“With many children having no shoes or change of clothes and the sanitation system attacked and overwhelmed, the threat of disease is looming.”
On World Children’s Day, staggering figures indicate that over 20,000 children have been killed and over 56,000 orphaned in Israel’s two-year genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip. During the same period, more than 1,630 children have been detained by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
In addition, at least 1,200 children have had limbs amputated due to injuries sustained in Israel’s bombardment of the Strip and 5,200 more children need to be medically evacuated, according to data reported by the Quds News Network (QNN).
November 20 marked World Children’s Day. Here are some shocking numbers showing how Israel’s two-year genocidal war has affected Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/c3AkcNV1th
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) November 20, 2025
Meanwhile, Israel’s continued blockade on essential humanitarian supplies has resulted in 650,000 children facing slow death from food shortages. Around 40,000 infants are at risk due to lack of baby formula, QNN reported.
More than 19,000 school children have been killed, and approximately 28,000 have been injured, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education announced on Thursday, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Guillain-Barré Syndrome Cases
Children in Gaza also face another threat to their lives with reports of the Guillain-Barré syndrome spreading at alarmingly worrying rates in the Strip, Al Mayadeen reported.
Ahmad al-Farra, head of the pediatric department at Khan Yunis Hospital, said nearly 200 cases have been recorded this year alone, compared to just one case per year before the genocidal war began.
On World Children’s Day, #Gaza’s youngest are not celebrating; they’re suffering. In the midst of war, nearly 200 children have contracted Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare and debilitating neurological illness that can paralyze limbs and even affect breathing, according to… pic.twitter.com/vt3t7MVYey
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 20, 2025
A rare neurological disorder, the disease resembles polio in its symptoms and is known as ascending flaccid paralysis, the report stated. It typically begins in the lower limbs with tingling, weakness, and an inability to stand, eventually affecting the respiratory system.
Al Mayadeen stated that laboratory tests indicate that severe water contamination is the main cause, with cases concentrated in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis. The syndrome is neither hereditary nor contagious and usually appears after a gastrointestinal infection or vaccination, the report added.
Higher Risks of Death
It highlighted that the lack of adequate treatment and medical resources “has already led to the deaths of children who could have otherwise recovered, while malnourished children or those with low body weight face even higher risks.”
“Our home was bombed, and I lost both my father and mother.
Now, I am forced to leave childhood behind and become a mother myself, caring for my little brother, cooking for him, washing his clothes, and helping him with his studies,” says Areej, 12 years old, from #Gaza.All… pic.twitter.com/YEc8PyjAXZ
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) November 20, 2025
The report also noted that infants “are suffering from severe anemia, while others are struck by ascending flaccid paralysis that leaves them unable to stand or breathe, as doctors are left powerless in the face of medicine shortages and restrictions on treatment.”
While the pause in hostilities in Gaza is a crucial respite for children, it is not enough.
As we continue to push for a definitive ceasefire, improved humanitarian access, & better protections for children, we’re doing everything we can to provide essential support to families. pic.twitter.com/dYfKVwuuVW
— Save the Children International (@save_children) October 20, 2025
According to Dr Munir al-Bursh, Director-General of Gaza’s Ministry of Health, there has been a severe rise in anemia among children, with 82 percent of infants under the age of one affected, the report added.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal assault, the report continued, “156 cases of birth defects have been reported, a consequence of deprivation from basic medical care, and the overall birth rate has dropped by approximately 40 percent compared to the pre-war period.”
Winter Rains
As the Winter rains begin in Gaza, children are sleeping on the bare ground with no shelter, in flimsy shorts and t-shirts that are sodden with sewage water after their tents flooded in a weekend of heavy rains, putting them at risk of disease, the organization Save the Children has warned.
“With many children having no shoes or change of clothes and the sanitation system attacked and overwhelmed, the threat of disease is looming,” the organization stated.
This is the tragic reality of how children are living in Gaza, as the storms of winter strike at their tents. pic.twitter.com/bAJroDLEx2
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) November 20, 2025
According to data from the shelter cluster of aid organisations in Gaza, more than two thirds of Gaza’s children – about 700,000 – are exposed to similar risks, living in tents that are falling apart after two years of bombardment and displacement, it said.
Save the Children also cautioned that without tools and equipment, people are unable to start repairs to homes and many are scared to move due to unexploded ordinance, already causing child casualties, or the fear of further airstrikes.
Malnutrition, Illnesses
With children in Gaza already at great risk of malnutrition and illnesses like diarrhea and pneumonia, cold temperatures can be deadly, it warned. At least 14 children, including newborn babies, died of hypothermia in the past two winters, the organization said, citing Gaza’s Government Media Office.
UN Warns of ‘Humanitarian Catastrophe’ in Gaza – 90% Facing Malnutrition
“Children and families have woken up submerged in sewage water. For the third winter now since the start of intense Israeli bombardment in October 2023, they are desperate not just for a lasting ceasefire but for secure, safe and warm places to sleep,” Ahmad Alhendawi, Regional Director for Save the Children in the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, said.
“These tents that have been reduced to wrecked bits of material are not able to withstand the wind and the rain and are not able to protect children from illnesses. We have already seen at least 14 children die due to hypothermia over the past two winters – this cannot happen again,” he added.
West Bank
In the occupied West Bank, prisoner organizations said that the Israeli occupation has arrested more than 1,630 children in the territory in the past two years, including dozens from Gaza, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.
In a statement marking World Children’s Day, the organizations said that 350 children remain detained in Israeli prisons, including two girls, held in conditions that violate international standards for the protection of minors. The children face torture, starvation, medical neglect, systematic deprivation, and collective isolation.
‘They Tried to Break Us’: Three Freed Palestinian Teens Detail Abuse in Israeli Custody
The institutions added that over the past decades, the Palestinian child has remained one of the most vulnerable groups facing Israeli violations, whether through killing, injury, denial of education, or night raids.
According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 994 Palestinians – among them at least 218 children – were killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between October 7, 2023 and November 7, 2025. Of those, 188 Palestinians, including at least 45 children, were killed since the beginning of this year alone.
(PC, Al Mayadeen, AJA)
