Voiceless Gaza: Pakistani siblings amplify orphans' plea for help amid despair
Pakistan
Two Pakistani siblings have again raised their voices for voiceless amputee children of Palestine
Over 2 million people, including pregnant women and innocent children, have borne the brunt of this violence
LAHORE (APP) - Though the 15-month-long genocidal attacks on Gaza have reached a temporary halt with the recent ceasefire agreement, the devastation left in their wake is unimaginable.
Over 2 million people, including pregnant women and innocent children, have borne the brunt of this violence. Among these children, a significant number have been left as amputees, forever changed by the horrors they endured.
While the ceasefire has brought a measure of relief to the people of Gaza, it cannot undo the irreversible damage done — particularly the thousands of limbs lost by Palestinian children during the prolonged attacks, which some have described as an act of infanticide.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Palestinian children have been killed, starved, and frozen to death in the Gaza Strip.
Tom Fletcher, the UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, stated, “Children have been killed, starved, and frozen to death. They have been maimed, orphaned, and separated from their families.” His words underscored the staggering impact on Gaza’s youngest generation. In addition, UN statistics reveal that approximately 150,000 pregnant women and new mothers urgently need health services in Gaza.
In the wake of the ceasefire, two Pakistani siblings — 10-year-old Ubaydah al-Fiddhah Hafiah and her 12-year-old brother Ghulam Bishar Hafi — have once again raised their voices for the voiceless amputee children of Palestine. Through a press release issued by their father and inspiration, Prof. Dr. Aurangzeb Hafi, they have announced the continuation of their campaign, “Voice for the Voiceless,” to advocate for the children left in the aftermath of the conflict.
In the release, the siblings expressed deep regret over the destruction of schools, maternity centres, kindergartens, and hospitals during the attacks. They described the deliberate targeting of these institutions as “infanticide,” an act that reflects the brutal and calculated nature of the violence.
While the ceasefire brings hope, it also raises serious questions about the long-term consequences for Gaza’s children. Hundreds of thousands have been orphaned, with many left entirely alone after losing their entire families. Thousands of others now live with lifelong disabilities, their future uncertain. The release poignantly noted that many of these children are now left with “nothing more than surviving breaths.”
The siblings stressed the urgent need for essential infantile care and protection for the disabled orphans in Gaza. UNICEF reports that thousands of children have been killed or injured over the past 15 months of conflict, but the true scale of their suffering goes beyond statistics. Each child represents not just a number but a life cut short, a childhood stolen, and an innocence destroyed in a war they never chose to fight.
The minor siblings appealed to the UNICEF’s Executive Director Catherine and the UN’s Chief Antonio Guterres, for emergency mobilisation to address the pressing concerns in this regard. They initiated second part of their online appeal for taking a stand for the left-alone innocents. [Post-Ceasefire Alert: Urge UNICEF’s Catherine Russell to Save the Left-alone Gazan Babies. www.stopInfanticide.world].
Earlier these minor children came forward to extend virtually the United Nations exhibit, titled ‘Gaza, Palestine – A Crisis of Humanity, A Cry for Justice’ across the globe.
They took up the cause of Gaza children as an extension of the UN exhibition, which continued for one-and-a-half months at the Visitors’ Lobby of the UN General Assembly building, from Nov 26, 2024 to Jan 10, 2025. The minor siblings had initiated an online petition, titled ‘Stop Infanticide in Gaza’ [https://chng.it/Dttx6ZV9sF] on the International Human Solidarity Day 2024, observed on December 20, to reinvigorate their over six-month-long campaign for protecting the lives of Palestinian children, as well as those living in conflict zones of the world.
On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (November 29), the Pakistani siblings dedicated their awards to the children of Gaza. They were honoured by UN-KAKHTAH for their symbolic act of writing open letters with their own blood, calling attention to the suffering of children in Gaza and beyond. The siblings received the UN’s ‘Grace Do Monaco’ International Medal and the ‘Eglantyne Jebb Platinum Pen for Peace’ on World Children’s Day 2024 (November 20) for their relentless advocacy for children in Gaza, Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Congo, Mozambique, Myanmar, Syria, and other conflict zones.
Inspired by their parents, Prof. Dr. Aurangzeb Hafi and Dr. Bareera N.B., the siblings began writing blood-stained protest letters and resolutions to raise global awareness about the plight of Gaza’s children, starting on the ‘International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression’ last year.
