UNICEF warns 70 Palestinian children killed in West Bank operations since early 2025

UN agencies have warned that both the Israeli military and settlers are murdering or permanently injuring increasing numbers of Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank. Compounding the issue, access to treatment for those injuries is in desperately short supply. UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder stated that Palestine was suffering from “historic levels […] By Alex/Rose Cocker

Israel killing at least one Palestinian child a week in West Bank, Unicef says Submitted by Mera Aladam on Wed, 05/13/2026 - 07:34 UN agency for children says escalating military and settler violence is denying children access to basic rights A Palestinian child looks on during an Israeli military raid on the Jenin refugee camp, occupied West Bank, 27 November 2025 (Zain Jaafar/AFP) Off Israeli forces have killed an average of at least one Palestinian child a week in the occupied West Bank since the start of 2025, a Unicef spokesperson said on Tuesday. James Elder said 70 children had been killed since then, warning they were paying “an intolerable price for escalating militarised operations and settler attacks”. A further 850 children have been wounded, with most injuries caused by live ammunition. “All this comes amid historic levels of settler attacks,” Elder said, adding that documented assaults on children included pepper sprayings, beatings, stabbings and shootings. Children are also increasingly at risk of arrest and detention by Israeli forces. At least 347 Palestinian children are being held in Israeli military detention over alleged security-related offences. According to the rights group Save the Children, Palestinian children are the only children in the world systematically prosecuted in military courts. More than half of those detained - 180 children - are being held under administrative detention, a controversial Israeli policy that allows Palestinians to be imprisoned without charge or trial for indefinitely renewable periods. Testimonies gathered by leading rights groups, along with media reports, say detained children have faced starvation, beatings, sexual abuse and other inhumane treatment. In November 2024, the Israeli parliament passed a law allowing the detention of children as young as 12. 'Demolition of childhood' Elder said the attacks on children were not isolated incidents, but part of a wider pattern of violations targeting their basic rights, homes, schools and essential infrastructure. Israeli restrictions have increasingly limited Palestinians’ freedom of movement in the West Bank, as well as access to essentials including water, education, shelter and healthcare. “What is unfolding is not only an escalation in violence against Palestinian children; it is the steady dismantling of the conditions children need to survive and grow,” he said. “Education is also under sustained assault. For thousands of children across the West Bank, the daily journey to school has become a walk through fear,” Elder added. Israeli forces block Palestinian student protest after barring access to school Read More » This year alone, there have been 99 documented cases of education being disrupted, including the killing, detention and wounding of students, as well as school demolitions, the military use of educational facilities and restrictions on access to learning. "Schools, which should be places of safety and stability, are increasingly becoming sites of fear," Elder said. "Attacks on schools and the denial of children’s access to education are grave violations against children with long-term consequences for their safety, wellbeing, and future." Elder also highlighted the growing displacement of Palestinians, with over 2,500 - including 1,100 children - having been forcibly expelled from their homes between January and April, surpassing the total recorded for all of 2025. Water infrastructure, including sanitation and irrigation systems, has also repeatedly come under attack from Israeli forces and settlers. "This has serious implications for both the Palestinian economy and children’s health, hygiene, and dignity," Elder said.  "Taken together, these patterns reveal an overarching reality: children are being targeted both through direct violence, and through the dismantling of essential systems and services. Their suffering cannot be normalised." Occupation News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The United Nations (UN) condemned Tuesday the toll from swelling Israeli military operations and settler attacks in the occupied West Bank on children, with 70 Palestinian children killed since early 2025. "Children are paying an intolerable price for escalating military operations and settler attacks across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem," UN children's agency spokesman James Elder told reporters. Since January 2025, when Israel began a large-scale military operation in the West Bank, "at least one Palestinian child has been killed on average every single week" there, he said, adding that another 850 children had been injured during that period. "Most of those killed or wounded were done by live ammunition," he said. Since the war in Gaza erupted in October 2023, after Hamas's attack in Israel, violence has also surged in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967 in contravention of international law. Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,070 Palestinians, including many militants, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Authority figures. Official Israeli figures meanwhile show that at least 46 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the same period. - Children shot, stabbed, beaten - Elder said that Israeli forces were responsible for a full 93 per cent of the children killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since January 2025, but also pointed to "historic levels of settler attacks". According to the UN, March 2026 saw the highest number of Palestinians injured by Israeli settlers in at least 20 years, he said, pointing to "documented incidents (including) children shot, stabbed... beaten". Elder, who recently returned from the West Bank, told the story of one eight-year-old boy, who was asleep when settlers attacked his village. "His family home had been demolished two months earlier, so he was sleeping outside," he said, adding that the boy "was beaten with a piece of wood and hospitalised for head injuries". The boy's mother, meanwhile "had both her arms broken when she reached across to protect her four-month-old baby", he said. Elder highlighted that the violent attacks were taking place against the backdrop of the "steady dismantling of the conditions children need to survive and grow". "Homes are demolished, education is destroyed, water systems are attacked, access to healthcare is obstructed, movement is restricted," he said. A dramatic spike in the number of barriers and restrictions imposed across the West Bank meanwhile meant children were "routinely cut off from schools, from hospitals and other essential services", he said. - 'Walk through fear' - All of this has caused mass displacement, with more than 2,500 Palestinians -- 1,100 of them children -- displaced in just the first four months of this year in the West Bank. "That surpasses the total displacement recorded in 2025," Elder pointed out. Education was also "under sustained assault", he said, with "99 documented education-related incidents this year alone, including the killing, injury and detention of students, the demolition of schools, military use of school buildings and denial of access". And when children walk to school, he said, they "don't walk in a straight line because they're constantly looking over their shoulder." "It's become a walk through fear." There has also been a sharp rise in arrests and detention of children, Elder said. The latest data, he said, indicated that 347 Palestinian children from the West Bank were being held in Israeli military detention for alleged security-related offences -- "the highest number in eight years". Elder said UNICEF was calling on Israeli authorities to "take immediate and decisive action to prevent further killing and maiming of Palestinian children and to protect their homes, their schools and their access to water, in line with international law". Other countries with influence should also "use their leverage to ensure that international law is respected", he said.

The United Nations condemned on Tuesday the toll from “escalating” Israeli military operations and settler attacks in the occupied West Bank on children, with 70 Palestinian children killed since the start of 2025. “Children are paying an intolerable price for escalating military operations and settler attacks across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” UN children’s agency spokesman James Elder told reporters. Since the start of 2025, when Israel began a large-scale military operation in the West Bank, “at least one Palestinian child has been killed on average every single week” there, adding that another 850 children had been injured during that period. “Most of those killed or wounded were done by live ammunition,” he said. Israeli forces were responsible for a full 93 per cent of the deaths, Elder said, highlighting that the scaled-up military operations had come amid “historic levels of settler attacks”. According to the UN, March 2026 saw the highest number of Palestinians injured by Israeli settlers in at least 20 years, he pointed out. “Documented incidents include children shot, stabbed, children beaten and children pepper-sprayed,” Elder pointed out. He stressed that such incidents were taking place against the backdrop of the “steady dismantling of the conditions children need to survive and grow”. “Homes are demolished, education is destroyed, water systems are attacked, access to healthcare is obstructed, movement is restricted,” he said. Mass displacement At the same time, there has been a dramatic spike in the number of barriers and restrictions imposed across the West Bank, meaning children in the Palestinian territory “are routinely cut off from schools, from hospitals and other essential services”. All of this has caused mass displacement, with more than 2,500 Palestinians — 1,100 of them children — displaced in just the first four months of this year in the West Bank. “That surpasses the total displacement recorded in 2025,” Elder pointed out. Since the war in Gaza erupted in October 2023, after Hamas’s attack in Israel, violence has also surged in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967 in contravention of international law. Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,070 Palestinians, including many militants, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Authority figures. Official Israeli figures, meanwhile, show that at least 46 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the same period.