So History Doesn’t Forget: Israel Killed 21,500 Children in its War on Gaza
After 1000 days of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, children face death, injury, hunger, orphanhood, and displacement, amidst a decline in protection, healthcare, and education services.
On June 19, 2026, UNICEF stated that the ceasefire declared in October 2025 had become, for the children of Gaza, a “cruel and deadly illusion,” given the continued killing and injuries, and the restrictions on medical and food supplies.
According to statistics from the Government Media Office in Gaza, Israel has killed 21,500 children since October 8, 2023, up to July of this year.
Among the dead are more than 520 infants born during the Israeli offensive who were killed in it, according to the same source.
Additionally, 1,022 children under the age of one have been killed.
A Generation’s Toll
A report by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics showed that children constituted approximately 30 percent of those killed and 26 percent of those injured up to the end of 2025.
Additionally, 10,500 children suffered life-altering injuries, and more than 1,000 children underwent amputations.
Nearly 4,000 children face the risk of death unless they receive urgent medical evacuation for treatment outside the Gaza Strip, given the shortage of medicines and medical supplies.
Truce Without Protection
The killing of children did not stop with the implementation of the ceasefire agreement on October 10, 2025.
UNICEF stated that on June 19, 265 Palestinian children were killed in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire was declared, an average of almost one child per day for more than eight months.
The UN organization added that more than 400 children were injured during the same period, many with life-altering injuries, noting that some were killed inside their homes, tents, schools, and/or while playing.
UNICEF warned against normalizing the levels of child killings and injuries during the ceasefire.
Memory of the Bombing
Among the stories of Gaza’s children:
– Premature Infants: On November 10, 2023, the Israeli army stormed Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital in western Gaza City, forcing medical staff to leave under fire and refusing to evacuate premature babies. This resulted in the deaths of five infants, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
After the Israeli army withdrew from the Al-Nasr neighborhood, the bodies of the five infants were found decomposing inside incubators and on hospital beds, having been denied treatment.
– Youssef… “His hair was curly and fair”: On October 21, 2023, Youssef’s mother, whose son was 7 years old, searched for him among the wounded in a Gaza hospital, saying: “His hair was curly and fair, and he was sweet.”
Hours later, she found him dead inside a morgue refrigerator after an Israeli bombing.
– Reem… “The Soul of My Soul”: In November 2023, an Israeli airstrike killed three-year-old Reem and her brother, Tariq. Her grandfather, Khaled Nabhan, famously said, “The soul of my soul,” as he bid her farewell.
– “Is this a dream or reality?”: In December 2023, a child pulled from the rubble asked her doctor, weeping, “Is what’s happening a dream or reality?”
– Hind Rajab… “Please come and get me”: In January 2024, six-year-old Hind Rajab pleaded with the Palestinian Red Crescent to rescue her from a car surrounded by Israeli tanks after her relatives were killed. Twelve days later, her body and the bodies of the two paramedics who went to rescue her were found.
Sidra… A Torn Body Hanging from the Wall: In February 2024, Sidra Hassouna, 7, was killed along with her twin sister, her parents, and several relatives in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah. Her torn body was found hanging from the wall of her home.
Hunger Kills Children
Since the start of the conflict, 157 children have died from hunger and malnutrition, and another 25 have died from the cold and frost inside displacement camps.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) cited a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), issued on March 18, stating that more than 3,700 children aged between 6 and 59 months were admitted to malnutrition treatment programs during February 2026.
Among them, more than 600 children suffered from severe acute malnutrition, a condition requiring urgent medical and nutritional treatment.
Although the figures were lower than in January, when the number of children admitted for treatment exceeded 4,600, including 890 severe cases, the numbers still indicate the continuation of the food crisis, according to the PCBS.
The data shows that 64 percent of children consume only two or fewer food groups daily, while more than 90 percent do not receive the minimum required dietary diversity.
More than 60 percent of children suffer from acute food insecurity, which threatens their physical and mental development.
Among the children who died due to malnutrition and lack of treatment:
2024:
– February: Two infants died from dehydration and malnutrition; their names were not released.
– March: Yazan al-Kafarna, 10 years old, died.
– May: Fayez Abu Aita, 7 months old, died at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip.
– July: Hikmat Raad Badir, 6 years old, died at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, and Ali Anas al-Tatar, 6 years old, died at the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City.
2025:
– May: Jinan al-Sakafi, 4 months old, died at al-Rantisi Hospital, and Muhammad Mustafa Yassin, 4 years old, died.
August: Infant Rania Ghabban died at Al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City, along with infants Rasel Abu Masoud (2 months old), Ghadeer Breika (5 months old), Mohammed Zakaria Asfour (1 year and 4 months old), and Roua Mashi (2 years old) at Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip.
58,000 children lost their parents
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) quoted UNICEF as saying that more than 58,000 children in the Gaza Strip lost one or both parents as a result of the war.
These children face… A thousand days after the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, children face death, injury, hunger, orphanhood, and displacement, amidst a decline in protection, healthcare, and education services. Anadolu
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