Israel killing equivalent of ‘a classroom of children’ every day in Gaza: UNRWA
Children collecting aid at Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, on 21 May 2025
The New Arab reports on 16 July 2025:
Israel is killing on average a classroom’s worth of Palestinian children a day since it began its military onslaught on the Gaza Strip 21 months ago, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA said in an alarming tweet on Monday.
It said the average number of children killed per day ranges between 35 and 45, the equivalent of a classroom run by UNRWA. “Every day since the beginning of the war in Gaza, an average of an entire school class of children has been killed,” UNRWA Director of Affairs in Gaza Sam Rose said.
Rose also spoke of Palestinian children’s plight as they queue to fetch water and food every day for their families, exposing them to the possibility of being killed by the Israeli army.
“You see children queuing up by the side of the road with yellow jerrycans, every single morning, waiting for the daily water truck to come and get their five to 10 litres of water. Lines of children waiting every day, [this] appears to have been one of those sites that was hit yesterday,” he said in reference to the Sunday attack on a water collection point in central Gaza, where Israeli forces opened fire on a gathering of people, killing at least seven children.
“Every death is a tragedy; this one particularly is emblematic given the circumstances in which it took place. These weren’t the only children killed in Gaza yesterday and they won’t be the only children killed in Gaza today,” he said.