At least 300 children in Gaza have been reportedly killed in the 300 days since a ceasefire agreement came into effect 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 has persisted.

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 the violence.

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 Gaza.

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

Ongoing military operations near the so-called ‘Yellow Line’—a separation barrier consisting of concrete blocks erected by Israeli soldiers—along with strikes in other parts of the Strip, have disrupted civilian life, damaged shelters, caused renewed displacement, and restricted access to life-saving services.

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

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

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

Sources

UN News