At least 67 Palestinian children have been killed in the Gaza Strip since a United States-brokered ceasefire went into effect last month, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires noted that these deaths have occurred since October 11, the first full day of the truce between Israel and Hamas. “The pattern is staggering,” he said, stressing that every child killed “had a family, a dream, a life – suddenly cut short by continued violence.”
Speaking at a news conference in Geneva on Friday, Pires said the toll includes an infant girl killed in an Israeli air strike on a home in Khan Younis on Thursday, as well as seven children who died the previous day during a wave of Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip.
Since the war began in October 2023, Palestinian children have suffered the heaviest impact of Israel’s bombardment. UNICEF estimated last month that about 64,000 children have been killed or injured in Gaza over the course of the conflict.
Save the Children reported this week that in 2024 alone, an average of 475 Palestinian children each month have sustained lifelong disabilities, including traumatic brain injuries and severe burns. The group also noted that Gaza is now home to “the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history.”
Meanwhile, Israel has faced accusations of using starvation as a weapon of war. The resulting humanitarian crisis has caused several hunger-related child deaths, with children particularly vulnerable as food supplies continue to dwindle.
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