UNICEF counts 300 children killed in Gaza in the 300 days since the ceasefire
The UN agency's tally works out at an average of one child killed each day since October 2025, alongside hundreds more injured, many of them severely.
UNICEF published a tally on Thursday built on a number and a coincidence: 300 children killed in Gaza across the 300 days since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025. That is an average of one child a day.
Hundreds more have been injured, many of them severely and permanently. The agency’s regional director, Edouard Beigbeder, put the organisation’s reading of it in a single line: a ceasefire that leaves an average of one child dead every day is failing children.
What the agency is asking for
UNICEF is calling on the parties to meet obligations they have already accepted under international humanitarian law. Specifically, protection for minors, access to essential goods and services, and guaranteed healthcare, education, drinking water and food. It is also asking for safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access, which remains the hardest part to deliver on the ground.
The agreement that suspended military operations also provided for the full entry of humanitarian aid. Almost ten months on, the agency describes children in Gaza as still waiting for the end to violence they were promised.
The wider picture
The tally lands as a new phase of the United States-led peace plan is announced, with the stated aim of ending hostilities and increasing aid volumes. Portugal has engaged with the process mainly through multilateral channels, in a year when its diplomacy is also preparing a bid for a seat on the UN Security Council. The full statement is on the UNICEF site.
Image: Jaber Jehad Badwan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
