The United Nations reports that Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza kills an average of 28 Palestinian children daily, totaling over 18,000 child deaths since October 7, 2023.
The relentless bombardment, coupled with Israel’s severe restrictions on humanitarian aid, has led to deaths by starvation, malnutrition, and lack of vital services.
UNICEF emphasized the dire situation, stating in a post on X:
Death by bombardments. Death by malnutrition and starvation. Death by lack of aid and vital services.
Gaza’s children are deprived of basic needs like food, clean water, and medicine, with Israel allowing only 86 aid trucks daily — 14% of the 600 needed.
Israel’s deliberate targeting of schools and water facilities has stripped Gazan children of education and basic necessities.
The blockade has caused an unprecedented famine, with eight Palestinians, including one child, starving to death in the last 24 hours alone.
Al Jazeera reported that survivors like Kadim Khufu Basim, a displaced child, are forced into labor to support their families, lamenting, “My childhood is gone.”
Israel’s actions, which violate international laws protecting children in conflict, have weaponized access to food, water, and safety against an entire generation.
The psychological toll on Gaza’s children is profound, with cases like 10-year-old Lana, whose hair turned white from trauma-induced depigmentation after a nearby bombing.
Her mother, Mai Jalal al-Sharif, said, “Her mental health is severely damaged.”
Ahmad Alhendawi of Save the Children called Gaza “a graveyard for children today and for their dreams,” adding:
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.
With 150 humanitarian organizations and UN experts demanding a ceasefire to allow aid and recovery, Israel’s refusal to comply leaves Gaza’s children in an “inescapable living nightmare,” abandoned by the world.