(CNN) The United Nations has verified 7,000 cases of children either killed or maimed in Syria's seven-year war, but says unverified reports puts the number "way beyond 20,000."

This year has been particularly woeful for Syria's children as violations against them rise significantly, according to a UN monitoring body, which has verified more than 1,200 such violations, including the deaths or injury of more than 600 children.

"I am deeply disturbed by the stories of children born and raised throughout this conflict, children who have never seen peace in Syria," said Virginia Gamba, the UN's special representative of the secretary-general for children and armed conflict, who addressed the Security Council on Friday.

"Children who have suffered repeatedly of all types of violations in their homes, communities, schools, detention centers and in refugee and IDP settings. We must think that these children are in severe psychosocial distress. They do not know the meaning of the word 'peace.'"

A member of the White Helmets volunteer rescue group carries an injured child after airstrikes in Eastern Ghouta on February 19.

In early 2014, the UN admitted it had stopped officially counting deaths in Syria as it could no longer rely on its own data, with its access to much of the country impeded. It generally puts the death toll of the war at 400,000, but it relies on other monitoring groups' unverified accounts to do so.

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