UNICEF says more than 340 children reported killed in Gaza since the ceasefire was announced

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday that more than 340 children have been reported killed in Gaza, and hundreds more injured, since a ceasefire agreement between Hamas fighters and Israel was announced a little over one year ago. UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires gave the figure to journalists in Geneva. The agency did not say in these reports who made the original reports of the deaths or how they were checked.

Mr. Pires said that in the last two weeks five boys and two girls have been reported killed in Gaza, and at least 33 children seriously injured, in airstrikes, drone strikes and gunfire across the Strip. Another two boys died of injuries sustained earlier.

For families “mourning the loss of their children, those terrible statistics do not equate with a ceasefire”, Mr. Pires said.

UNICEF said 800,000 children remain displaced in Gaza “and most live in tents or dangerous bombed-out buildings”. It estimated that 60,000 children have seen one or both parents killed during the war or since the ceasefire. It said nearly every child needs some form of mental health support to recover.

Mr. Pires described one case. Norhan, who is 16, cares for her one-year-old sister Narjis. Their mother was shot while eight months pregnant, delivered the baby and died the following day. Their father lives with a disability. Norhan’s three other siblings attend a UNICEF-supported learning centre.

Winter is the agency’s main concern. UNICEF said temperatures are dropping and displaced families are filling empty flour bags with sand to keep rainwater out of their tents. Mr. Pires said Israeli bombardment has severely damaged the drainage network. He told journalists: “There are vast pools of wastewater, such as the Sheikh Radwan stormwater basin that is half-full.” He warned that contaminated water could flood residential areas downstream. “Children have drowned in sewage-contaminated water before,” he said.

According to the Arabic-language UN News report of the same briefing, Mr. Pires said the basin could be emptied within two weeks, but Israel has not yet allowed the necessary equipment into Gaza. The same report quotes him as saying that Gaza’s six sewage treatment plants remain out of service and that most raw sewage is discharged directly into the sea.

Mr. Pires was asked about reports that private traders in Gaza had halted cooperation with the Israeli authorities on letting commercial trucks carrying food enter. His reply did not confirm or deny the reports. He said an uninterrupted flow of “humanitarian and commercial goods” remained essential, “so children can continue their recovery”. He recalled being in Gaza City before the ceasefire began, when supplies were not getting in and UN-backed food insecurity experts declared famine. “We can’t go back to a situation where children and families are not getting all the supplies, goods and services that they require,” he said.

He said food security has improved since the ceasefire but that the risk of malnutrition remains. UNICEF renewed its call on member states to give priority to children. It also called on the Israeli authorities to allow in the materials, equipment and technical supplies needed to rehabilitate infrastructure and restore basic services. Mr. Pires said children need a real ceasefire and full implementation of the peace plan.

UNICEF is a UN agency and delivers aid in Gaza, so its figures on its own work are its own. It said it has helped more than 560,000 children return to learning since the ceasefire, including at over 200 UNICEF-supported learning centres. It said it has given digital cash assistance to more than 380,000 people and safe water to 1.2 million people.