According to UNICEF, at least 74 children have reportedly been killed in relentless violence in the Gaza Strip in just the first seven days of 2025.
The UN agency stated that children have reportedly been killed in several mass casualty events, including nighttime attacks in Gaza City, Khan Younis, and Al Mawasi, an Israeli-designated “safe zone” in the south.
UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell stated that for the children of Gaza, the new year has brought more death and suffering from attacks, deprivation and increasing exposure to the cold.
“A ceasefire is long overdue. Too many children have been killed or lost loved ones in a tragic start to the new year.”
Catherine Russell
UNICEF also said in a statement that apart from the bombardment, the continued lack of basic shelter – combined with winter temperatures pose serious threats to children.
“With more than a million children living in makeshift tents, and with many families displaced over the past 15 months, children face extreme risks.
“Since December 26, eight infants and newborns have reportedly died from hypothermia – a major threat to young children who are unable to regulate their body temperature.”
UNICEF
The UNICEF statement noted that the humanitarian situation in Gaza has spiralled out of control.
The agency iterated that the number of trucks with aid entering Gaza remains woefully insufficient to meet the most basic needs of families. Civil order has largely collapsed inside Gaza, with the looting of humanitarian goods.
The few remaining operational hospitals are overwhelmed.
The destruction of civilian infrastructure has left families struggling to access essential supplies, including food, safe water, sanitation, and access to healthcare. Kamal Adwan Hospital, which had been the only operational medical facility and the sole hospital in northern Gaza with a pediatric unit, is no longer functional following a raid late last month. “This has further exacerbated the already dire conditions for medical care in the region,” it added.
“UNICEF has long warned that inadequate shelter, lack of access to nutrition and healthcare, the dire sanitary situation, and now the winter weather put the lives of all children in Gaza at risk.
“Newborns and children with medical conditions are especially vulnerable.”
Catherine Russell
Parties To Gaza Conflict Urged To Halt Violence
Moreover, Russell urged parties to the conflict and the international community to act urgently to end the violence, alleviate suffering, and ensure that “all hostages, especially the two remaining children, are released.”
She added that families need an end to this “unimaginable suffering and heartbreak.”
UNICEF appealed to all parties to the conflict to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law, including by ceasing attacks on civilians, humanitarian workers, and civilian infrastructure; meeting civilians’ essential needs; and by facilitating rapid, safe, and unimpeded humanitarian access.
UNICEF also renewed its call for an immediate improvement of the security environment, including security for aid delivery trucks, to allow for aid workers to safely reach the communities they intend to serve, stating that the delivery of aid and supplies is a “matter of life or death” for children in Gaza.
Similarly, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) called for safe and unhindered access to Gaza to bring in desperately needed aid amid heavy rain and flooding destroying makeshift shelters.
The IFRC said the dire weather conditions were “exacerbating the unbearable conditions” in Gaza, with many families left “clinging on to survival in makeshift camps, without even the most basic necessities, such as blankets.”
In a statement, IFRC Secretary-General, Jagan Chapagain said that the deaths of eight newborn babies in the cold weather “underscores the critical severity of the humanitarian crisis there.”
“I urgently reiterate my call to grant safe and unhindered access to humanitarians to let them provide life-saving assistance.
“Without safe access – children will freeze to death. Without safe access – families will starve. Without safe access – humanitarian workers can’t save lives.”
Jagan Chapagain
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