According to estimates, more than 14,500 children have been killed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) since October 2023, when Israel began its war in the Gaza Strip, which is characterized by grave war crimes, crimes against humanity and other gross violations of international humanitarian law. The real number of child fatalities is feared to be much higher, as thousands of children are reported missing and presumed dead.
Meanwhile, indiscriminate IDF attacks continue to kill large numbers of civilians, including children. Since the beginning of November alone, more than 160 children have reportedly been killed. In recent days, multiple attacks across Gaza have resulted in scores of reported deaths and injuries, including among women and children.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reiterated its warnings on Friday that there is no safe space or sense of stability in Gaza for children, who lack essentials such as food, safe water, health care and warm clothing as winter temperatures drop.
“Children didn’t start this conflict and they have no power to stop it, yet they are paying the highest price with their lives and futures. In the last 14 months, more than 14,500 children have reportedly been killed, and virtually all 1.1 million children in Gaza are in urgent need of protection and mental health support,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
“The world cannot look away when so many children are exposed to daily bloodshed, hunger, disease, and cold.”
The war in Gaza is not only killing, maiming and injuring children physically, it is also taking a heavy toll on their mental health. According to a study released this week, caregivers in Gaza report that 96 percent of children feel death is imminent, and nearly half believe they will die because of the war.
On Friday, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) strongly condemned the continued use of explosive weapons with wide area effects by the Israeli military against densely populated areas in Gaza, including residential buildings and shelters.
“These strikes continue to result in the tragic loss of many Palestinian lives including children and women and raise concerns about the violation of international humanitarian law’s principles of proportionality, distinction, including the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks, and precautions in attack,” OHCHR said.
At the same time, civil defense and other emergency workers have been targeted by the Israeli military and have run out of fuel for their equipment, limiting their ability to rescue victims of Israeli airstrikes.
The Human Rights Office reiterated its calls for independent, effective and transparent investigations into all Israeli airstrikes that appear to constitute indiscriminate attacks in violation of international humanitarian law, and for those responsible to be held accountable.
While indiscriminate attacks are a war crime, the deliberate targeting of the civilian population or individual civilians not directly participating in hostilities is also a war crime, as is the targeting or bombing of undefended houses or buildings that are not military objectives.
The deliberate launching of an attack in the knowledge that such an attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects which is clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated is also a war crime.
For more than fourteen months, an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe has been raging in Gaza, with people dying from widespread attacks and starvation.
Leading UN officials have called the situation in Gaza "apocalyptic," "hell on earth," a "dystopian nightmare," and "beyond catastrophic. They have said that the humanitarian community is "running out of words to describe what is happening in Gaza."
In the North Gaza governorate, famine continues to loom - or is already a reality - and humanitarian access remains severely restricted. Most of the north has been under a tight siege for the past 60 days. In early November, the IPC Famine Review Committee warned that there was a high probability of imminent famine in northern Gaza and called for immediate action "within days, not weeks".
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that since Israel's military operation in North Gaza governorate intensified more than two months ago, all UN attempts to reach the besieged areas there have been either denied or obstructed by the Israeli authorities.
According to OCHA, since October 6, the UN and humanitarian partners have attempted to coordinate 137 aid missions to these parts of the north. More than 90 percent - 124 planned missions - were rejected outright, while the other 13 were approved but then impeded en route.
In an update on Friday, OCHA reiterated the need to facilitate humanitarian movement throughout the Gaza Strip - including to areas in the North Gaza governorate, where thousands of Palestinians face apocalyptic conditions after nearly 10 weeks under siege. An estimated 65,000 to 75,000 people remain in the governorate as mass atrocities continue to be reported.
“They need food, water, medicines and shelter supplies – all of the basics for human survival. The ongoing denials of humanitarian missions are keeping people from accessing the life-saving assistance they need and deserve,” OCHA said
On Thursday, the humanitarian office warned that ongoing hostilities across the Gaza Strip - particularly in the North Gaza governorate, which has been under siege for more than two months - are making it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for trauma patients to receive the critical medical care they need.
Since the war began last October, Israeli security forces have killed nearly 45,000 people and wounded more than 106,000 others, most of them civilians. More than 10,000 people - including thousands of children - are missing and presumed dead.
It is estimated that a quarter of the injured in Gaza - some 26,000 Palestinians - will require lifelong specialized rehabilitation and supportive care, including those with severe limb injuries, amputations, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries and severe burns.
Meanwhile, Gaza has descended into a state of anarchy, further hampering efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to millions of Palestinians in desperate need. On Wednesday, a 70-truck convoy from the Kerem Shalom crossing was violently attacked by looters, resulting in the loss of nearly all the food and supplies. Around the same time, a World Food Programme (WFP) convoy leaving the Kissufim crossing came under fire, was severely delayed, and had four of its five trucks violently looted.
Gaza is on the brink of famine, with more than 2 million people facing severe food shortages amid high rates of disease, inadequate shelter, and limited access to safe water and sanitation. Some 1.9 million people - 90 percent of Gaza's total population - have been displaced by Israeli military attacks or Israeli evacuation orders, including people who have been forced to flee dozens of times.
In another development this week, the UN and humanitarian partners launched a Flash Appeal on Wednesday seeking nearly $4.1 billion to address the humanitarian needs of 3.3 million people in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025, warning that without lasting solutions to end the violence, humanitarian needs will continue to rise.
Nearly 90 percent of these funds are earmarked for humanitarian assistance in Gaza, and just over 10 percent for the West Bank. The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has seen a sharp escalation in violence, as well as demolitions, displacement and settlement expansion.
The 2025 appeal targets the entire population of Gaza - some 2.1 million people - all of whom are in need of humanitarian assistance after 14 months of brutal Israeli attacks. According to the UN, the $4.1 billion appeal is far short of what is needed for a comprehensive humanitarian response, which would require $6.6 billion.
However, the Flash Appeal reflects the expectation that aid agencies will continue to face unacceptable constraints on their operations in the coming year. This will severely limit the amount of assistance that humanitarian aid agencies can provide, which in turn will only increase the suffering of the Palestinian people.
International humanitarian law (IHL) requires Israel to ensure that the basic needs of the people of Gaza are met. This includes ensuring that Gaza is supplied with sufficient water, food, medical supplies and other basic necessities to enable the population to survive.
However, since Israel imposed a full siege on the Gaza Strip on October 9, the amount of aid entering the enclave has never been sufficient to meet the needs on the ground. For more than a year, Israel has failed to provide or even facilitate the delivery of essential supplies to the 2.1 million people still living in Gaza.
OCHA said that in order to implement the full range of urgent needs, Israel must take immediate and effective measures to ensure that the basic needs of the civilian population are met. This includes removing all obstacles to aid and fully facilitating humanitarian operations, including the distribution of essential goods to Palestinians in need.
While it is the responsibility of states to ensure the necessary conditions for safe and effective humanitarian operations, Israel has failed to meet its obligations under international law for more than a year, resulting in the starvation and death of an unknown number of Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the situation in Gaza. The ICC issued a warrant for Netanyahu's arrest in November. Among other things, ICC judges found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that he had committed the war crime of using starvation as a method of warfare.
In a major report released last week, the human rights group Amnesty International (AI) declared that Israel is committing acts of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. Genocide is a term used to describe violent crimes committed against a group with the intent to destroy the existence of the group, in whole or in part.
One of the rights group's findings was that Israel has deliberately obstructed or denied the entry and delivery of life-saving goods and humanitarian aid. According to the Genocide Convention, acts amounting to genocide include deliberately inflicting on a group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.
The Amnesty report is the latest in a number of reports accusing Israel of genocide and adds to the growing body of evidence that Israeli policies and military actions targeting Palestinians as a group amount to genocide, one of the worst crimes known to humankind.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, said on March 25 that there are "reasonable grounds to believe" that Israel is committing genocide. Albanese found strong evidence that Israel's executive and military leaders and soldiers are acting with genocidal intent in Gaza.
After analyzing Israel's actions and patterns of violence in its onslaught on Gaza, the dehumanizing rhetoric of senior Israeli officials, and the actions of soldiers on the ground, the Special Rapporteur's report found that the threshold indicating Israel's commission of genocide had been met.
A report released on November 14, 2024, by the United Nations Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs in the Occupied Territories found that Israel's war in Gaza was consistent with the characteristics of genocide, with mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions deliberately imposed on the Palestinians there.
The Committee said that by imposing a siege on Gaza, obstructing humanitarian aid, and targeting and killing civilians and aid workers, despite repeated UN appeals, binding orders from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and Security Council resolutions, Israel is deliberately causing death, hunger, and serious injury, using starvation as a method of warfare, and inflicting collective punishment on the Palestinian people.
On Wednesday, the UN General Assembly (GA) demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and reiterated its call for the immediate release of all hostages. The resolution was adopted by a vote of 158 in favor to 9 against, with 13 abstentions. Only Argentina, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga and the United States voted against it.
The General Assembly resolution also demanded immediate access to basic humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip and that Israel allow the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to continue its aid operations in Gaza and the West Bank without restriction.
The move came after the United States vetoed the latest UN Security Council resolution on Gaza in November, which called for an immediate, unconditional and durable ceasefire and full humanitarian access for civilians.
Amnesty International has stressed that Israel's allies, including the United States, may be complicit in the genocide and has urged them to stop supplying arms. In addition to genocide, criminal acts under the Genocide Convention include conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide, and complicity in genocide.