GAZA, (PIC)
Palestinian Child’s Day arrives this year amidst one of the darkest stages in modern history, with official data showing the scale of the catastrophe affecting children in Palestine, especially in the Gaza Strip, where war, siege, and health collapse intersect to produce a reality threatening an entire generation.
According to data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the population of the State of Palestine reached approximately 5,560,000 people by the end of 2025, with 3,430,000 in the West Bank and 2,130,000 in the Gaza Strip, while children under eighteen years old constitute about 43% of the population, which is approximately 2,470,000 children, reflecting the youthful nature of Palestinian society.
As for the age group under fifteen years old, they represent 36.3% of the total population, with 2,020,000 children, including 1,180,000 in the West Bank and 830,000 in the Gaza Strip.
Harsh field reality
However, these demographic indicators collide with a harsh field reality, as data reveals that the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip since seven October 2023 until the beginning of April 2026 resulted in the martyrdom of 72,289 Palestinians, including 21,283 children, which is about 30% of the total victims.
Figures show that among the child martyrs are 450 infants, and 1,029 children who had not completed their first year, in addition to 5,031 children under the age of five, in an indicator of the scale of targeting that reached the youngest age groups.
Causes of death are not limited to bombardment, as 157 children died due to hunger, and 25 others as a result of extreme cold in displacement tents, while approximately 9,500 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 suffer from permanent injuries, including more than one thousand cases of limb amputations, amidst an almost complete collapse of the health system.
The data warns that approximately 4,000 children face the risk of death if they are not medically evacuated urgently, while violence extended to the West Bank, where 237 children became martyrs out of 1,145 martyrs.
Arrests and nutrition crisis
In a related context, human rights institutions documented more than 1,655 cases of arrest of children in the West Bank including Jerusalem since the outbreak of the war, including 600 cases during 2025, while 350 children remain under arrest until March 2026, in harsh conditions. According to the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS), children in detention face systematic violations.
Data issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reveals an acute nutrition crisis in the Gaza Strip, where more than 3,700 children were admitted for treatment for malnutrition in February 2026, including more than 600 critical cases.
Estimates indicate that tens of thousands of children, infants, and pregnant women face the risk of malnutrition, with approximately 31,000 children threatened with death due to acute malnutrition.
This coincides with the destruction or damage of about 94% of health facilities, which led to an almost complete collapse in medical services, and the inability of the remaining facilities to meet needs.
On the humanitarian side, about 1,400,000 Palestinians live in a state of displacement within the Strip, including hundreds of thousands of children who lost their homes and safe environments, while the United Nations Relief and Works Agency points to the displacement of more than 12,000 children in the West Bank as a result of military operations.
Deprivation of education
As for education, it suffered a severe blow, as 179 government schools in Gaza were destroyed, in addition to the damage of 100 schools belonging to UNRWA, which deprived about 700,000 students of education during the 2025/2026 academic year, in addition to depriving tens of thousands of students from applying for high school exams.
Despite adopting alternative solutions, such as electronic education, the weakness of infrastructure and the interruption of electricity and internet prevented the regularity of the educational process, which warns of a deep educational gap.
In the West Bank, the martyrdom of 120 students and the injury of 831 were recorded, in addition to the arrest of hundreds of students and educational staff, in a context of continuous targeting of the educational sector.
The repercussions of the war do not stop at the material side, as more than 1,100,000 children in Gaza need psychological and social support, in light of accumulated traumas and harsh living conditions.
Health conditions also worsened as a result of the water crisis, as about 496,000 cases of acute watery diarrhea were recorded during 2025, children under five were the most affected by them, in addition to recording thousands of cases of jaundice, in an indicator of the spread of epidemics.
These figures reflect, according to experts, a complex image of a comprehensive crisis that exceeds the direct effects of the war, to reach the structure of society and the future of its children, in light of the continued siege and the deterioration of humanitarian conditions.
