UNICEF says more than 340 children reported killed in Gaza since ceasefire announcement

More than 340 children have been reported killed in Gaza since the ceasefire was announced a year ago, UNICEF said on 16 October. The agency reported further child deaths in the preceding fortnight, showing that the ceasefire has not brought children safety even as it has allowed more aid into the territory. [1]

Speaking in Geneva, UNICEF deputy spokesperson Ricardo Pires said five boys and two girls had been reported killed in air strikes, drone strikes and gunfire over those two weeks. At least 33 children were seriously injured, while another two boys died from injuries sustained earlier, he said. UNICEF had already published the more-than-340 figure on 7 October; its briefing did not specify the tally’s exact cut-off date or attribute every death in it to a particular cause or party. [1] [3]

A separate count from the UN human rights office establishes the scale of child deaths over an earlier period. It said it had verified 268 children killed among 1,076 conflict-related deaths between the ceasefire announcement on 10 October 2025 and the end of July 2026. That count uses a verification standard and stops months before UNICEF’s later figure, so the two are not directly comparable. The office said Israeli attacks had continued across Gaza during the ceasefire. [5]

UNICEF says nearly half the children in its tally died in areas near the “yellow line”, the boundary of Israeli military deployment, though its report does not define how close “near” means. The human rights office had verified 66 child deaths in the line’s vicinity by the end of July, over a shorter period. The Associated Press reported in January that the line was unmarked in some places. Israel’s military told AP it was marking the boundary and informing residents; it said most of the people it had killed crossing the line had posed a threat to troops. That statement did not address UNICEF’s child-death tally. [2] [5] [6]