UNICEF: Protect Gaza's children

(Vatican Radio) Hamas on Tuesday rejected an Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire with Israel. Their rebuff came just after the Israeli Cabinet accepted the plan. A senior Israeli government official warned that Israel would strike Gaza even harder if Hamas does not accept the truce.

In a week of fighting up to 200 Palestinians have been killed in air raids and Hamas has fired rockets into Israel.

Listen to Lydia O'Kane's interview with UNICEF’s Catherine Weibel

While international pressure mounts and both sides trade fire, dozens of children have died after being caught up in the violence in Gaza. Many more have also been injured.

Speaking to Vatican Radio, UNICEF’s Catherine Weibel, who is based in Palestine, says the violence is taking a terrible toll on children both physically and psychologically. "What we’re starting to see is children with clear signs of severe mental distress, we have a lot of children who have stopped eating, children who are very nervous who cannot sleep…”

UNICEF has called on all sides to exercise maximum restraint not only it says “for the sake of peace but for the sake of children who are suffering the worst of this current violence.”