Published on: 2026-06-19
Source: United Nations – United Nations –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Since the announcement of the ceasefire regime in the Gaza sector in October 2025, 265 children have died as a result of the violence. This was stated by the representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), James Elder, speaking via video link from Amman at a briefing in Geneva.
“During the period which, in theory, should have been a time for restraint and protection [of the civilian population], on average every day over more than eight months, one child was killed,” Elder said. “This is an absurd and tragic figure.”
Children die at home and on the street
He emphasized that children died not on the battlefield, but in their own homes, at school, while playing football or fishing.
“There was shooting and bombing, and unmanned aerial vehicles were striking them,” said the UNHCR representative.
According to health authorities, nearly a thousand Palestinians have died and more than 3,100 have been injured in Gaza since the beginning of the ceasefire in the enclave.
Elder drew attention to the danger of being near the so-called “yellow” and “orange” lines, designating zones of control of the Israeli forces.
“It’s enough to just stand next to the orange line – and you could be shot,” he stated.
“Complete lack of accountability”
According to a representative of UNISEF, one of the reasons why so many people die is the uncertainty of the boundaries of control zones and the “complete lack of accountability.”
He noted that responsibility for the “overwhelming majority” of deaths – over 90 percent – lies with the Israeli forces.
The UN and its partners have repeatedly warned about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the war that began after Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Today, there are about 1.9 million internally displaced persons in Gaza, many of whom have been forced to leave their homes multiple times. More than 1.2 million people have been completely deprived of housing.
According to data from the World Health Organization, there is no longer any gas leftno hospital, functioning at full capacity. UNICEF emphasizes that for 1.1 million children, access to clean water remains a daily challenge.
“Imagine the state of a parent who cannot solve this problem,” Elder said.
According to him, the scale of the suffering experienced by Palestinian children “is almost unparalleled in our lives.”
Help is coming, but obstacles are getting in the way
Performingon the eve in the Security Council, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher reported that the proportion of cases in which Israeli authorities deny humanitarian organizations the ability to carry out missions has decreased from 31 percent before the ceasefire came into effect to 11 percent currently.
Nevertheless, he emphasized that the residents of Gaza are still deprived of what “everyone would demand for their own family: safety, housing, clean water, medical assistance, and education.”
James Elder explained that some amount of fuel for the operation of generators is delivered to the enclave, and Israeli authorities do not allow the import of spare parts for equipment repair and lubricants necessary for its operation.
Odors continue to accumulate
One more serious problem remains the removal of garbage. As noted by the representative of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jens Laerke, huge volumes of solid waste continue to accumulate in the sector.
“Everyone has heard the storiesabout rats, insects, and other consequences of this situation“There are means to remove this garbage, but we do not get reasonable access,” he told journalists in Geneva.
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