UNICEF: At least 100 children killed in Gaza since ceasefire deal

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

At least 100 children have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire brokered in early October, explained UNICEF spokesperson, James Elder, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday.

Mr. Elder said that this figure amounts to roughly one child killed every day, with hundreds more having been injured.

While there has been a lessening in bombardments and gunfire since the ceasefire deal, UNICEF has documented at least 60 boys and 40 girls killed in the Gaza Strip.

These figures, Mr. Elder highlighted, represent only cases for which sufficient information was available.

The organization likewise warned that continued attacks are compounded by severe restrictions on essential supplies entering Gaza.

Shortages, Mr. Elder cautioned, persist across a wide range of critical goods, including medical supplies, cooking gas, fuel, and components necessary to maintain water and sanitation systems.

Amid critical shortages, need for accessing humanitarian aid

In this scenario, the UN Children's Fund called for an urgent transformation of reduced violence into real safety, which requires "opening full access for humanitarian aid, dramatically increasing medical evacuations, and ensuring that this moment becomes the point at which the killing of children in Gaza truly ends."

Despite these conditions, however, the ceasefire, the organization explained, has enabled limited but tangible progress in several areas.

In the health sector, UNICEF and its partners have expanded basic health services, including vaccinations, particularly in northern Gaza, which had been entirely without assistance. Moreover, sanitation efforts have also increased, with UNICEF using all available means, to remove approximately 1,000 tons of solid waste each month.

Gains are modest given unimaginable suffering 

With recent cold and rainy weather, UNICEF has helped distribute nearly one million thermal blankets and hundreds of thousands of winter clothing kits for children, and contributed to repairing water pipelines, pumping stations, and the sewage network.

In the area of nutrition, the organization has established more than 70 additional nutrition facilities across Gaza, helping to avert famine.

However, Mr. Elder emphasized that these gains remain modest after prolonged fighting that has made life for Gaza’s children unimaginably difficult.

He noted that children continue to live in fear, and their psychological trauma remains largely untreated.

The UNICEF spokesperson stressed that "a ceasefire that slows the bombing is progress,” but argued it however "is not enough if it continues to bury children.”