„No ceasefire can be considered meaningful while children continue to be killed,” UNICEF says.
The genocidal war in Gaza by Israeli forces has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of children, according to reports from charities, despite a ceasefire in place.
An average of one Palestinian child has been killed every day in Gaza in the more than eight months since the announcement of a so-called „ceasefire” with Israel, according to the United Nations children’s agency. UNICEF calls the truce a „cruel and deadly illusion” as Israel continues its attacks on the besieged enclave.
UNICEF said on Friday that Israeli forces have killed at least 265 Palestinian children since October 2025, when a ceasefire was declared.
„In a period that should be characterized by restraint and protection, an average of one child has been killed every single day for more than eight months,” UNICEF spokesman James Elder told reporters in Geneva. He said the continued deaths exposed the emptiness of a ceasefire that had failed to protect Palestinian children from Israeli fire.
„While the world continues to speak the language of ceasefire, Gazan families continue to bury their sons and daughters,” he added.
Elder said children were being killed in their homes, schools and public spaces, even while playing or fishing. „This week alone: a 2-year-old boy was shot dead by Israeli forces; a 13-year-old boy was shot inside his tent; a 5-year-old boy and his father were killed in an Israeli airstrike, and it continues,” he said.
UNICEF says more than 400 children have been injured since October, many with devastating wounds. „The suffering does not end with those who have been killed. More than 400 children have been injured, many with catastrophic wounds,” Elder said.
The spokesman also referred to the „continuous creeping” of the occupation borders, which Israel calls the „Orange Line” and the „Yellow Line.” He cited as examples a 12-year-old girl who was shot in the chest inside her tent and a three-year-old girl who was hit in the face by a projectile from a quadcopter drone while she was in her home.
Elder warned that hundreds of children are in need of urgent medical evacuation, while Israeli restrictions on essential medicines increase the risk of infections, complications and amputations among wounded children.
„Loss and violence have become constant”
Humanitarian organizations say Israel's blockade and military restrictions have trapped children in a collapsed health system, where hospitals are struggling with shortages of medicine, fuel, staff and equipment after months of bombing and siege.
Elder said the psychological toll on children in Gaza has become unbearable: fear and violence define their daily lives. „For children in Gaza, fear, loss and violence have become so constant that trauma is no longer an episode in their lives – it has become ingrained in the fabric of their childhood,” he said.
He called on governments and international institutions to take action, saying the continued deaths of children during ceasefires should be a wake-up call for all those committed to international law. „No ceasefire can be considered meaningful while children continue to be killed,” he stressed.
Elder also touched on Lebanon, where UNICEF says 247 children have died and 992 have been injured since March 2.
Friday's warning coincided with news that an Israeli airstrike hit a tent housing displaced families in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, wounding at least five people, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Palestinian health authorities said Thursday that Israel's genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 73,018 Palestinians and injured 173,273 since October 7, 2023. They said Israeli attacks have killed 1,007 people and wounded 3,165 since a "ceasefire" went into effect on October 11, while rescue teams have recovered 784 bodies from previously inaccessible areas.
