On Palestinian Children’s Day: An entire generation caught between killing, hunger, and collapse
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This year, Palestinian Children’s Day arrives amidst one of the darkest periods in modern history, with official data revealing the scale of the catastrophe afflicting children in Palestine, particularly in the Gaza Strip, where war, siege, and a collapsing healthcare system converge to create a reality that threatens an entire generation.
According to data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the population of the State of Palestine reached approximately 5.56 million by the end of 2025, with 3.43 million in the West Bank and 2.13 million in the Gaza Strip. Children under 18 years of age constitute about 43% of the population, or approximately 2.47 million, reflecting the youthful nature of Palestinian society.
The under-15 age group represents 36.3% of the total population, totaling 2.02 million children, of whom 1.18 million are in the West Bank and 0.83 million in the Gaza Strip.
However, these demographic indicators clash with a harsh reality on the ground. Data reveals that the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, from October 7, 2023, to early April 2026, resulted in the deaths of 72,289 Palestinians, including 21,283 children—approximately 30% of the total casualties.
The figures show that among the children killed were 450 infants, 1,029 children under one year old, and 5,031 children under the age of five, indicating the extent of the targeting of younger age groups.
Deaths were not limited to bombing. 157 children died from starvation, and another 25 from exposure to the extreme cold in displacement camps. Meanwhile, some 9,500 people remain missing under the rubble, the majority of whom are children and women. Regarding injuries, the number of wounded reached 172,040, including at least 44,486 children, while 10,500 children suffered permanent injuries, including more than 1,000 amputations, amidst a near-total collapse of the health system.
Data warns that approximately 4,000 children are at risk of death if they are not urgently medically evacuated. Meanwhile, the violence has spread to the West Bank, where 237 children were killed out of a total of 1,145 Palestinians killed.
In a related context, human rights organizations documented more than 1,655 cases of child arrests in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, since the outbreak of the war, including 600 cases during 2025. As of March 2026, 350 children remained in detention under harsh conditions.
Data released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reveals a severe nutritional crisis in the Gaza Strip, where more than 3,700 children were admitted for malnutrition treatment in February 2026, including more than 600 critical cases.
It is estimated that tens of thousands of children, infants, and pregnant women are at risk of malnutrition, with approximately 31,000 children at risk of death due to acute malnutrition.
This coincides with the destruction or damage of approximately 94% of health facilities, leading to a near-total collapse of medical services and the inability of the remaining facilities to meet the needs.
On the humanitarian side, some 1.4 million Palestinians are living in displacement within the Gaza Strip, including hundreds of thousands of children who have lost their homes and safe environments, while the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reports that more than 12,000 children have been displaced in the West Bank as a result of military operations.
