More than 340 children have been reported killed and over 600 others injured, many with life-altering injuries, since a ceasefire agreement was announced between the non-state armed group Hamas and Israel a little over one year ago, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday. Amid the fragile truce, children across the territory continue to face a daily struggle for survival.
For families “mourning the loss of their children, those terrible statistics do not equate with a ceasefire”, stressed UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires.
He added that, over the past two weeks alone, five boys and two girls were reported killed, and at least 33 children were seriously injured by airstrikes, drone strikes, and gunfire across the Strip. Pires told journalists in Geneva that another two boys died of injuries sustained previously.
He cited the case of 16-year-old Norhan, whose mother was shot while eight months pregnant.
“She delivered her baby and then died the following day,” Pires explained.
“Norhan’s father is living with a disability, so she now cares for her one-year-old sister Narjis and takes full responsibility. Her days are spent tidying the home, cooking, and playing with Narjis. Her three other siblings attend a UNICEF-supported learning center and Norhan helps them with their studies after class, which as she says means, ‘They might just have a future.’”
“Consequences of war permeate every aspect of daily life”
While the cease-fire has allowed for more humanitarian assistance and commercial supplies to enter into Gaza, and the food security situation has improved for children in Gaza, Pires stressed that “the consequences of war permeate every aspect of daily life: where they sleep, what they eat, whether they can learn, whether they feel safe enough to play, and whether the people they love are still by their side.”
When asked about reports that private traders in Gaza had stopped cooperating with Israeli authorities to allow commercial trucks carrying food into the occupied enclave, the UNICEF spokesperson stressed that the uninterrupted flow of “humanitarian and commercial goods” remained essential, “so children can continue their recovery”.
He recalled being in Gaza City last year before the ceasefire began, when supplies “were not getting in” and famine was declared by UN-backed food insecurity experts.
“We can’t go back to a situation where children and families are not getting all the supplies, goods and services that they require,” he insisted, “where children are not receiving what they need to survive and to continue to have hope for their future”.
Displaced families face mounting winter dangers
The UNICEF alert comes as temperatures drop and families displaced by the war in Gaza fill empty flour bags with sand to keep rainwater out of their tents. After three years of war sparked by Hamas-led attacks on Israeli territory, aid agencies continue to repeat warnings that the situation in Gaza remains extremely dire.
The ongoing sanitation crisis is a particular concern in the war-torn enclave, where Israeli bombardment has severely damaged the drainage network.
“There are vast pools of wastewater, such as the Sheikh Radwan stormwater basin that is half-full,” Pires warned.
“With the winter rains fast approaching, we’re running out of time to pump this out. Just as we warned a year ago, contaminated water could overflow and inundate downstream residential areas with potentially life-threatening impacts for children and their families.”
Children have drowned in sewage-contaminated water before, he noted.
According to UNICEF, 800,000 children remain among Gaza’s 1.7 million displaced people, most of whom live in tents or unsafe, bomb-damaged buildings.
Situation in Gaza remains extremely fragile amid ongoing Israeli attacks
On Thursday, Ramiz Alakbarov, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told the UN Security Council that one year after the ceasefire was declared in Gaza, the situation remains extremely fragile despite some progress.
According to Gaza health officials, Israeli military operations have caused some 1,500 Palestinian fatalities since the ceasefire came into effect.
During his visit to Gaza on Sunday, Alakbarov observed that for Palestinians living along the Yellow Line, "the ceasefire exists in name only."
The so-called "Yellow Line" marks the edge of the current Israeli physical presence. Israeli forces now occupy approximately 65 percent of the Gaza Strip, forcing Palestinians into ever smaller pockets of land and raising serious concerns about ethnic cleansing as part of an ongoing genocide against Palestinians.
“Families throughout Gaza continue to live in squalid conditions in worn out tents, overcrowded displacement sites, and severely damaged buildings, with water and sanitation systems devastated,“ Alakbarov said, adding that “most of Gaza still lives in darkness.”
He warned that, for the fourth consecutive year, restrictions on the entry of essential equipment, spare parts, engine oil, and other supplies continue to impede humanitarian and recovery efforts.
“With the onset of El Niño, severe winter storms and flooding are expected. We know what is needed to prepare but lack the essential materials and equipment to act at the scale required.”
An estimated 950,000 people are living in areas with medium or high risk of flooding. Meanwhile, more than 4,000 buildings in which people have sought shelter are at risk of collapse.
“In Gaza, desperation is palpable”, he said, warning that a return to war must be avoided at all costs.
The lasting human cost of Israel’s war
Following the October 7, 2023 attacks by Palestinian armed groups inside Israel, in which over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed, Israel launched a massive military offensive across the Gaza Strip.
According to Gaza health officials, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed, including over 21,000 children, and over 175,000 have been wounded in Israeli attacks since the war began three years ago. The true death toll is believed to be considerably higher.
Verified casualties also include at least 597 aid workers, 403 United Nations staff members, over 1,700 healthcare workers, and 262 journalists.
Despite the ceasefire, Palestinians continue to face daily violence and injuries. Approximately 43,000 people have sustained life-changing injuries, and more than 50,000 require long-term rehabilitation.
About 94 percent of Gaza's hospitals have been damaged or destroyed, leaving only 19 of the original 36 operational, many with limited capacity. At the same time, medical evacuations from Gaza remain extremely limited.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 18,500 patients need specialized medical care that is unavailable in Gaza, but they cannot leave for treatment. More than 900 patients have already died while waiting to be evacuated.
An estimated 60,000 children have lost one or both parents during the war. Additionally, 10,000 children are estimated to have suffered life-altering injuries due to the war. Nearly every child needs mental health support to recover.
While Israel’s military campaign has devastated Gaza’s health system, Palestinians have faced mass displacement, starvation, repeated attacks, growing restrictions, and the destruction of other essential infrastructure.
Systematic atrocity crimes
In June, a United Nations commission of inquiry issued a report stating that Israeli authorities and security forces are still committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Gaza. This follows the commission's conclusion last year that Israel was committing genocide against the Palestinian population in the territory.
The updated report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel emphasized that Israeli military operations have continued on a large scale and systematically. These operations have resulted in an unprecedented number of deaths, injuries, and cases of trauma, particularly among Palestinian children.
A previous report found evidence that Israeli authorities and security forces committed four categories of acts constituting genocide in Gaza, intending to destroy the Palestinian group in whole or in part. These acts include killing group members, causing serious bodily or mental harm to group members, and deliberately inflicting conditions of life on the group that are calculated to bring about its physical destruction, either in whole or in part.
The Commission's conclusions mirror the findings of several leading international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the International Federation for Human Rights, as well as national Israeli organizations such as B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights–Israel.
Both independent human rights experts and the world’s leading international genocide scholars have also concluded that Israel's actions in Gaza amount to genocide against the Palestinian people in addition to war crimes and crimes against humanity.