been left scarred, traumatized and forever changed.

• And a warning:

  Images and accounts in this story are disturbing.

  In Gaza City, two sisters broken by war bonded by survival, 11-year-old Maria Moath Rehaan holds on to her younger sister, Ansem (ph), to be her eyes after the war stole her sight, her support after the war stole their family.

  Maria Moath Rehaan, 11 Years Old (through interpreter): In this war, I lost my mother and my father and my brother and sister, and my uncles and Ansem, my cousins. I lost so much in this war.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Maria and 8-year-old Ansem were the only survivors of an Israeli strike that killed their entire family. It left Maria blind and cut through Ansem's right leg.

• Maria Moath Rehaan (through interpreter):

  I have shrapnel in my heart and burns on my back. And my sister has shrapnel in her skull and both her legs.

• Nick Schifrin:

  They now live with their grandparents in a tent next to where their house once stood. Maria is damaged, but defiant. She dreams of becoming an eye doctor to heal children like her.

• Maria Moath Rehaan (through interpreter):

  I want to tell the entire world to hurry and get me and my sister out, so we can be treated like any child around the world.

• Nick Schifrin:

  They are two of nearly 40,000 Gaza children who have lost one or both parents.

• Maria Moath Rehaan (through interpreter):

  What did we do to get bombed like this? What did we do to lose our entire family? What did I do to lose my eyesight and for my sister to break her leg? Is it our fault?

• Nick Schifrin:

  Since the war began, the U.N. says more than 17,000 Gazan children have been killed, 33,000 wounded. That's more than 70 wounded or killed every day.

  And there's not a single Gazan child who's escaped psychological trauma; 11-year-old Kadi Al Hamalawi preserves the symbols of her youth, a favorite baby photo, prized possessions. But the door to her childhood has been slammed shut. Instead of playing, she helps find life's essentials. That's a jug of water.

  And instead of studying, pages she once wrote in school, she now burns to light a fire.

  Kadi Al Hamalawi, 11 Years Old (through interpreter): When I would hear the sound of bombings, I would be very scared. But now I'm used to it and don't get frightened anymore. This is normal now.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Most days, there is not much to cook or eat. In fact, U.N.-backed international experts say, where she lives, Gaza City, is suffering from famine. And humanitarian groups say there is a critical shortage of water.

  Dan Stewart, Save the Children: We're hearing children tell us that they're wishing to go to heaven, because that's the only place that they can get food and love.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Dan Stewart is the media and communications manager for Save the Children. We spoke to him from Deir al Balah.

• Dan Stewart:

  I was at clinic just yesterday. You would expect there to be crying. You would expect it to be incredibly noisy. But in actual fact, it's fairly quiet, because so many of the children are too sick and too weak even to cry.

• Nick Schifrin:

  He says, in Gaza, more than 100 children have died from malnutrition.

• Dan Stewart:

  Let me tell you a little bit about malnutrition in children. Their bodies start to eat their own muscles in order to survive. After three weeks, they start to develop lesions on their eyes and become incredibly vulnerable to common diseases that can kill after just three weeks of hunger.

  Children's bodies are being ravaged by starvation by design in Gaza.

• Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

  We put in two million tons of food, two million tons of food.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Israel denies it starves kids or anyone in Gaza. It blames the lack of food in Gaza on Hamas' theft and the U.N. struggle to deliver aid. Humanitarian organizations dispute that and describe this war as traumatizing, even for children who have grown up through multiple wars.

  (Screaming)

• Dan Stewart:

  Well, yes, to be a child in Gaza at the moment is unimaginable. It means searching for loved ones in the rubble. It means going to bed with the sound of drones overhead and not knowing if you're going to wake up in the morning. For those who do survive this war, the psychological scars will last a lifetime.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Lifetime psychological and physical scars cutting short limbs and childhoods.

  Sameer Zaquot, 11 Years Old (through interpreter): Before I got injured, I used to go to school, learn, and play soccer with my classmates. But now, because I'm without a leg and an arm, I'm on a mattress all day and my family takes care of me. My life has changed.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Eleven-year-old Sameer Zaquot can still smile, especially when he remembers his past life, a boy, a body untouched by war. He thought he'd be safe at home.

• Sameer Zaquot (through interpreter):

  I was playing on my phone in my room, and suddenly a drone entered and blew up. I found myself in Shifa Hospital after 12 hours of surgery. I found that my arm and leg were cut off and that I had a break in my skull. I was injured all over.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Sameer reflects a grim reality. UNICEF says, per capita, Gaza is home to the world's largest number of child amputees.

• Sameer Zaquot (through interpreter):

  I had a dream that I got prosthetic arm and leg and I was running. I woke up happy because there's hope that I could travel and be like any other children around the world.

• Nick Schifrin:

  But, in Gaza today, the dreams are often nightmares. This week, a graduation ceremony in a makeshift school for Gaza's orphans, an entire generation scarred by loss.

  For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.