A child a day: The Israeli Air Force continues to routinely kill Gaza’s kids

Some of the children killed in Gaza by Israeli forces since the October 2025 ‘ceasefire’

Nir Hasson reports in Haaretz on 23 July 23 2026:

There’s nothing new under the sun in the Gaza Strip. Homes remain in ruins. Some 1.7 million people are still living in tents. There is no electricity, no running water and no functioning sewage system. Rats and mosquitoes are everywhere. Infectious diseases are spreading and tens of thousands of people are covered in painful, itchy skin lesions. The scorching sun is relentless; the heat inside the tents is unbearable.

Above all, the Israel Air Force continues to kill children in the Gaza Strip. Since the cease-fire went into effect there last October, 282 children and teens under the age of 18 have been killed – an average of one child every day. Since October 7, 2023, more than 21,000 children have been killed in the fighting, 38 of them Israeli.

The overwhelming majority were killed in airstrikes carried out by manned and unmanned aircraft. Others were killed by sniper fire, collapsing buildings or shrapnel. Some later died of their wounds – wounds that Gaza’s collapsing healthcare system could not possibly treat. Others died of hunger and disease, but they are not included in the death toll.

At the time of this writing, the latest child-victims were 6-year-old Ameera Al-Masri, who was killed along with her three siblings – Faryal, 11, Salma, 9, and Naim, 13 – and parents Firas and Salsabeel, when their home in Gaza City was bombed on Tuesday. Twenty-four hours later, the Israel Defense Force’s spokesperson had yet to provide an update concerning the target of the attack. And last Saturday the army killed five members of the Nassman family: parents Adham, 42 (whom the IDF claims was affiliated with Hamas’ military wing and was involved in the October 7 massacre), his wife Marwa, 40, Arwa, 8, Ibrahim, 16, and Yahya, 18. Ayham, 13, is the sole surviving member of the family.

On July 14, 10-year-old Moataz Abu Shaar, whose father and brother were killed earlier this year, was shot to death inside a tent in Muwasi by army forces. The day before, 9-year-old Tala Abu Matar was killed. A photograph of her smiling in a T-shirt printed with rabbits and flowers was widely disseminated on social media, along with another image of her lying in a body bag with an adult’s hand gently caressing her lifeless face.

The Israel Defense Forces have provided this response: “The IDF categorically rejects and condemns the allegation that it has a policy or pattern of deliberately targeting children. In the Gaza Strip, the IDF targets terrorists from terrorist organizations who, despite the cease-fire agreement, continue in their attempt to carry out terrorist attacks against IDF forces and the State of Israel, in order to ensure the security of the state.

“The Hamas terrorist organization continues to operate according to its established method: embedding itself within civilian population centers and civilian infrastructure, cynically exploiting Gaza’s civilian population and using them as human shields. In contrast, the IDF invests significant efforts to reduce and minimize harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure, in accordance with the laws of armed conflict, and takes precautionary measures before carrying out strikes.”

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