Personal sanitario y salud en Palestina

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Investigation finds Israeli forces shot 95 Gaza children in head or chest in over 160 examined cases
02/Aug/2025

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BBC investigation reveals majority of children were under 12, with killings spanning from start of war to July 2025

The BBC World Service compiled evidence on over 160 cases where children were shot by Israeli forces in Gaza, and found that in 95 cases, the child was shot in the head or chest.

Most of the victims were under the age of 12, according to the investigation.

The cases, which stretch from the opening weeks of the conflict through to July this year, paint a grim picture of the war’s toll on Gazan children.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 60,000 Palestinians/

The relentless bombing, blockade and poor distribution of aid has destroyed the enclave, collapsed the health system and led to deaths by starvation.

"Some of the cases we looked at like children were allegedly shot while fleeing battle zones, but many others were shot while playing outside their tents in humanitarian zones and some in areas the IDF themselves had marked as evacuation corridors," the investigation said.

The BBC also referenced a video broadcast in April on Israeli TV. In the clip, an Israeli army commander is seen speaking to his troops, telling them to "shoot at everyone they see."

Israeli rights groups B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel have said Israel's conduct in Gaza constitutes genocide, citing the systematic destruction of Palestinian society and the deliberate dismantling of the territory’s health care system.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

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Meningitis outbreak in Gaza
Bacterial meningitis is spreading among children in Gaza, including those who are vaccinated.

Officials say conditions in Gaza's displacement camps, widespread malnutrition, and Israeli bans on the entry of medicines are increasing the deadly risk.
By Tareq S. Hajjaj February 4, 2026 

On January 23, 11-year-old Aline Asfour received her third-grade graduation certificate with honors, scoring in the 98th percentile and ranking first in her class. Her family celebrated her academic achievement and excellence. Two days later, Aline began feeling unwell. She started vomiting repeatedly and suffered from severe diarrhea. At first, her family believed she was experiencing a common cold due to the cold weather and living in displacement tents.

That same night, Aline’s temperature rose sharply, and the vomiting continued. By 1:30 a.m., her family called for an ambulance. A few days later, Aline was dead, succumbing to a deadly case of bacterial meningitis.

As of the time of writing, Aline is the first child in Gaza to die from the disease. Health officials in the Strip said at least 15 cases have been recorded so far, with expectations that the outbreak will worsen given the dire medical and living conditions faced by the majority of the population.

Officials also said that bacterial meningitis is often contracted from feces or respiratory droplets, making the displacement camps an ideal environment for spreading the illness. The bacterial infection is far more dangerous than its comparatively mild viral equivalent, and can often be deadly, they added.

When Aline first fell ill, she was rushed from the Mawasi area of Khan Younis to Nasser Medical Complex. At first, doctors only gave her an NSAID injection. “No one really knew what was happening with her,” her father, Hamouda Asfour, told Mondoweiss, saying that they were sent on their way after she received the injection. 

Asfour then carried her on foot about 200 meters away from the hospital, deciding to stay the night at a nearby school where relatives were sheltering.
Aline Asfour (Photo provided by Asfour family)Aline Asfour (Photo provided by Asfour family)

Less than an hour after receiving the injection, Aline’s condition rapidly deteriorated. “She told me she needed to go to the bathroom,” her father recalled. “I held her hand and took her, but on the way, she collapsed and started having convulsions in her limbs.” 

Asfour picked her up and ran back to Nasser Hospital. “I was screaming inside the hospital. Aline was screaming, too,” he recounted. “She kept saying her head hurt and that she couldn’t bear the pain.”

The staff readmitted her immediately, conducted tests, and administered IV fluids and injections throughout the night. The next day, doctors performed a spinal tap. That’s when they discovered the meningitis, telling Aline’s family that their child would have to be quarantined. 

Doctors continued to provide her with palliative care as her convulsions intensified. After she began thrashing violently and breaking objects around her, she was administered a sedative. “Aline was completely unconscious,” her father said. Shortly afterward, her body went cold. By the afternoon, she was transferred to the intensive care unit. Her father said he asked the doctors about her condition every hour, every moment.

At some point, they told him that brain scans showed that there were dead cells in her brain. Three days later, Aline passed away.
A large number of children arrive at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza due to the outbreak of a new coronavirus variant, January 18, 2026. (Photo: Moiz Salhi/APA Images)

Crowded living conditions and poor sanitation

Asfour says families live in tightly packed tents in the displacement camps, with sewage water flowing between them and rainwater pooling into muddy, contaminated puddles. Using the camp’s sanitation facilities, he says, is one of the most difficult daily challenges. “More than fifty people use the camp bathroom in a single hour,” he said, adding that he cannot be certain how his daughter contracted the infection. He also noted that Aline attended school in the same camp, with over fifty students cramming into a single tent.

Aline’s mother, Ola Asfour, said her daughter’s illness lasted less than a week. At the hospital, doctors repeatedly asked her about her other children. She told them she had two boys and another girl.

“They told me I have to take care of them,” she told Mondoweiss. “She wasn’t dead yet, but the doctors said there was no hope, that it was only a matter of days before she would give up and die.”

Ola says that the most painful experience she has endured throughout the war us watching her daughter breathe in front of her while waiting, hour after hour, for her death.

Nine children are currently being treated at Nasser Hospital with meningitis. Other than these confirmed cases, others have been reported at al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital and al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Dr. Ahmad al-Farah, head of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital, said there is still no official figure for the total number of cases across Gaza, as preventive medicine authorities are expected to announce comprehensive data within the next 48 hours. He tells Mondoweiss that he estimates there are at least 15 cases across the Strip.

Al-Farah notes that the disease itself is not new, but what is alarming about the current wave is that all recorded cases so far are bacterial, which require immediate antibiotic treatments or risk serious complications, including hearing loss, vision loss, paralysis, brain damage, and even death.

According to al-Farah, bacterial meningitis can be treated successfully if diagnosed early, but delayed access to hospitals in Gaza amid the decimation of the health sector threatens to lead to severe complications. He cited the case of Aline, who arrived to the hospital late, by which time fluid had accumulated in the brain, ultimately leading to her death.

The after-effects of Gaza’s famine and continued deprivation

Al-Farah stressed that malnutrition is the primary factor weakening children’s immune systems. Doctors observed that all children diagnosed with meningitis at Nasser Medical Complex were suffering from varying degrees of malnutrition. Their families, he added, are also experiencing food insecurity. 

He gave the example of a five-year-old child who should have weighed around 20 kilograms but weighed only 9 upon arrival at the hospital.

Before the start of the ongoing ceasefire in October 2025, famine was declared in Gaza as a result of Israel’s policy of deliberate starvation. According to the world’s foremost famine-monitoring body, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), at least 136,000 children suffered from acute malnutrition at the time. Since the ceasefire took hold, Israel has continued to obstruct the flow of aid into Gaza, falling well short of the agreed-upon daily target of 600 aid trucks per day.

    “Vaccinated children still contracted the disease indicates severe immune system weakness, likely linked to widespread malnutrition.”
    Dr. Ahmad al-Farah, head of pediatrics at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.

Of the nine cases treated at Nasser Medical Complex, five were diagnosed with bacterial meningitis caused by Streptococcus, an aggressive strain that requires 10 to 15 days of treatment. “What is particularly concerning,” al-Farah said, “is that children are typically vaccinated against this bacterium. The fact that vaccinated children still contracted the disease indicates severe immune system weakness, likely linked to widespread malnutrition.”

Dr. Darwish Abu al-Kheir, a pediatric specialist at Nasser Hospital who treats the children infected with meningitis, says the wave has also been made worse by the continued ban on the entry of medicines.

This is further compounded by the fact that early detection is often impossible due to the high volume of child patients and the lack of testing capabilities. “Every day, nearly a thousand children come to the emergency department,” Abu al-Kheir says. “Out of a thousand children, how can we know who is infected and who is not?” He notes that this places an enormous burden on the medical staff and rapidly exhausts both personnel and equipment needed for testing.

“The lab’s capacity is almost zero,” he explains. 

Under these conditions, he adds, all doctors can do is advise families to wash their hands, practice disinfection, and avoid contact with infected people. But he also acknowledges that it is impossible to ask displaced families to leave the overcrowded camps, as there are no alternatives.

 

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Demolition of UNRWA premises is symbolic of Israel’s attack on the United Nations system

23 January 2026

GENEVA – The UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, today expressed grave concern about the ongoing, systematic attack against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the UN system and the Palestinian people, after Israeli forces forcibly entered and began demolishing the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem this week. Albanese is calling on the General Assembly to convene a special session to consider next steps after these unprecedented attacks on UNRWA and the wider UN. She issued the following statement:

“I am horrified by the Government of Israel’s relentless destruction, carried out with total impunity. Israel is dismantling the United Nations and international law brick by brick in full view of the world. Attacking UNRWA is tantamount to bulldozing the world’s efforts to sustain Palestinian life. Genocidal rhetoric by Israeli officials that has accompanied these demolitions leaves no room for doubt.

On 20 January, Israel forces forcibly entered the UNRWA headquarters compound in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem and demolished it with bulldozers and heavy machinery.

Israel Interior Minister Ben Gvir proudly appeared on camera while supervising the destruction and once again propagating false accusations against UNRWA.  Even more appalling was the public call made in front of the UNRWA building by the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem to “kill and annihilate UNRWA staff”.

This constitutes yet another instance of genocidal incitement that has become disturbingly normalised in Israel.

This outrageous attack by a UN member State against a UN General Assembly-mandated organisation is unprecedented, dangerous, and should spur the international community into action, especially in view of the Provisional measures of the ICJ in the case brought by South Africa and the recent ICJ opinion, confirming that Israel has no right to interfere with UNRWA’s work.

This attack constitutes a grave violation of the privileges and immunities of the United Nations, and an apparent international crime which adds to the long list that Israel continues to commit in the Palestinian territory it illegally occupies.

These actions are part of Israel's genocidal strategy that will not pause of its own volition; it must be stopped through tangible actions from States that must ensure accountability and cut ties with Israel.

I call on the Secretary General to request that the General Assembly convene a special session and consider next steps following these unprecedented attacks on UNRWA and the wider UN.

It is time for the General Assembly to suspend Israel’s credentials, pursuant to Article 6 of the UN Charter, and authorise sanctions and embargoes against Israel, especially on the arms trade.” 

Francesca Albanese is the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967

Special Rapporteurs/Independent Experts/Working Groups are independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Together, these experts are referred to as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. While the UN Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for Special Procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organisation, including OHCHR and the UN. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the UN or OHCHR.

Country-specific observations and recommendations by the UN human rights mechanisms, including the special procedures, the treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review, can be found on the Universal Human Rights Index https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/

UN Human Rights, country page –  OPT

For more information and media requests, please contact: hrc-sr-opt@un.org

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts, please contact Maya Derouaz (maya.derouaz@un.org) or Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org)

Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on X: @UN_SPExpert

 

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Destroying Hope for the Future: Reproductive Violence in Gaza
January 14, 2026 Reproductive Justice, Palestine

By Physicians for Human Rights and the Global Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School
Download Full Report

Executive Summary

After Hamas October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, subsequent Israeli military operations in Gaza have caused devastation and displacement. Beginning early in the conflict, humanitarian actors and civil society raised significant concerns about the likely impact on the health and survival of pregnant women and infants – two groups granted specific protection during armed conflict.

The UN Independent International Commission of lnquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel (UN COI) reviewed evidence through July 2025 and found that Israel’s attacks on facilities providing reproductive health care and restrictions on food and medical supplies were intentional and systematic and resulted in devastating harm to the reproductive capacity of people in Gaza.

This report affirms the UN COI’s findings and presents new evidence of the continued and worsening harms of the conflict on pregnant and postpartum women and infants from January through October 2025. The report analyzes how the health impacts of (i) attacks on health care facilities, (ii) restrictions on humanitarian aid, and (iii) acute malnutrition have translated into violations of the rights of women and infants in Gaza and constitute reproductive violence in violation of international law. Finally, drawing on this evidence, the report outlines urgent recommendations to ensure that people in Gaza receive adequate medical care and nutrition assistance, accountability, and justice.

Despite these reports, throughout early 2025, Israel continued to restrict access to humanitarian aid in Gaza. This occurred through a complete humanitarian aid blockade from March to May 2025, the subsequent introduction of the humanitarian aid distribution mechanism, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). which was widely critiqued as “engineered scarcity”, and despite the ceasefire reached in October.

Following repeated warnings issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). famine ‘with reasonable evidence’ was finally determined in Gaza in August 2025.

Between May and June 2025, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported a 41 percent decrease in birth rate in Gaza compared to the same time period in 2022; there was a significant increase in miscarriages that affected more than 2,600 women, and 220 pregnancy-related deaths that occurred before delivery.

The ministry also reported a sharp increase in premature births and low birth weight cases; over 1.460 babies were reported to be born prematurely, while more than 2,500 were admitted to neonatal intensive care. Newborn deaths also increased, with at least 21 babies reported to have died on their first day of life.

However, due to the near-complete collapse of Gaza’s health information system after October 7, 2023, systematic data collection was severely limited, making it likely that these numbers represent a significant undercount. Even since the ceasefire was reached these conditions continue; in October 2025, UNICEF reported that they identified 9,300 children under five years of age with acute malnutrition and that 8,300 pregnant and breastfeeding women were admitted to health facilities for treatment for acute malnutrition.

In this study, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Global Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School (GHRC) assess the foreseeable risks to pregnancy and neonatal health posed by these developments and examine the impact of attacks on health and restrictions on food and medical supplies on women of reproductive age, including those trying-to-conceive as well as pregnant, postpartum, and lactating women, and newborns from January to October 2025 when a ceasefire was signed.

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Israel: Ban on 37 aid groups makes life unbearable for genocide survivors in Palestine, say UN experts
15 January 2026

GENEVA – Israel’s suspension of dozens of associations in the occupied Palestinian territory is a flagrant violation of the law, UN experts* said today.

“By blocking aid, Israel is worsening life-threatening conditions, and heightens potential criminal responsibility for its leaders,” the experts said.

“Banning life-saving organisations from operating in Gaza marks a new phase in a policy that renders life unbearable for a population already devastated by genocide,” the experts said. “This strategy will create conditions that force Palestinians into chronic deprivation, threatening their very survival as a group and further violating the Genocide Convention – it must be stopped.”

Announced as a national security measure on 30 December 2025, the new regulation bans 37 international NGOs from operating in Gaza and the West Bank. It grants Israeli authorities broad discretionary power to deny status to INGOs based on an organisation’s previous support for international legal proceedings against Israeli citizens, engagement with boycotts, or failure to characterise Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

“The ban is not an isolated act, but part of a systematic assault on humanitarian operations in the occupied Palestinian territory and another step in the deliberate dismantling of Gaza’s lifeline,” the experts said. “In Gaza, genocide survivors are battling winter, severe food insecurity, malnutrition and the collapse of the healthcare and education systems in the context of severe environmental harm impact caused by Israeli aggression. “

“This collective punishment of survivors comes amid sustained attacks on humanitarian personnel and premises and obstruction of aid convoys,” they said.

“Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed over 500 humanitarian workers and at least 1,500 health workers and intimidated, harassed and conducted smear campaigns targeting humanitarians. UNRWA has been the most visible target, but it is far from the only one,” the experts said.

“These measures must be seen in legal and factual context: as a strategy to create conditions in Gaza that force Palestinians into chronic deprivation, threatening their survival as a group and further violating the Genocide Convention.”

As of 31 December 2025, nearly USD 50 million in life-saving aid remained blocked amid repeated ceasefire violations, including the expansion of Israeli forces into over half of Gaza, continued airstrikes and shelling that has killed over 400 Palestinians in under three months.

“We have entered a new phase in which Israel and its supporters have reached the genocide without witness stage,” the experts said. “With journalists being killed, denied access, or forced out, humanitarian organisations paralysed or expelled, and a misleading global sense of ‘ceasefire’, atrocities are being committed without public scrutiny.”

In early December, UN agencies and NGOs were only able to deliver 14,600 tents for 85,000 people, leaving 1.3 million Palestinians without adequate winter shelter. Several people, including six children have already died from hypothermia, drowning or cold-related injuries.

“There are no words left to describe what Gaza has become,” the experts said.

“Israeli occupying forces have no legal right to block aid or impose coercive requirements on humanitarian organisations,” the experts said. “The occupation is and remains unlawful under international law. The only way to remedy this legal defect is to decolonise Palestine and end Israel’s control over Palestinian lives and land.”

They urged States, particularly those with influence, to take immediate action to ensure unconditional entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. “It is unacceptable for a State accused of international crimes and maintaining an unlawful occupation to block access to life-saving aid in occupied territory.”

The experts warned that other state leaders could incur responsibility if they fail to take all steps in their power to prevent further acts of genocide.

“While ending Israel’s unlawful occupation and apartheid practices remains the only way to ensure sustained peace in the region, States must work to remove all obstacles to humanitarian action and guarantee safe, sustained and unrestrained access through UN-supervised land and sea corridors,” they said.

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Israel: La prohibición de 37 grupos de ayuda humanitaria hace insoportable la vida de los supervivientes del genocidio en Palestina, según expertos de la ONU

15 de enero de 2026

GINEBRA – La suspensión por parte de Israel de decenas de asociaciones en el territorio palestino ocupado constituye una flagrante violación de la ley, según declararon hoy expertos de la ONU*.

“Al bloquear la ayuda, Israel está empeorando las condiciones que amenazan la vida y aumenta la posible responsabilidad penal de sus líderes”, declararon los expertos.

“Prohibir a las organizaciones que salvan vidas operar en Gaza marca una nueva fase en una política que hace insoportable la vida de una población ya devastada por el genocidio”, declararon los expertos.

“Esta estrategia creará condiciones que obligarán a los palestinos a una privación crónica, amenazando su propia supervivencia como grupo y violando aún más la Convención sobre el Genocidio; debe detenerse”.

Anunciada como medida de seguridad nacional el 30 de diciembre de 2025, la nueva regulación prohíbe a 37 ONG internacionales operar en Gaza y Cisjordania.

Otorga a las autoridades israelíes un amplio poder discrecional para denegar el estatus a las OING basándose en su apoyo previo a procedimientos legales internacionales contra ciudadanos israelíes, su participación en boicots o su negativa a caracterizar a Israel como un Estado judío y democrático.

“La prohibición no es un acto aislado, sino parte de un ataque sistemático a las operaciones humanitarias en el territorio palestino ocupado y un paso más en el desmantelamiento deliberado del sustento de Gaza”, afirmaron los expertos.

“En Gaza, los supervivientes del genocidio luchan contra el invierno, la grave inseguridad alimentaria, la desnutrición y el colapso de los sistemas sanitario y educativo en el contexto del grave impacto ambiental causado por la agresión israelí”.

“Este castigo colectivo a los supervivientes se produce en medio de ataques constantes contra el personal y las instalaciones humanitarias, así como de la obstrucción de los convoyes de ayuda”, declararon.

Desde octubre de 2023, las fuerzas israelíes han asesinado a más de 500 trabajadores humanitarios y al menos a 1500 trabajadores sanitarios, además de intimidar, acosar y llevar a cabo campañas de desprestigio contra el personal humanitario. UNRWA ha sido el objetivo más visible, pero no es el único, afirmaron los expertos.

Estas medidas deben considerarse en un contexto jurídico y fáctico: como una estrategia para crear condiciones en Gaza que someten a los palestinos a una privación crónica, amenazando su supervivencia como grupo y violando aún más la Convención sobre el Genocidio.

Al 31 de diciembre de 2025, casi 50 millones de dólares en ayuda vital seguían bloqueados en medio de reiteradas violaciones del alto el fuego, incluyendo la expansión de las fuerzas israelíes a más de la mitad de Gaza, continuos ataques aéreos y bombardeos que han matado a más de 400 palestinos en menos de tres meses.

Hemos entrado en una nueva fase en la que Israel y sus partidarios han llegado a la etapa de genocidio sin testigos, afirmaron los expertos.

Con periodistas asesinados, a quienes se les niega el acceso o se les obliga a irse, organizaciones humanitarias paralizadas o expulsadas, y una engañosa sensación global de 'alto el fuego', se están cometiendo atrocidades sin escrutinio público.

A principios de diciembre, las agencias de la ONU y las ONG solo pudieron entregar 14.600 tiendas de campaña para 85.000 personas, dejando a 1,3 millones de palestinos sin refugio adecuado para el invierno. Varias personas, incluidos seis niños, ya han muerto por hipotermia, ahogamiento o lesiones relacionadas con el frío.

“No hay palabras para describir en qué se ha convertido Gaza”, afirmaron los expertos. “Las fuerzas de ocupación israelíes no tienen derecho legal a bloquear la ayuda ni a imponer requisitos coercitivos a las organizaciones humanitarias”, afirmaron.

“La ocupación es y sigue siendo ilegal según el derecho internacional. La única manera de remediar este defecto legal es descolonizar Palestina y poner fin al control de Israel sobre las vidas y el territorio palestinos”. Instaron a los Estados, en particular a aquellos con influencia, a tomar medidas inmediatas para garantizar la entrada incondicional de la ayuda humanitaria a Gaza.

Es inaceptable que un Estado acusado de crímenes internacionales y de mantener una ocupación ilegal bloquee el acceso a ayuda vital en territorio ocupado. Los expertos advirtieron que otros líderes estatales podrían incurrir en responsabilidad si no toman todas las medidas a su alcance para prevenir nuevos actos de genocidio.

Si bien poner fin a la ocupación ilegal y las prácticas de apartheid de Israel sigue siendo la única manera de garantizar una paz duradera en la región, los Estados deben trabajar para eliminar todos los obstáculos a la acción humanitaria y garantizar un acceso seguro, sostenido y sin restricciones a través de los corredores terrestres y marítimos supervisados ​​por la ONU, afirmaron.

During Gaza’s Ceasefire, Children Keep Being Killed
Summary of what was said by UNICEF Spokesperson, James Elder, to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva
13 January 2026

Photo: UNICEF/UNI901367/Nateel

“More than 100 children have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire of early October. That is roughly one girl or boy killed every day. During a ceasefire".

“Life in Gaza remains suffocating. Survival is still conditional. Whilst the bombings and shooting have slowed during the ceasefire, they have not stopped.

“What the world now calls “calm” would be considered a crisis anywhere else. Unfortunately, the ceasefire has had an unintended effect: Palestinian children in Gaza have disappeared from view.   

“Since the ceasefire UNICEF has recorded reports of at least 60 boys and 40 girls killed in the Gaza Strip. The 100 figure only reflects incidents where sufficient details have been available to record, so the actual number of Palestinian children killed is expected to be higher. Hundreds of children have been wounded.

“I sat with one such victim a few days ago. Nine-year-old Abid Al Rahman was collecting wood with his friends in Khan Younis when an airstrike hit. Shrapnel ripped into his eye —that shard of explosive metal is still lodged there.”

“At the same time, as strikes continue, severe restrictions remain on many essentials in Gaza – from some essential medical supplies to cooking gas, fuel to parts for lifesaving water and sanitation systems.

“It is important to note that the ceasefire has allowed genuine progress in areas:

    “In health, UNICEF and partners have expanded primary healthcare services, including immunisation, in particular to the completely unserved north, as people try to move home.
    “To improve hygiene and sanitation, UNICEF is using everything from donkeys to bulldozers, and removing one thousand tonnes of solid waste every month.
    “It has been raining and bitterly cold recently in Gaza, but the preparations UNICEF started for winter mean we have supplied almost one million thermal blankets & hundreds and hundreds of thousands of winter clothing kits for children.
    “Remarkably, we have made urgent and lifesaving repairs to water pipelines, pumping stations and sewerage networks, all on the back of Palestinian ingenuity more than spare parts being allowed in.
    “And in nutrition, we have added more than 70 nutrition facilities across Gaza. Famine has retreated.

“Even with modest gains, two years of war have left life for Gaza’s children unimaginably hard. Children still live in fear, and their psychological damage remains untreated—becoming deeper and harder to heal the longer this goes on.

“A ceasefire that slows the bombs is progress — but one that still buries children is not enough. It is a warning, and it demands enforcement, humanitarian access, and accountability".

“This is the time to turn reduced violence into real safety: open access for aid, massively increase medical evacuation, and make this the moment when the killing of children in Gaza truly ends.”

 

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A University of Cambridge-led analysis of how war has affected education and children’s lives in Gaza calls for an urgent increase in international aid to address both severe learning losses and the conflict's psychological effects. 

Children’s lives are on the brink of a complete breakdown

Prof Pauline Rose

More than two years of war in Gaza have left many Palestinian children too weak to learn or play and convinced they will be “killed for being Gazans”, a new report warns.

The Cambridge-led study also includes the first analysis of education in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 7 October 2023.

The study says there is an urgent need for more international aid for education across Palestine, whether or not the present ceasefire in Gaza holds. In Gaza itself, it adds, conflict has come close to erasing children’s right to education, and with it, their very identity.

The report, which follows a similar study in 2024, provides a thorough analysis of how war in Gaza has devasted children’s lives. Alongside evidence of a shattered school system, it describes how violence, starvation and trauma have eradicated any sense of ‘normal’ childhood.

It describes children collapsing from exhaustion and being told not to play to conserve energy. Until the recent ceasefire, it suggests, many parents and teachers had to choose between maintaining children’s education and survival, with some living on as little as a bowl of lentils a day.

One of the most striking findings is that war has eroded young Palestinians’ hope for the future and belief in the international system. Eyewitnesses spoke of children’s mounting anger and collapsing faith in values such as peace and human rights. “Students are asking about the reality of those rights. They feel they are killed just for being Gazans,” one international organisation staff member told the research team.

Professor Pauline Rose, Director of the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre, University of Cambridge, said: “A year ago we said education was under attack – now children’s lives are on the brink of a complete breakdown.”

“Palestinians have shown extraordinary desire for education during this terrible war but the loss of faith and hope that young people are expressing should be a massive red flag for the international community. We must do more to support them. We cannot wait.”

The study was conducted by researchers at the REAL Centre and the Centre for Lebanese Studies, in partnership with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). It draws on data from UN agencies, charities and NGOs, alongside interviews with aid organisation staff, government officials, teachers and students.

It warns that there is a severe risk of a ‘lost’ generation emerging in Gaza, through a combination of the war’s educational, physical and psychological impacts.

As of 1 October 2025, the UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported 18,069 school students and 780 education staff killed in Gaza and 26,391 students and 3,211 teachers injured. During the fighting, Save the Children estimates that 15 children suffered life-altering injuries every day.

The report found evidence of widespread despair. Teachers recounted parents asking: “Why should I care about education for my kids if I know they will die from famine?” One focus group discussion found that children were “afraid of everything”; another report, cited in the study, described Gazan children feeling “like the living dead”.

The study estimates that children in Gaza will have lost the equivalent of five years’ worth of education due to repeated school closures since 2020, first through COVID-19, and then war. Although temporary and distance learning measures have been implemented by UNRWA and the Palestinian Ministry of Education, these have been impeded by ongoing violence, damaged infrastructure and chronic resource shortages.

The learning loss calculation incorporates the compounding effects of trauma and starvation, using established studies of how these impede learning. As of October 2025, almost 13,000 children in Gaza had been treated for acute malnutrition, 147 of whom died.

Given these same compounding effects, the authors calculate that if schools remain closed until September 2027, many teenagers will be a full decade behind their expected educational level.

The situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was also found to be dire. Here, 891 students and 28 teachers have been killed or wounded by settlers or Israeli forces since October 2023 and hundreds more arrested, often on grounds that the UN Human Rights Office considers “arbitrary”. Schools have been sporadically closed, or in some cases shut down. The authors estimate that children in these areas have lost a minimum of 2.5 years of education.

 

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Una infancia devastada por el genocidio en Gaza: hambruna, desesperanza y cinco años de educación perdidos

Un informe dirigido por la Universidad de Cambridge describe las dramáticas repercusiones para la vida y educación de los niños en Gaza.

Más de dos años de genocidio en Gaza han dejado a muchos niños palestinos demasiado débiles para aprender o jugar, convencidos de que serán asesinados por ser gazatíes, advierte un nuevo informe, dirigido por la Universidad de Cambridge (Reino Unido). El trabajo también incluye el primer análisis de la educación en Cisjordania y Jerusalén, realizado desde el 7 de octubre de 2023.

El estudio señala la urgente necesidad de proporcionar mayor ayuda internacional para la educación en toda Palestina, independientemente de si se mantiene o no el actual alto el fuego en Gaza. En la propia Gaza, según el texto, el conflicto ha estado a punto de borrar el derecho de los niños a la educación y, con él, su propia identidad.

El informe, que sigue a un estudio similar de 2024, ofrece un análisis exhaustivo de cómo el genocidio en Gaza ha devastado la vida de los niños. Junto con la evidencia de un sistema escolar destrozado, describe cómo la violencia, el hambre y el trauma han erradicado cualquier sensación de infancia normal.

El trabajo describe a niños que se desploman de agotamiento y a quienes se les dice que no jueguen para conservar energía. Hasta el reciente alto el fuego, sugiere, muchos padres y maestros tenían que elegir entre mantener la educación de los niños y su supervivencia, y algunos sobrevivían con tan solo un plato de lentejas al día.

Uno de los hallazgos más impactantes es que la guerra ha erosionado la esperanza de futuro de los jóvenes palestinos y su fe en el sistema internacional. Testigos presenciales hablaron de la creciente ira de los niños y el desmoronamiento de la fe en valores como la paz y los derechos humanos. "Los estudiantes preguntan sobre la realidad de esos derechos. Sienten que los matan simplemente por ser gazatíes", declara un miembro del personal de una organización internacional al equipo de investigación.

La profesora Pauline Rose, directora del Centro de Investigación para el Acceso y el Aprendizaje Equitativo (REAL) de la Universidad de Cambridge, expone: "Hace un año dijimos que la educación estaba bajo ataque; ahora las vidas de los niños están al borde de un colapso total. Los palestinos han demostrado un deseo extraordinario de recibir educación durante esta terrible guerra, pero la pérdida de fe y esperanza que expresan los jóvenes debería ser una gran señal de alerta para la comunidad internacional. Debemos hacer más para apoyarlos. No podemos esperar", cita la experta en el informe.

El estudio fue realizado por investigadores del Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre de Cambridge y el Centro de Estudios Libaneses, en colaboración con el Organismo de Obras Públicas y Socorro de las Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados de Palestina en el Cercano Oriente (UNRWA). Se basa en datos de agencias de la ONU, organizaciones benéficas y ONG, junto con entrevistas con personal de organizaciones de ayuda, funcionarios gubernamentales, docentes y estudiantes.

Al 1 de octubre de 2025, la Oficina de Coordinación de Asuntos Humanitarios de las Naciones Unidas informó de la muerte de 18.069 estudiantes y 780 miembros del personal educativo en Gaza, y de que 26.391 estudiantes y 3.211 docentes resultaron heridos. Save the Children estima que, durante los combates, 15 niños sufrieron lesiones que les cambiaron la vida cada día.

El estudio estima que los niños en Gaza habrán perdido el equivalente a cinco años de educación debido a los repetidos cierres de escuelas desde 2020, primero por la COVID-19 y luego por el genocidio. Aunque la UNRWA y el Ministerio de Educación palestino han implementado medidas de aprendizaje temporales y a distancia, estas se han visto obstaculizadas por la violencia continua, los daños en la infraestructura y la escasez crónica de recursos.

Fotografía: Un niño en bicicleta en el campo de refugiados de Jabalia, en la Franja de Gaza EP / Rizek Abdeljawad