GENEVA, June 25, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Ten children per day are losing one or both of their legs in the war in Gaza, the head of the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees said Tuesday.

"Basically we have every day 10 children who are losing one leg or two legs on average," UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told reporters in Geneva.

Citing figures from the UN children's agency UNICEF, he said that figure "does not even include the arms and the hands, and we have many more" of these.

"Ten per day, that means around 2,000 children after the more than 260 days of this brutal war," Lazzarini said.

He said amputation often takes place "in quite horrible conditions", sometimes without anaesthesia.

Save the Children said on Monday that up to 21,000 children are estimated to be missing in the chaos of the war.

The Gaza Health ministry says at least 37,658 people have been killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive following Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel.

That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Palestinian militants also took 251 people hostage in the attack, 116 of whom remain captive in the Gaza Strip, according to Israel. The army says 42 of those are dead.

UNRWA coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, but Lazzarini warned the agency was facing relentless attack and a deep funding crisis.

"We have cash until end of August," he said Tuesday, adding that the agency still had "a shortfall of about $140 million... to bridge the end of the year".