At least 300 children have been killed in Gaza during the 300 days since a ceasefire agreement was announced on 10 October 2025, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The ceasefire was intended to suspend military operations between Hamas fighters and the Israel Defense Forces, but violence and its impact on civilians persist.

UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Edouard Beigbeder, stated, “A ceasefire that leaves an average of one child dead each and every day is failing children.” He added that hundreds more children have been injured, many severely, and that children in Gaza are still waiting for the promised end to violence.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing Gazan health authorities, reported a total casualty toll of 1,209 people killed and 3,943 injured since the ceasefire announcement.

Amid reports of a new United States-led peace plan and a recent increase in Israeli airstrikes targeting alleged Hamas positions, UNICEF highlighted that families are now confined to roughly one third of the Gaza Strip, sheltering among destroyed buildings, rubble, and uncleared waste.

The agency noted that ongoing military operations near the so-called ‘Yellow Line’—a separation barrier made of concrete blocks erected by Israeli soldiers—along with strikes in other parts of the Strip, are disrupting civilian life, damaging shelters, causing renewed displacement, and restricting access to life-saving services.

Last weekend, attacks on a medical storage facility adjacent to Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah destroyed essential medical supplies, including some delivered by the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

Humanitarian efforts continue, including work to improve 3,000 makeshift shelters in Gaza City and the distribution of emergency shelter and essential items such as kitchen sets, tarpaulins, blankets, mattresses, solar lights, and clothes to 9,000 households.

More than 250,000 pre-school and school-aged children are participating in summer learning activities designed to provide routine and stability while helping students recover some of the education lost during the hostilities.

Sources