More than 13,000 children killed, 25,000 injured in Gaza: UN

Last Updated on January 27, 2025 6:33 am

The 15-month-long Israeli offensive in Gaza has taken a devastating toll on children. According to the United Nations, more than 13,000 children have been killed, an estimated 25,000 injured and at least 25,000 hospitalized due to malnutrition.

Arab News reported on Sunday (January 26).

Britain’s deputy UN ambassador James Kariuki recently told the Security Council that Gaza is now the most dangerous place for children in the world.

He added that children in Gaza did not choose this war, yet they have paid the highest price for it.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday that 13,319 of the 40,717 Palestinians killed in Gaza so far are children, a third of whom are children. This information was obtained from the Gaza Ministry of Health.

The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said that according to its data, 25,000 children in Gaza have been injured. This information was compiled based on data collected jointly with the Gaza Ministry of Health.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said that in the four months to December, some 19,000 children were hospitalized for severe malnutrition. This is also the data from UNICEF, which is based on data collected by UN staff in Gaza, where all relevant UN agencies were coordinated.

The UN said that thousands of children have lost so much that they are now orphans or separated from their parents.

Yasmine Sherif, executive director of the UN’s Education Can’t Wait Fund, told a news conference that 650,000 school-age children are still not attending classes and that the education system in Gaza needs to be completely rebuilt, because there has been so much destruction.