UNICEF calls Gaza ceasefire a “Deadly Illusion” as child deaths continue to rise
UN warns that hundreds of children have been killed and injured since the truce, urging urgent medical evacuations and political action amid ongoing violence.
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The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has described the ceasefire agreed upon in Gaza between Hamas and Israel as a “deadly illusion” for Palestinian children, noting that 265 children have been killed since October 2025.
UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said at a press conference in Geneva, broadcast from Amman, Jordan, “For far too long, the entire world has been told of a ceasefire in Gaza. Yet, this supposed ceasefire has become a harsh and deadly illusion for Palestinian children.”
He added, “Since the announcement of the ceasefire last October, 265 Palestinian children have been killed across Gaza,” describing the figure as “absurd” and “heartbreaking,” and saying it undermines the “credibility” of the ceasefire. Elder noted that the majority of these 265 children were killed “by Israeli forces.”
Elder explained, “A few of them were victims of unexploded ordnance, and fewer were victims of militias. But most were killed by Israeli forces in airstrikes, bombs, or drones.”
Despite the truce, the Gaza Strip continues to experience daily violence, amid mutual accusations between the Israeli army and Hamas of violating the ceasefire. As of mid-June, this violence has resulted in the killing of at least 992 Palestinians, according to the health ministry run by Hamas, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
UNICEF also reported that, in addition to the children killed, more than 400 boys and girls have been injured, many of them in critical condition. Elder stressed the need to “stop accepting infant mortality levels that would provoke international outrage elsewhere” and to “stop normalizing what is abnormal.”
UNICEF warned that hundreds of children are in urgent need of evacuation for medical treatment. Elder added that “restrictions on essential medicines mean that injured children are suffering more and face an increased risk of infection, complications, and re-amputation.”
He concluded, “The continued killing of children is not due to a lack of options, but to the absence of political will.”