Names of More Than 20,000 Palestinian Children Displayed on Shroud at New York Memorial
The installation, presented at a United Nations-affiliated church ahead of the UN General Assembly, seeks to remember children killed in Gaza by name rather than as statistics.
A memorial in New York displays the handwritten names of more than 20,000 Palestinian children reported killed in Gaza on a 100-meter shroud. Organized by several advocacy groups ahead of the UN General Assembly, the installation seeks to emphasize the children’s identities and calls for an end to the war and accountability for alleged war crimes.
NEW YORK — The names of more than 20,000 Palestinian children reported killed in Gaza have been handwritten on a 100-meter shroud displayed at a church affiliated with the United Nations in New York.
The memorial, titled “Gaza Children’s Shroud,” was organized ahead of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly by Doctors Against Genocide, Clergy Against Genocide, Justice for All and other groups. Organizers used the slogan “Not a number, but a name,” saying the project aims to restore the individual identities of children who have been killed and prevent them from being reduced to statistics.
The organizers also called for an end to the war and Israeli military operations and for those responsible for alleged war crimes to be held accountable.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian Authority’s ambassador and permanent observer to the United Nations, said at the exhibition that the reported deaths of more than 20,000 children in Gaza constituted a crime against humanity and against the Palestinian people. He called for those responsible to be held accountable.
Mansour said that one million Palestinian children remained alive in Gaza and needed food, humanitarian assistance, freedom and human dignity. He also called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces and for Palestine to be free.
The initiative was inspired by a similar memorial created in Rome by Clergy Against Genocide. Organizers said the idea arose from reports that some parents in Gaza had written their children’s names directly on their bodies so they could be identified if their homes were bombed.
The exhibition was first unveiled on Sept. 1 at Philadelphia City Hall. It is scheduled to move to Washington in October and then travel to a different city each month as part of a year-long global campaign.
The memorial coincided with the US State Department’s announcement that it would deny visas to Palestinian officials, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. As a result, Abbas is not expected to attend the UN’s annual meeting in New York in person and will participate virtually.
According to UN reports cited by the organizers, more than 20,000 children have been killed and 44,000 wounded in Gaza since October 2023.