Over 60,000 children orphaned in Gaza since October 2023: Palestinian ministry
Palestinian children trek through the rubbles to fetch water. Photo: Reuters/file
More than 60,000 children in the Gaza Strip have lost at least one parent since Israel’s military campaign began in October 2023, the enclave’s health ministry said in a report on Wednesday.
According to the official figures, at least 60,737 children were orphaned or left with a single parent, including 52,095 who lost their fathers, 5,929 their mothers, and 2,713 who lost both parents.
Read: Over 100 children killed in Gaza since ceasefire, UNICEF says
The ministry also said 2,276 families — comprising 8,858 individuals — had been “completely wiped out” from the civil registry amid the ongoing conflict.
Overall, the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 73,000 since October 2023, the report added.
Despite a ceasefire reached in October, Israeli forces have continued to carry out strikes across the territory, with more than 1,100 people reported killed since the truce came into effect.
The figures highlight the severe humanitarian toll of the conflict, with thousands of children left without parental care and entire families erased during months of sustained violence.
Read more: Children among 11 killed in Gaza
Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, and war crimes in the occupied West Bank, an independent United Nations inquiry reported on June 23.
The report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel examined violations against Palestinian children since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Around 30% of those killed in the Gaza war were children, the report found.
A previous report by the commission in September found that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and that top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, incited these acts — accusations that Israel called scandalous.
Also Read: Genocide in Palestine