At least 300 children have been reportedly killed in Gaza over 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.

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 continue to await an end to the violence they were promised.

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

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. These families are sheltering among destroyed buildings, rubble, and uncleared waste.

The agency noted, “Ongoing military operations near the so-called ‘Yellow Line’ – coupled with strikes reported in other parts of the Strip – are disrupting civilian life, damaging shelters, driving renewed displacement, and restricting access to life-saving services.” The ‘Yellow Line’ refers to a separation barrier made of concrete blocks erected by Israeli soldiers.

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

Humanitarian efforts continue, with work recently completed 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.

Additionally, more than 250,000 pre-school and school-aged children are participating in summer learning activities aimed at providing routine and stability while helping to recover educational losses caused by the hostilities.

Sources