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, aiming to suspend military operations between Hamas fighters and the Israel Defense Forces, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday, August 6th, 2026.

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 an overall casualty toll since the ceasefire announcement of 1,209 people killed and 3,943 injured.

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 confined to approximately one third of the Gaza Strip, sheltering among destroyed buildings, rubble, and uncleared waste.

The agency noted 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 the Strip, which are disrupting civilian life, damaging shelters, causing renewed displacement, and restricting access to life-saving services.

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

Humanitarian efforts have included improving 3,000 makeshift shelters in Gaza City and distributing emergency shelter and essential items to 9,000 households, such as 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 designed to provide routine and stability while helping students recover some of the learning lost during hostilities.

Sources