Devastating toll for Gaza’s children: Over 13,000 killed and an estimated 25,000 injured, UN says

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The war in Gaza has been devastating for children: More than 13,000 have been killed, an estimated 25,000 injured, and at least 25,000 hospitalized for malnutrition, according to U.N. agencies.

As Britain’s deputy U.N. ambassador, James Kariuki, recently told the Security Council, “Gaza has become the deadliest place in the world to be a child.”

“The children of Gaza did not choose this war,” he said, “yet they have paid the ultimate price.”

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported Thursday that of the 40,717 Palestinian bodies identified so far in Gaza, one-third – 13,319 – were children. The office said Friday the figures came from Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

The U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, said the estimate of 25,000 children injured came from its analysis based on information collected together with Gaza’s Health Ministry.

U.N. deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said nearly 19,000 children had been hospitalized for acute malnutrition in the four months before December.

That figure also came from UNICEF, which said it was from data collected by U.N. staff in Gaza focusing on nutrition, in coordination with all pertinent U.N. agencies.

The U.N. says thousands of children have also been orphaned or separated from their parents during the 15-month war.

Yasmine Sherif, executive director of the U.N. global fund Education Cannot Wait, told a press conference that 650,000 school-age children haven’t been attending classes and the entire education system has to be rebuilt because of the widespread destruction in Gaza.

Diplomats from Britain, France and other countries also cited the toll on Israeli children who were killed, injured and abducted during Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 – with some still being held hostage.

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon asked the Security Council whether it ever paused to consider the plight of Israeli children “mutilated, tortured and murdered” on Oct. 7, the 30 who were kidnapped and the tens of thousands who have been displaced, their homes destroyed.

“The trauma they have endured is beyond imagination,” he said.

Danon called Thursday’s council meeting on children in Gaza “an affront to common sense,” accusing Hamas of turning Gaza into “the world’s largest terror base” and using children as human shields.

“The children of Gaza could have had a future filled with opportunity,” he said. “Instead, they are trapped in a cycle of violence and despair, all because of Hamas, not because of Israel.”