UNICEF: About 60,000 Gazan children lost one or both parents
An estimated 60,000 Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip have lost one or both parents during the Israeli war or since the ceasefire, and nearly every child needs some form of mental health support, UNICEF, also known as the UN Children’s Fund, said on Friday.
UNICEF spokesman Ricardo Pires also told reporters in Geneva that more than 340 children in Gaza had been martyred and hundreds injured since the ceasefire agreement was announced on October 10, 2026.
Five boys and two girls were reported killed and at least 33 children seriously injured in airstrikes, drone strikes and gunfire across Gaza in the past two weeks alone, while two other boys died of injuries sustained earlier, Pires said.
“About 800,000 children remain displaced by the conflict in the territory, which began in October 2023. Most of them are living in tents or dangerously damaged buildings,” Pires added.
The consequences of the Zionist regime's war shape every aspect of children’s lives in Gaza, he said, including “where they sleep, what they eat, whether they can learn.”