UN agencies and humanitarian groups report that Israel has continued killing children and other civilians during the period labeled as a ceasefire in Gaza, with data showing that lethal attacks have persisted every day since the agreement began on October 11. UNICEF and Gaza health officials say the killings form a consistent pattern that contradicts the concept of a functioning ceasefire.
According to UNICEF, Israeli forces have killed “at least two children a day in Gaza in the first six weeks of the current ceasefire deal.” The agency reported that Israel has killed 67 children since the pause began. Gaza health officials say that “Israel has killed 342 Palestinians total amid the ceasefire and injured over 700 others.” Ricardo Pires, spokesperson for UNICEF, described ongoing attacks on children. He said, “Yesterday morning, a baby girl was reportedly killed in Khan Younis by an airstrike, while the day before, seven children were killed in Gaza City and the south.” Pires added that “there’s only one party to the conflict in Gaza with the firepower to do airstrikes.”
UNICEF also noted that “Israel also killed 12 children in a strike on southern Lebanon last week, in violation of the ceasefire and international law, experts say.” The killing of children in Lebanon extends the reach of the violations and further undermines the premise that the ceasefire is stabilizing conditions in the region.
Violence continued over the weekend. On Saturday, Israeli attacks “killed a further 24 Palestinians in Gaza, including children, with 87 wounded.” One of the deadliest incidents occurred when a strike on a car in Gaza City “killed at least 11 and wounded 20, many of them children.” Israel claimed the strikes were responses to gunfire targeted at its troops from within the territory past the “yellow line” that Israeli forces currently occupy.
Authorities in Gaza report that these incidents are among “the nearly 500 Israeli violations of the ceasefire in just 45 days since it came into effect.” Civilians describe living under unrelenting fear despite the declared pause. Khalil Abu Hatab, a survivor of a strike in Deir al Balah, told the Associated Press, “It’s a fragile ceasefire. This is not a life we can live. There’s no safe place.”
Lawmakers in the United States have begun challenging the idea that the ceasefire is real. Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro said on Sunday that the deal is a “farce.” Castro added, “It’s harmful and disingenuous for American media to continue the charade that there’s a ceasefire in place.” Rep. Rashida Tlaib amplified the statement, responding, “Couldn’t agree more.”
Tlaib has repeatedly rejected the notion that the ceasefire can be considered legitimate. Earlier this month she wrote, “There is no ceasefire. It’s a lie.” She added, “More than 200 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli government since Trump claimed a ceasefire was achieved. The Israeli government never even stopped bombing Lebanon. They are still committing war crimes.”
Humanitarian agencies say the continuing deaths occur alongside shortages of food, medical care, and supplies. UNICEF reported “67 children have been killed during the ceasefire” and that “about 4,000 children need urgent medical evacuation.” World Health Organization official Dr. Rik Peeperkorn said, “although there’s a ceasefire, people still get killed.”
The Gaza Ministry of Health data cited by the UN indicates that “280 Gazans have been killed and 672 injured since the ceasefire, in addition to 571 bodies recovered from the rubble.” UNICEF and the World Food Programme say aid is reaching Gaza in limited amounts but remains insufficient.
Abeer Etefa of the World Food Program said the agency is sending “approximately 100 trucks per day into the enclave loaded with relief supplies, which is almost two-thirds of its daily target amount.” She added that “a lot of these food supplies stay in border crossing points for long days and therefore you know the possibility of them going bad is high.”
Inside Gaza, families describe hunger and rising prices. WFP Head of Communications Martin Penner reported that “One woman told us that she feels like her whole body is crying out for different kinds of food, different from the canned food and the dry rations that people have been living on for two years.” He stated that “A chicken costs 25 dollars, a kilo of meat 20 dollars. So many people still rely on food aid, food parcels, bread from bakeries.”
Parents told aid workers they avoid taking children to market because they cannot afford the food they see. One mother said she does this “so that they won’t see all the food that’s available… If they go near the market, she tells them to cover their eyes.” Another woman said she “buys one apple and divides it between her four children.”
Healthcare in Gaza remains on the brink of collapse. UNICEF said “Gaza’s health system is collapsing, leaving children without care.” Pires explained that doctors face impossible decisions, describing children with burns, shrapnel injuries, spinal injuries, traumatic brain injuries, cancer, and premature births who cannot be treated due to supply shortages and destroyed hospital infrastructure. Pires also highlighted the case of a two year old child, saying “two-year-old Omyma whose heart is failing because of a congenital issue doctors in Gaza cannot treat. She needs surgery urgently to save her life.”
Even with the declared ceasefire, aid agencies, UN officials, and members of Congress all describe a continuous stream of lethal attacks in Gaza and Lebanon. The UN’s confirmation that children are being killed daily further undermines the narrative that the ceasefire is intact. As humanitarian workers warn, the violence has not stopped, and civilians remain exposed to ongoing danger, hunger, and medical collapse while the world continues to use the language of a pause.
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