At least 322 children were reported killed and 609 injured in Gaza during the two weeks after Israel resumed its offensive, according to UNICEF. The United Nations children's agency said the renewed attacks had again exposed displaced families to bombardment and deprivation after a ceasefire offered a temporary reprieve.
Israel restarted large-scale operations on March 18. It blamed Hamas for rejecting a United States proposal to extend the ceasefire and secure the release of 59 hostages still held in Gaza. Hamas accused Israel of breaking the January agreement. Those opposing accounts formed the political backdrop to a rapidly rising civilian toll.
UNICEF said that 100 children were killed or maimed each day during the ten days ending March 31. Many of those reported killed had already been displaced and were staying in makeshift tents or damaged buildings, the agency said. Executive Director Catherine Russell described the ceasefire as a lifeline that had provided hope of recovery before children were returned to deadly violence.
The figures were drawn from Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry. Israel has repeatedly disputed the ministry's reporting, although the United Nations and other international bodies regard its figures as reliable. Independent verification remained constrained because Israel did not allow international journalists, including the BBC, to enter Gaza freely and report independently from the territory.
The Israel Defense Forces said it was committed to reducing civilian harm and complying with the law of armed conflict. It said operational planning included efforts to estimate and account for possible collateral damage before strikes. UNICEF's assessment, however, placed the child casualties within a broader deterioration in living conditions.
Israel had blocked aid from entering Gaza since March 2, the longest such interruption since the war began. UNICEF warned that shortages of essential supplies could drive increases in malnutrition, disease and preventable deaths. The UN also reduced its operations in Gaza on March 24, a day after Israeli forces killed eight Palestinian medics, six Civil Defence responders and one UN employee in the south.
Across the conflict up to that point, UNICEF said more than 15,000 children had reportedly been killed, over 34,000 injured and nearly one million repeatedly displaced. Gaza's Health Ministry put the overall Palestinian death toll above 50,399. Israel launched its campaign after the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, killed about 1,200 people in Israel and resulted in 251 hostages being taken.
The agency's April assessment therefore measured more than the immediate effects of resumed strikes. It described children facing overlapping dangers from military action, displacement and the loss of food, medicine and public services, with no independent access sufficient to resolve every disputed figure.
