The United Nations has estimated that at least 17,000 children in the Gaza Strip have been left unaccompanied or separated nearly four months into the conflict, AFP reports.

“Each one has a heartbreaking story of loss and grief,” said Jonathan Crickx, spokesman for the UN children’s agency Unicef in the Palestinian territories.

“This figure corresponds to one per cent of the overall displaced population — 1.7 million people,” he told a media briefing in Geneva, via video-link from Jerusalem.

Each one “is a child who is coming to terms with a horrible new reality”.

Crickx said that tracing who the children were was proving “extremely difficult”, as sometimes they were brought to a hospital where they may be wounded or in shock, and “they simply can’t even say their names”.

He said that during conflicts, it was common for extended families to take care of children who lost their parents.