‘A graveyard': Israel kills an average 28 children daily in Gaza
'Death by bombardments. Death by malnutrition and starvation. Death by lack of aid and vital services,' the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a post on X on Tuesday.
'In Gaza, an average of 28 children a day – the size of a classroom – have been killed.'
The agency stressed that children in Gaza are in urgent need of food, clean water, medicine and protection, adding: 'More than anything, they need a ceasefire, NOW.'
Death by bombardments.Death by malnutrition and starvation.Death by lack of aid and vital services.In Gaza, an average of 28 children a day – the size of a classroom – have been killed.
Gaza's children need food, water, medicine and protection. More than anything, they need a… pic.twitter.com/7QIQQ6IAoG
— UNICEF (@UNICEF) August 4, 2025
Israel has killed more than 18,000 children – one child every hour – since the start of its genocidal war on Gaza. At least 60,933 Palestinians have been killed and 150,027 others wounded since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel.
In the last 24 hours, at least eight Palestinians, including one child, have starved to death in Gaza. A total of 188 people, including 94 starving children, have died as Israel continues to block aid and kill aid seekers.
'For those who survive, childhood has been replaced by a daily struggle for the basics of life,' said Al Jazeera's Aksel Zaimovic.
Kadim Khufu Basim, a displaced Palestinian child, said he is forced to support a family of six people because his father is injured and receiving treatment in Egypt.
'I love playing football. But now I sell cookies. My childhood is gone. Since the war began, we have no childhood left,' Basim told Al Jazeera.
Under international law, children like Basim are supposed to be spared the effects of war.
'But in Gaza, these children have suffered the most under Israel's military campaign. Schools deliberately targeted, water facilities destroyed, food supplies systematically blocked. And the fundamental rights of childhood … education, play, proper nutrition … have been weaponised against an entire generation,' said Zaimovic.
'A graveyard for children'
Israel's war on Gaza is also leaving its psychological scars on children.
The hair and skin of Lana, a 10-year-old displaced child, turned white almost overnight after a bombing near her shelter triggered what doctors call trauma-induced depigmentation. Lana has become withdrawn, often only talking to her doll, as other children bully her for her appearance.
'She talks to her doll and says, 'Do you want to play with me, or will you be like the other kids?' Her mental health is severely damaged,' Mai Jalal al-Sharif, Lana's mother, told Al Jazeera.
'Gaza is a graveyard for children today and for their dreams,' Ahmad Alhendawi, regional director of the NGO Save the Children, told Al Jazeera. 'This is an inescapable living nightmare for every child in Gaza … This is a generation that is growing up thinking that the world has abandoned them, that the world has turned its back on them.'
Israel has closed Gaza's crossings since March 2, only allowing 86 trucks of aid into the besieged enclave daily, a figure equal to just 14 percent of the minimum 600 trucks needed each day to meet the basic needs of the population, according to data from Gaza's Government Media Office. The lack of aid has led to an unprecedented famine in Gaza.
UN experts and more than 150 humanitarian organisations have called for a permanent ceasefire, to allow for aid deliveries and the psychological recovery of what they've dubbed a 'lost generation'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
How the world is reacting to Israel's plan to take over Gaza City
Israel's security cabinet has approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City, triggering growing international condemnation, with world leaders warning of dire humanitarian consequences. The plan to take over Gaza's largest city was announced on Friday, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel intended to take military control of the entire Gaza Strip. Israel's plan to expand its assault on Gaza is expected to worsen the humanitarian devastation in the besieged enclave, triggering a wave of mass displacement amid a hunger crisis. Here is how the world is reacting to the Israeli plan: UN rights chief 'The Israeli Government's plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted,' the UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement on Friday. 'It runs contrary to the ruling of the International Court of Justice that Israel must bring its occupation to an end as soon as possible, to the realisation of the agreed two-State solution and to the right of Palestinians to self-determination,' Turk added. British prime minister United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer called Israel's decision to step up military operations in Gaza 'wrong' and called for restraint. 'The Israeli government's decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately,' he said. 'This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed.' Turkish foreign ministry Turkiye said the decision to take control of Gaza City aimed to forcibly displace Palestinians and called for international leaders to prevent the plan from being carried out. 'We call on the international community to fulfil its responsibilities to prevent the implementation of this decision, which aims to forcibly displace Palestinians from their own land,' Turkiye's foreign ministry said, according to Reuters. China's foreign ministry China expressed 'serious concerns' over Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City and urged it to 'immediately cease its dangerous actions'. 'Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory,' a foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP in a message. 'The correct way to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to secure the release of hostages is an immediate ceasefire,' they added. Australian foreign minister Responding to Netanyahu's remarks that Israel's military would take control of the entire Gaza Strip, Canberra warned that the expansion would deepen the humanitarian disaster in Gaza. 'Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international law,' Foreign Minister Penny Wong said, as she renewed calls for an immediate ceasefire. 'With international partners, Australia maintains our call for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and aid to flow unimpeded,' she said. Wong also reiterated Australia's growing support for Palestinian statehood, stating it was a matter of 'when, not if'. Finland's foreign minister Finland's Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen expressed deep concern over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, warning of a looming famine. 'We hope for an immediate Gaza ceasefire and the immediate release of Israeli hostages,' Valtonen said, according to Reuters. Israel's opposition leader Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid condemned the decision to seize Gaza City. 'This is a disaster which will lead to many more disasters,' he posted on X, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of caving to pressure from far-right ministers. He said the move ignored military advice and the exhaustion of troops. 'Tonight's cabinet decision, contradicting the stance of the IDF's chief of the general staff, is a disaster for generations to come,' he wrote.
Al Jazeera
3 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Israel plans to occupy Gaza City in major escalation of devastating war
Israel's security cabinet has approved a plan by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the military occupation of Gaza City, located in the north of the Palestinian enclave. 'The [Israeli military] will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones,' Netanyahu's office said in a statement early on Friday announcing the takeover plan. Two Israeli government sources told the Reuters news agency that any resolution by the security cabinet would now need to be approved by the full government cabinet, which may not meet until Sunday. Occupying Gaza City marks a major escalation by Israel in its war on the Palestinian territory and will likely result in the forced displacement of tens of thousands of exhausted and starving residents who are experiencing famine conditions as Israel continues to block humanitarian aid from entering the territory. United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Israel's plan to escalate the assault on Gaza was 'wrong'. 'This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed,' he said in a statement. Axios news reporter Barak Ravid, who first reported the security cabinet's approval of the plan, quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying the operation will involve the forced displacement of 'all Palestinian civilians from Gaza City to the central camps and other areas by October 7'. 'A siege will be imposed on the Hamas militants who remain in Gaza City, and at the same time, a ground offensive will be carried out in Gaza City,' Ravid wrote on X, citing the official. On Thursday, in advance of the security cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said Israel would 'take control of all Gaza'. In a television interview with US outlet Fox News, Netanyahu also said Israel does not want to be 'a governing body' in Gaza and would hand over responsibility to an unspecified third party. 'We don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We don't want to govern it,' he said. Netanyahu's comments followed reports in Israeli media earlier this week that the Israeli leader would imminently announce plans to fully occupy the entirety of the Gaza Strip. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the decision was a 'disaster that will lead to many more disasters'. The plan will 'take months, lead to the death of the hostages, the killing of many soldiers, cost tens of billions to the Israeli taxpayers, and lead to a political collapse,' he wrote in a post on X. 'This is exactly what Hamas wanted: for Israel to be trapped in the field without a goal, without defining the picture of the day after, in a useless occupation that no one understands where it is leading.' Shihab Rattansi, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Washington, DC, said Israel's move to occupy Gaza has been 'telegraphed for several days now'. 'Donald Trump has all but greenlit whatever Benjamin Netanyahu wants to do. He said it would be up to the Israelis,' Rattansi said. It is unclear how many people still live in Gaza City, the enclave's largest population centre before Israel's war on the territory that has now killed more than 61,000 Palestinians since October 2023. Hundreds of thousands of people fled Gaza City under forced evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military in the opening weeks of the war, but many returned during a brief ceasefire at the start of this year. A major ground operation in Gaza City could displace many thousands and further disrupt efforts to deliver food to the famine-stricken territory, where almost 200 people have now died from starvation and malnutrition. 'There is nothing left to occupy,' Gaza resident Maysaa al-Heila said on hearing of the planned takeover of the city. 'There is no Gaza left,' al-Heila told The Associated Press news agency.
Al Jazeera
7 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
LIVE: Israel to occupy Gaza City, displacing tens of thousands amid famine
Israel's security cabinet has approved a plan by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the military occupation of Gaza City. The Israeli military operation reportedly involves 'all Palestinian civilians' being displaced from the northern city to camps in central Gaza.
