The United Nations Agency for Children says at least 322 children have been reportedly killed since Israel launched a new attack in Gaza two weeks ago.
UNICEF said at least 609 other children were reportedly injured during the same period.
“The Gaza ceasefire provides Gaza children with the lifeline they desperately need and hopes for a path to recovery,” said Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF. “But the children have once again entered a cycle of fatal violence and deprivation.”
Israel launched an updated attack on Gaza on March 18, denounced Hamas, accusing them of extending the ceasefire and refusing the new US proposal to release the 59 hostages captured in Gaza.
Hamas accused Israel of violating the original deal that it agreed to in January.
UNICEF said “relentless, indiscriminate shelling” resumed in Gaza, with 100 children being killed or hurt every day from March 31 to March 31.
Most of the children killed were evacuated, and they said they had been evacuated to makeshift tents and damaged homes.
UNICEF uses numbers released by the Hamasran Ministry of Health in Gaza – numbers that Israel is consistently discussing. The numbers are considered reliable by the United Nations and other international organizations.
International journalists, including the BBC, are blocked from entering Gaza independently by Israel, so they cannot see the numbers from either side.
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) told the BBC it is “committed to mitigate harm to civilians in operational operations” and “respects all applicable international legal obligations, including laws of armed conflict.”
It said “We will make great efforts to estimate and consider the incidental damages of potential civilians in the strike.”
Since the war began more than 18 months ago, UNICEF said 15,000 children have been killed, more than 34,000 have been injured and nearly a million children have been repeatedly displaced.
The humanitarian situation throughout Gaza has deteriorated dramatically in recent weeks, with Israel refusing to allow assistance to the Gaza Strip since March 2.
“Without these important supplies, malnutrition, illness and other preventable conditions will likely surge, leading to an increase in preventable child deaths,” UNICEF wrote in a press release.
The UN announced it would reduce operations in Gaza on March 24 after eight Palestinian medical professionals, six first-time civil defense responders and UN staff were killed by Israeli forces in southern Gaza.
The IDF has launched a campaign to destroy Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist group by Israel, the UK, the US and other countries, in response to the unprecedented cross-border attack on October 7, 2023.
More than 50,399 people died in Gaza during the subsequent war, Hamaslan Ministry of Health said.
