1,000 Days of war: Gaza’s children continue to pay the heaviest price

Today, July 3, marks 1,000 days since the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel and the ensuing escalation of war that has devastated lives across Gaza, West Bank and Israel. 

The human cost has been catastrophic, with over 1,200 people killed in Israel during the October 7 attacks and more than 73,000 people reported killed in Gaza since the war began. 

Despite the ceasefire announced in October 2025, children in Gaza and the West Bank continue to pay a heavy price.  

According to a UN report citing Gaza’s Ministry of Health, over 173,000 people have been injured since October 2023. More than 21,000 children have been identified among those killed, underscoring the devastating toll the conflict has taken on young lives. 

“Since the October ceasefire more than 1,000 people, including 265 children, are reported to have been killed. A ceasefire that cannot keep children alive is a failure,” said Dr Unni Krishnan, Plan International’s occupied Palestinian territory Country Director and Global Humanitarian Director. 

He added: “Children should not be killed on their way to school, in their homes, or while trying to access food and aid. Yet for many children in Gaza, fear, loss and displacement remain a daily reality. They are still losing parents, they continue to live in tents through freezing winter conditions and harsh summer heat. There are no playgrounds and play materials. 

“Children should be safe walking to school, not risking their lives. Just recently 16-year-old Raghad Ashour was killed while on her way to take an exam in Gaza City. 

“More than 637,000 children remain cut off from learning, with 93% of schools destroyed or damaged. No new homes, schools or hospitals have been built since the announcement of the ceasefire. 

“Their childhoods are still being stolen by violence. The world cannot accept this as normal. Children must be protected, the ceasefire must hold, and all parties must ensure unhindered humanitarian access and uphold their obligations under international law. What children in Gaza urgently need is safety, dignity and a real pathway to recovery. This means not only ending the violence, but investing in rebuilding Gaza, including its shattered educational and child protection support system, so children can recover and thrive.”  

For the children of Gaza, 1,000 days is not just a number, it is almost three years shaped by conflict, displacement and a ceasefire that holds more on paper than in daily life. We must recognize the profound tragedy of loss that the children in Gaza are carrying. These scars will last a lifetime without sustained support.  

Plan International’s partner in Gaza has been supporting Islam, a mother to five children. Before the escalation of the conflict, Islam lived in a home in northern Gaza with her husband, “My house was simple…but to me it felt like heaven” she says. 

That life ended when the war erupted. In less than three years, Islam has been displaced twenty times. Her husband was killed. During one displacement, she said goodbye to her own mother, they fled in different directions, and Islam never saw her again. 

Today, Islam is holding her family together, drawing on humanitarian assistance to support her five children. What keeps her going, she says, is watching them return to school: “I see their excellence returning, and I receive messages from teachers praising them and thanking me for supporting them. These messages give me strength and make me feel I managed to stand on my feet again despite everything.” 

For a family to move twenty times in less than three years is not living, it is a desperate struggle for survival. 

Despite the war and suffering, children dare to dream like Zuhair, 11, who wants to become an engineer “to rebuild the destroyed homes.” 

Plan International continues to deliver life-saving assistance through trusted local partners inside Gaza, and West Bank and remains committed to principled humanitarian action for children and all civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory.  

Plan International calls on all involved parties to uphold their obligations under International Humanitarian Law and to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure. We call on the international community to use every means available to ensure sustained, predictable and unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza. Children and all civilians cannot wait.