UNICEF: Ceasefire in besieged Gaza is a ‘deadly illusion’ for Palestinian children
The UN children's agency has condemned the so-called ceasefire declared in the besieged Gaza Strip more than eight months ago, describing it as a "deadly illusion" for children and young people."
For many, many months, the world has been told there is a ceasefire in Gaza. Yet for Palestinian children, this so-called ceasefire has become a cruel and deadly illusion," UNICEF spokesman James Elder told a press briefing on Friday.
Elder revealed that at least 265 children have been killed since the ceasefire was announced, with more than 90% of them murdered in Israeli attacks.
Some have also died from unexploded ordnance scattered across the rubble of the blockaded Palestinian territory.
"These children were not killed in a war zone," Elder stressed. "They were killed in their homes. In their schools. Playing football. Fishing. They were shot, bombed, struck by quadcopters.”
"This week alone, he noted, "a two-year-old boy was shot and killed by Israeli forces; a 13-year-old boy was shot and killed inside his tent; a five-year-old boy and his father were killed by an Israeli strike, and on and on it goes."
The UNICEF spokesperson called the number of Palestinian children killed during this supposed ceasefire period "an absurd and devastating figure."
"During a period supposedly defined by restraint and protection, a child has been killed, on average, every single day for more than eight months."
In addition to those killed, more than 400 children have been injured since the ceasefire, "many with catastrophic wounds," Elder said.
Hundreds more urgently need medical evacuation, yet Israeli restrictions on essential medicines are forcing wounded children to endure unbearable pain, with heightened risks of infection, complications, and further amputations.
Elder also highlighted the profound psychological trauma inflicted on Gaza’s children: "Fear, loss and violence... is woven into the very fabric of their childhood."
The trauma is so severe that it affects their ability to eat, sleep, and develop normally.
Despite the ceasefire declared in October 2025, the Israeli regime has continued its aggression, launching repeated strikes across Gaza and killing at least 992 Palestinians.
Since October 2023, Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged enclave has claimed the lives of about 73,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of them women and children, in what amounts to one of the most horrific atrocities of our time.
The resistance of the Palestinian people and their steadfastness in the face of this barbarity continue to expose the true nature of the Zionist regime and its enablers.
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