Children Suffering in Middle East, Vatican Reports

VATICAN CITY, JULY 19, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Today's front page of the Vatican newspaper laments that the main victims of the Middle East conflict are children.

The Italian daily edition of L'Osservatore Romano states that "the children are suffering the harshest consequences of the conflict," and clarifies that the impact affects both very young Palestinians and Lebanese as well as very young Israelis.

L'Osservatore Romano bases its criticism on a study from the humanitarian organization "Save the Children," published on Tuesday.

In Lebanon and Gaza, explains the report, children not only are direct victims of the violence (in some of the attacks, 50% of the dead and wounded have been children), but in addition they have to endure the ever greater lack of medicines, health care, food and water.

Also Israeli children of the areas subjected to bombings live in terrible conditions, adds the report. In Galilee, the population is spending whole days in small shelters because of the attacks launched by Hezbollah and Hamas.