Gaza Herald_Despite an officially declared ceasefire in Gaza, the killing of Palestinian children has not stopped. On Friday, UNICEF reported that at least 67 children have been killed by Israeli fire since the truce began on October 10, averaging two children every single day. The UN agency warned that the continued targeting of children underscores the absence of any real protection for Gaza’s most vulnerable, even under what is nominally considered a “pause” in fighting.
These figures add to growing international concern as Palestinian civil society groups reveal catastrophic levels of child casualties and trauma, a crisis they describe as the worst humanitarian disaster inflicted on children in modern conflict history.
Palestinian NGOs: Gaza’s Children Are Living Through the Worst Humanitarian Catastrophe
The Palestinian Network of NGOs said Thursday that Israel has killed more than 19,000 Palestinian children and injured 28,000 others since October 7, 2023, numbers they described as unprecedented in modern wartime history.
The statement was issued to mark World Children’s Day, observed annually on November 20, noting that the occasion arrives as Palestinian children endure “the worst humanitarian catastrophe committed against childhood anywhere in the world.”
According to the network, official statistics reveal staggering devastation across Gaza’s educational landscape. Hundreds of schools, kindergartens, and child centers have been fully or partially destroyed, while more than 56,000 children have been documented as orphans after losing one or both parents.
The network called on the United Nations and all relevant international bodies to urgently intervene to protect Palestinian children, particularly in Gaza, stressing that they are “direct victims of Israel’s crimes.”
The statement noted that World Children’s Day was established to uphold dignity, justice, and basic rights to life, education, healthcare, and protection from violence, as laid out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959). Yet Palestinian children, the network said, are subjected to “all forms of violations, including a systematic genocidal policy and official decisions designed to erase their existence.”
The group added that Israel continues to imprison hundreds of Palestinian children in its jails, “in blatant violation of their most basic human rights,” urging intensified action to protect them and uphold their dignity as a moral and humanitarian obligation.
Calls for Accountability and Urgent Humanitarian Intervention
The network urged the immediate enforcement of international law regarding Israel’s acts of genocide and demanded accountability for those responsible. It also called for urgent efforts to save children’s lives by ensuring medical treatment, evacuating critical cases from Gaza, and guaranteeing the entry of food and medicine amid rapidly worsening humanitarian conditions caused by ongoing bombardment and the destruction of shelters and schools for displaced families.
International and humanitarian organizations were urged to prioritize children and other vulnerable groups in recovery programs and emergency response strategies, including psychological and social support initiatives and both governmental and community-based protection systems. Ensuring equality and preventing discrimination must remain central to all relief efforts, the statement added.
Palestinian civil society organizations concluded by stressing that protecting the children of Palestine represents a real test of the world’s humanity, calling for immediate action to stop violations and safeguard the future and survival of children across Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories.
