More than 100 children have been killed in Gaza since the start of a fragile ceasefire three months ago, the United Nations children’s agency has said.
UNICEF said Israel killed at least 60 boys and 40 girls in air strikes, drone attacks and ground fire since early October.
"More than 100 children have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire," UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Gaza City.
"That is roughly a girl or a boy killed almost every day during a ceasefire," he said.
Elder said the children were killed by air strikes, drone attacks, including suicide drones, tank shelling and live ammunition, adding that the actual number was likely higher.
"We are at 100, no doubt," he said. "But the real toll is probably higher."
An official from Gaza’s Health Ministry, which maintains casualty records, reported a higher figure.
Zaher Al-Wahidi, head of the ministry’s information department, said 165 children have been killed since the ceasefire, out of a total of 442 deaths.
He added that seven children have also died from exposure to cold since the beginning of the year.
Elder said Gaza’s children continue to live in fear after more than two years of genocidal war.
"The psychological trauma remains untreated and becomes deeper and harder to heal the longer this continues," he said, warning that conditions for survival in Gaza remain "extremely fragile."
"A ceasefire that slows the bombs is progress," Elder said, "but a ceasefire that still buries children is not enough."
Condemnation of the ban
He also criticised Israel’s decision to suspend dozens of international aid organisations from entering Gaza earlier this year, warning that blocking humanitarian groups means blocking life-saving assistance.
"When key NGOs are banned from delivering aid and from bearing witness, and when foreign journalists are barred, it raises serious questions about restricting scrutiny of children’s suffering," Elder said.
In November, Gaza authorities said more than 71,000 Palestinians had been killed since Israel launched its genocide on October 7, 2023.
UN data shows nearly 80 percent of buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.
