2 days ago
UNICEF report details impact of Gaza war on children
A report by the U.N. International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) published on Sunday, July 20, detailed the impact that the war in Gaza has had on children in the enclave with a specific emphasis on a growing lack of access to education, food and healthcare. The report looked at the period from the start of the year on Jan. 1 until June 30.
While the situation in Gaza was already dire, the three-month cease-fire brought some reprieve that allowed conditions in the strip to improve slightly. However, when Israel broke the cease-fire in March, the situation has since deteriorated at a rapid pace.
According to the U.N. agency, an estimated 658,00 children in Gaza have been without an education for the nearly two years of the war and that upwards of 95 percent of schools had either been damaged or destroyed in the Israeli offensive.
While some children were able to get access to schooling once again during the cease-fire, "the resumption of hostilities on March 18 halted all efforts to resume learning."
The physical and mental health of children in Gaza has also worsened with UNICEF saying that "nearly all of Gaza's 1.1 million children now in need of mental health and psychosocial support" and that around 17,000 children are either separated from their families or "unaccompanied."
But one of the biggest threats to children in Gaza has become a lack of access to food.
Food prices in Gaza have risen from 150 to 700 percent of the pre-war levels, with food also not being readily available.
While child malnutrition rates improved slightly during the cease-fire, they have once again started to go up with the return to war and Israeli siege on Gaza in March.
"Between January and June 2025, at least 19,089 children aged 6 to 59 months were admitted for treatment of acute malnutrition – an average of over 100 children per day. At least 66 children have died from malnutrition-related causes since October 2023," the report stated.
There has also been a growing struggle in access to healthcare in Gaza with none of the enclave's 38 hospitals being fully functional and 22 of those 38 not being operational at all and bed capacity halved.
"A total of 4,700 amputations were recorded [during the six-month period], with children accounting for over a third of cases, while 18,500 injuries require rehabilitation and long-term treatment, including 4,370 that require assistive and supportive devices. Of 15,087 patients requiring medical evacuation, only 2,423 were approved in the first half of 2025," UNICEF said.
Since the war in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, over 56,600 people have been killed in Gaza by the end of UNICEF's reporting period. 17,121 of those killed were children. Since the end of the cease-fire, an estimated 6,315 people have been killed, at least 1,564 were children.
"Additionally, more than 134,105 Palestinians were reported injured, including more than 40,231 children, many of whom have life-changing injuries," the report stated.
