More than 100 children have been killed in Gaza since early October despite the ceasefire. Airstrikes, drone attacks, tank shelling, and hypothermia continue claiming young lives—roughly one child every day, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced. Six children have died from the cold this winter alone as harsh weather batters flimsy tents and leaves the most vulnerable exposed.
“I wish I could take a camera and show you 30, 40-kilometer winds ripping through tents on the beach,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Gaza City. “It’s bitterly cold, it’s bitterly wet.”
Children are being killed by airstrikes, drone strikes including suicide drones, tank shelling, live ammunition, and remote-controlled quadcopters, he said.
The ceasefire has allowed some progress. UNICEF and partners have set up the first health clinics in northern Gaza and expanded immunization services. But desperately needed medical evacuations remain stuck. Elder said he’s seen “no noticeable improvement” in getting approval to evacuate children with life-threatening injuries or in convincing more countries to take them in.
During his latest visit, Elder spoke to families who completed the formal evacuation process but were denied. A nine-year-old with shrapnel lodged in his eye will lose sight in one eye, maybe both. A girl in Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City may die. Another child needs a leg amputated. “All three of those are absolute candidates for medical evacuation; all three of those have so far been denied,” he said. Before the war started in October 2023, between 50 and 100 patients were evacuated from Gaza every day, according to WHO.
WHO warned Tuesday that Israeli clearance procedures continue delaying deliveries of medicine and food. Some essential medical items are classified as “dual-use” and denied entry—goods Israel believes could be diverted by Hamas or other militant groups for military purposes. Elder also highlighted an upcoming Israeli ban on international NGOs that takes effect next month, which he said means “blocking life-saving assistance.” He stressed the need to let international media into Gaza.
“There needs to be a lot more pressure on allowing international journalists to come in,” he said. Two years of war have “left life for Gaza’s children unimaginably hard,” with psychological damage going untreated and getting worse. “A ceasefire that slows the bombs is progress, but one that still buries children is not enough,” Elder concluded.
