Israel-Gaza updates: IDF says 3,500 'terror targets' hammered in 10 days

As the death toll continues to climb, UNICEF called the Gaza Strip the most dangerous place in the world for children.

"The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them," UNICEF said in a statement.

Close to 1 million children in Gaza have been "forcibly displaced from their homes," according to UNICEF.

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Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place to be a child: UNICEF

As the death toll continues to climb, UNICEF called the Gaza Strip the most dangerous place in the world for children.

Fatima Shbair via AP

"They are now being pushed further and further south into tiny, overcrowded areas without water, food, or protection, putting them at increased risk of respiratory infections and waterborne disease. Their lives are further threatened by dehydration, malnutrition and disease," UNICEF said.

"UNICEF and other humanitarian actors have been ringing the alarm for weeks. Our team on the ground describe meeting children with missing limbs and third-degree burns, and children left shell-shocked by the continuing violence that surrounds them," UNICEF said.

UNICEF called for an immediate ceasefire.

"An immediate, long-lasting humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to end the killing and injuring of children, the only way that civilians can be protected, and the only way to enable the urgent delivery of desperately needed lifesaving aid," UNICEF said.

The death of Sahar Baruch was confirmed in a statement by Kibbutz Be'eri and the families of the hostages. Baruch, 25, was from kibbutz Be'eri and abducted by Hamas from his home on Oct 7.

The statement does not mention the circumstances of Baruch's death, but his name and images were mentioned in the Hamas statement and video announcing his death following the failed special ops raid.

The United States vetoed Friday a United Nations Security Council draft resolution that would have demanded an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza and the immediate and unconditional release of hostages.

Thirteen other members voted in favor of the resolution, while the United Kingdom abstained.

U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the council the resolution "was divorced from reality" and "would not move the needle forward on the ground in any concrete way" in explaining why the U.S. could not support it.

He also said the U.S. could not understand why the resolution's authors did not include language condemning "Hamas' horrific terrorist attack" against Israel on Oct. 7 and had argued an unconditional cease-fire would leave Hamas able to attack again.

The resolution, which was put forward by the United Arab Emirates, was not adopted due to the U.S. veto.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, called the outcome "disastrous."

"Millions of Palestinian lives hang in the balance, every single one of them is sacred and worth saving," he said.

Israeli U.N. ambassador Gilad Erdan thanked the U.S. "for standing firmly by our side and said it was a "distorted resolution that will enable Hamas' terrorists to stay in power in Gaza."

"A ceasefire will be possible only with the return of all the hostages and the destruction of Hamas," Erdan said in a statement following the vote.

Another U.S. military aircraft landed in Egypt on Friday with 57,000 pounds of food, water and medicine to aid people in Gaza, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said.

"We're mindful of the extreme humanitarian suffering inside Gaza and we're doing everything we can to help alleviate that," he said.

Kirby also said the administration is "very grateful" that the Israelis agreed to open the Kerem Shalom crossing at the Israel-Gaza-Egypt border, saying it was "very much at our request" that they did so. He said it had been a point of discussion between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“It's good news, but we're just at the beginning of this process," he said of the Kerem Shalom crossing opening. "The first step is to set up an inspection regime, sort of akin to what's going on down in Rafah [at the Gaza-Egypt border crossing], so that the Israelis can have a measure of satisfaction that what's getting in [to Gaza] is actually what's supposed to be getting in there."

-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez