Israel still engaging in 'systemic targeting' of children in Gaza despite 'ceasefire'

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics has released shocking figures regarding children in Gaza and the West Bank to mark Palestinian Child Day, which fell on Sunday.

It said that at least 21,284 Palestinian children had been killed in Israel's genocidal war on Gaza between October 2023 and April 2026, describing this as the "systemic targeting of an entire generation's future".

Of those 1,029 were under one, and 5,031 were less than five, "reflecting a true extermination of a generation that had not yet begun life."

Alongside those killed directly by Israel, PCBS registered 157 children as having starved during the war, as well as 25 dying due to cold weather.

Israel imposed a complete siege on Gaza resulting in a manmade famine being declared by the UN's IPC body. Although aid was supposed to be allowed in after the October 2025 ceasefire, Israel has continuously obstructed this.

Israel's widespread destruction of the enclave, which has displaced most of the territory's population, has seen the rise of makeshift camps among rubble and on the enclave's beaches.

Alongside those killed, at least 44,486 children have been injured in the war, making up some 26 percent of all those registered as injured, with 10,500 suffering life-changing injuries, and 4,000 still at risk of death.

"These figures confirm that what is happening constitutes a systematic attempt to annihilate an entire Palestinian generation, through a 'coalition of death' that includes indiscriminate bombardment, food starvation, suffocating siege, and the harsh cold of winter," PCBS said.

Despite a ceasefire signed in October 2025, Israel's deadly attacks on Gaza have continued, with continued restrictions on aid entry causing children to still suffer from hunger, cold, and homelessness.

In February 2026, 3,700 children aged 6-59 months were treated for malnutrition, with 600 suffering from severe acute malnutrition, according to PCBS.

90 percent are failing to reach a minimum dietary diversity, and 60 percent aged 6-23 months suffer from severe food poverty.

Alongside the aid restrictions, Israel is continuing to kill Palestinians in airstrikes as well as those who come close to the "yellow line" demarcating Israeli-occupied Gaza.

On Sunday, an airstrike killed four policemen, with five others wounded.

At least 72,289 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, leaving 58,000 children orphaned, having lost at least one parent.