At least 300 children have been reportedly killed in Gaza over 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 and its impacts 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 continue to await an end to the violence they were promised.

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

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

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

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. Additionally, more than 250,000 pre-school and school-aged children are participating in summer learning activities aimed at providing routine and helping recover lost education.

The ongoing military operations near the so-called ‘Yellow Line’—a separation barrier of concrete blocks erected by Israeli soldiers—along with strikes in other parts of Gaza, continue to disrupt civilian life, damage shelters, cause displacement, and restrict access to life-saving services.

Sources