Malala Yousafzai joined the call for an "immediate ceasefire".
Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza has intensified after last week's 'shock and awe' attacks by the Palestinian group. Over 3,000 people have died as the war enters its fifth day. Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai took to social media and joined the call for an "immediate ceasefire". She added that children suffer the most during a war and she is grieving for all the people hoping for peace and justice in the conflict zone.
The Nobel laureate took to X, formerly Twitter, and said, "As I have processed the tragic news of the past days, I think of the Palestinian and Israeli children caught in the middle."
"War never spares children - not those kidnapped from their homes in Israel, not those hiding from airstrikes or without food and water in Gaza. Today, I am grieving for all the children and people longing for peace and justice in the Holy Land," she wrote on the platform.
Ms Yousafzai, who survived an assassination attempt by Taliban forces in 2012, also spoke about the difficult time she experienced when she was a student. "I was only 11 years old when I witnessed violence and terrorism. We woke up to the sounds of mortar shells, saw our schools and mosques destroyed by bombs. Peace became something we could only dream about," the 26-year-old activist added.
According to a report in Israel-based i24 News, at least 40 babies were killed by the Hamas group. This came after several soldiers were called up for reserve service, and had arrived already expecting the worst, but the scenes were beyond imagination.
Some soldiers informed that they found babies with their heads cut off, entire families gunned down in their beds. About 40 babies and young children have been taken out on gurneys so far, the outlet noted.