Gaza’s stolen childhood Who were the thousands of children Israel killed?
Hind Rajab in normal times, killed by Israeli army January 2024
Mohamed A. Hussein and Mohammed Haddad write in Al Jazeera on 26 Mar 2025:
Israel kills a child in Gaza every 45 minutes. That is an average of 30 children killed every day over the past 535 days.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed at least 17,400 children, including 15,600 who have been identified. Many more remain buried under the rubble, most presumed dead.
Many of the surviving children have endured the trauma of multiple wars, and all of them have spent their lives under the oppressive shadow of an Israeli blockade, affecting every aspect of their existence from birth.
100 children
What is left of Gaza’s children?
About half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are children. Over the past 17 months, Israeli attacks have left their homes in ruins, destroyed their schools, and overwhelmed their healthcare facilities.
To put this in perspective, if you had a room of 100 children:
- 2 have been killed
- 2 are missing, presumed dead
- 3 have been wounded, many critically
- 5 have been orphaned or separated from their parents5 require treatment for acute malnutrition
The rest of the children bear the invisible scars of war, trauma that affects their mental health, safety and future.
Who were these children Israel killed?
They were the sons and daughters of Gaza, each with a life that should have been filled with innocence and the joy of childhood.
Among the documented children killed, there were –
- at least 825 babies, not yet old enough to celebrate their first birthday
- 895 one-year-olds, killed before they could take their first steps
- 3,266 who died as preschoolers aged two to five, deprived of play, discovery and the simple wonders of growing up
- 4,032 who died aged six to 10, leaving behind empty classrooms and school uniforms that were hardly worn
- 3,646 who died aged 11 to 14, middle schoolers who had lived through three wars (2012, 2014, 2021), but were killed in the fourth
- 2,949 who were 15 to 17, at the age when they were preparing to step into the world, leaving behind dreams of independence and futures never realised;
- the 17-year-olds lived through four wars (2008-09, 2012, 2014, 2021), and were killed in the fifth
- 8,899 who were sons and 6,714 were daughters