Israeli bombing of Gaza killing and maiming children at a record pace, warn human rights groups

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has caused a record-breaking number of child casualties and a pace of killing “unseen in a generation”, human rights groups have warned, as Israeli tanks push deeper into the besieged strip.

Israel unleashed a total siege and its heaviest targeting yet of Gaza in retaliation for the 7 October attack by Hamas who killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages.

Since then, Israeli strikes have killed at least 21,000 people, three-quarters of them women and children, while thousands more are feared trapped under rubble, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run strip.

Israel has questioned the death toll but