As of end-July, Gaza’s health authorities had a list of 18,457 children (under 18) named among 60,199 identified war dead in Gaza. The list is maintained with rigorous standards, making it broadly accepted by the UN and Israel, even as it omits many more victims still under rubble or dying from deprivation. The article emphasizes that a child is being killed every hour on average, though actual loss comes in sudden, tragic bursts — entire families lost at once. The human cost goes beyond immediate deaths: over 40,000 children have been injured, many permanently disabled, and the collapse of basic services (water, medicine, food, fuel) is causing additional, largely uncounted fatalities. The piece situates Gaza’s child mortality in a stark comparative perspective: the scale surpasses prior regional conflicts, and in per capita terms, Gaza’s losses are catastrophic.
Quotes
“A boy or girl every hour of every day.”
“In reality the deaths are not spaced out so evenly. Siblings, cousins and playmates are often killed together.”
“Children in Gaza are living through one of the most severe exposure situations we have documented in recent decades.”
Young lives cut short on an unimaginable scale: the 18,457 children on Gaza’s list of war dead
Showing 100 of 18,457 child deaths
يقين يوسف سامي التلاوي
Yaqeen Yousef Sami Al-Tilawi
1 day old
عبد العزيز فايق محمد ابو طه
Abdel Aziz Faiq Mohammed Abu Taha
14 years old
سلاف اسامه وصفي الوصيفي
Sulaf Osama Wasfi Al-Wasifi
5 years old
زياد زياد أحمد القاق
Ziyad Ziyad Ahmed Al-Qaq
10 years old
يمنى عمر رياض الريفي
Yumna Omar Riyad Al-Rifi
4 months old
شام يوسف خميس العصار
Sham Yousef Khamis Al-Assar
6 years old
راكان حمدي يحيى النجار
Rakan Hamdi Yahya Al-Najjar
10 years old
Israeli airstrike
Rakan lived in Khan Younis with his parents Alaa and Hamdi, who were both doctors, and nine siblings. Colleagues and friends said the children held Egyptian citizenship and that Alaa and Hamdi had been planning to leave for Egypt and enrol their children at university in Cairo. On the morning of Rakan’s death Alaa had left the house to go to work as a paediatrician at the Nasser medical complex. A few hours later an Israeli airstrike struck the family home, killing Rakan and eight of his siblings and severely injuring one of his brothers and his father. Hamdi, his father, died a few days later of his injuries. “My only hope is that those who were killed are not just names on paper,” said Alaa’s colleague at the Nasser complex, Dr Ahmed al-Farra. Read more.
محمد سامي جواد العجله
Mohammed Sami Jawad Al-Ajla
15 years old
لؤي محمد فتحي ياغي
Louay Mohammed Fathi Yaghi
2 years old
عبد الكريم رأفت عبد الكريم الاسطل
Abdel Karim Rafat Abdel Karim Al-Astal
11 years old
فتحي زايد فتحي المجدلاوي
Fathi Zayed Fathi Al-Majdalawi
7 years old
جونة احمد رمزي كامل اليازجي
Juna Ahmed Ramzi Kamel Al-Yaziji
4 years old
جود محمد منصور عبد الجواد
Joud Mohammed Mansour Abdel Jawad
Less than a day old
عمر احمد عبد الناصر شملخ
Omar Ahmed Abdel Naser Shamlakh
4 months
Israeli airstrike
8 October 2023
Omar lived in an apartment in a big pink house in Sheikh Eljeen in south-west Gaza. Three families occupied the house, which consisted of two floors containing four apartments. He was the youngest of 10 victims across three generations of the same family that was killed in an Israeli airstrike. “The whole family was buried under the rubble,” Waf’a Shamlakh, Omar’s UK-based cousin, told the Independent. “They only found two whole bodies. The others were in parts or unrecognisable.” Of Omar and his two-year-old brother Abdel, who was also killed, Shamlakh said: “They were just starting their lives, they still had dreams.” Read more.
نور محمد اياد برزق
Nour Mohammed Iyad Barzaq
3 years old
مريم أحمد وليد عويضه
Mariam Ahmed Walid Owaida
5 years old
فرح انور عمر ظاهر
Farah Anwar Omar Zaher
3 years old
أحمد محمد فؤاد ابو عسكر
Ahmed Mohammed Fuad Abu Askar
17 years old
حمزة اسامه محمد الهباش
Hamza Osama Mohammed Al-Habash
16 years old
صهيب عبدالله عبد الكريم فرج الله
Suhaib Abdullah Abdel Karim Faraj Allah
1 year old
يقين خضر فتحي حماد
Yaqeen Khader Fathi Hammad
12 years old
Israeli airstrike
23 May 2025
Yaqeen, Gaza’ youngest influencer, offered practical survival tips for daily life under bombardment on social media, such as advice on how to cook with improvised methods when there was no gas. She played an active role in the Ouena collective, a Gaza-based non-profit organisation dedicated to humanitarian relief. In one of her final posts, she wrote: “Today was a day of joy for Gaza’s orphans – we were giving them new clothes to bring a little happiness.” She was killed after a series of heavy Israeli airstrikes hit the house where she lived with her family in Deir al-Bala in central Gaza. Her body, torn apart by the bombing, was recovered from beneath the rubble. Read more.
محمود مدحت محمود شاهين
Mahmoud Medhat Mahmoud Shaheen
1 year old
فارس اياد ربيع وادي
Faris Iyad Rabie Wadi
17 years old
امال رمضان فؤاد شحاده
Amal Ramadan Fuad Shahada
10 years old
خميس محمد خميس النفار
Khamis Mohammed Khamis Al-Naffar
17 years old
فريد محمد ساهر الغف
Farid Mohammed Saher Al-Ghuf
5 years old
عبد الله أحمد عبدالله الريفي
Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah Al-Rifi
1 year old
ناهض محمد عادل رامز بربخ
Nahedh Mohammed Adel Ramez Barbakh
15 years old
Israeli gunfire
25 January 2024
Nahedh was hit by sniper fire alongside his 20-year-old brother, Ramez, as they followed Israeli military orders to evacuate an area west of Khan Younis. According to a witness interviewed by the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Nahedh was carrying a white flag to lead the way for his family, but after walking just a few steps from the house he was hit in the leg by a bullet. As the teenager attempted to turn back home he was shot in the back and head, the witness said. Ramez was shot through the heart when he tried to rescue his brother. Read more.
جودي طارق سامي أبو شعبان
Judy Tariq Sami Abu Shaaban
12 years old
عائشة يوسف مسلم مهاني
Aisha Yousef Muslim Mahani
8 years old
قسم أحمد رياض ابو عيدة
Qasam Ahmed Riyad Abu Eida
3 years old
رائد جبر صالح ابو ليله
Raed Jabr Saleh Abu Layla
16 years old
تسنيم محمد صبحي سماره
Tasneem Mohammed Subhi Samara
9 years old
يوسف اسامه يوسف قنديل
Yousef Osama Yousef Qandil
1 year old
لنا اشرف ياسر الغصين
Lana Ashraf Yasser Al-Ghusein
10 years old
Israeli airstrike
12 July 2025
Lana’s parents rarely used her real name, preferring her nickname Lulu, which means pearl, because it captured the gentle shine she brought to family life. “She had such a joyful personality, and a heart full of kindness,” her mother Heba said. Lulu was waiting beside a water distribution station, holding jerry cans and buckets, with her nine-year-old brother Karam, when it was bombed by Israel. They died instantly, torn apart by the force of the blast and so disfigured that their father Ashraf prevented Heba from seeing their bodies. Read more.
داوود فضل محمد ساق الله
Dawood Fadl Mohammed Saq Allah
17 years old
نور محمد سمير عبد النبي
Nour Mohammed Samir Abdel Nabi
3 years old
قيس محمد رمضان اعبيد
Qais Mohammed Ramadan Obaid
1 month old
هدى محمد نبيل البس
Huda Mohammed Nabil Al-Bas
5 years old
محمد أيمن صابر الحلو
Mohammed Ayman Saber Al-Helou
10 years old
ايهاب أحمد يوسف الحمارنه
Ihab Ahmed Yousef Al-Hamarna
13 years old
خالد محمد فتحي جبر
Khaled Mohammed Fathi Jabr
7 years old
Israeli airstrike
17 October 2023
It took surgery and five years of IVF treatment for Khaled’s mother Amal to fall pregnant for the first and only time. Born nearly two months premature, he had a twin brother, Adam, who died at three days old. Khaled was transferred to a Jerusalem hospital for specialist treatment. A compromised immune system meant he was in and out of hospital until he was about four, but then his health improved and Amal could settle into a normal rhythm of life at their home in Tal al-Hawa, in western Gaza. Amal found joy in small things, preparing school supplies and taking him to football, swimming and horse riding classes at the Friends Equestrian Club, where he had a special bond with a horse called Shams. After Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza in response to the Hamas cross-border attack on 7 October, the family fled south to join Amal’s parents in Rafah, which Israel had declared a safe zone for civilians. Ten days later, Khaled was killed in an Israeli airstrike along with his grandfather, uncle, aunt, cousins and 11 other relatives. Read more.
وائل أمير وائل عساف
Wael Amir Wael Assaf
7 months old
أفنان سعيد نبيل شبات
Afnan Said Nabil Shbat
13 years old
ريتال ايهاب عطاالله ابو علبة
Rital Ihab Atallah Abu Ulba
12 years old
يوسف عبد الله محمد عبد الهادي
Yousef Abdullah Mohammed Abdel Hadi
2 years old
خالد يحيى خالد أبو هلال
Khaled Yahya Khaled Abu Hilal
3 years old
سما امجد مصباح الضابوس
Sama Amjad Misbah Al-Dabous
16 years old
الياس اسامه عز الدين ابو جامع
Elias Osama Izz Al-Din Abu Jamea
16 years old
Israeli drone strike
12 Feburary 2024
Elias, who had mental and physical disabilities, was outside his tent in a displaced persons camp in Rafah with his 19-year-old brother Muhib when both siblings were killed in a nighttime attack by an armed Israeli drone. “We heard gunfire around us,” their father Osama told the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. “Not knowing what was going on, as we were inside the tents, I went outside to look around and saw everyone running. Hearing gunfire, my boys woke up and asked what was going on.” Osama said that “in less than a minute” a quadcopter overhead started shooting “right at our tent”. He was wounded, he said, and his sons killed.
شهد وفيق محمد غنا
Shahd Wafiq Mohammed Ghanna
10 years old
يزن عماد محمد بركة
Yazan Imad Mohammed Baraka
17 years old
خليل وائل خليل طموس
Khalil Wael Khalil Tamous
17 years old
عائشة اياد عبدالله مقداد
Aisha Iyad Abdullah Miqdad
12 years old
حسام فلاح عطاالله الحسنات
Hossam Falah Atallah Al-Hasanat
9 years old
اكرم حسن مسلم الحلو
Akram Hassan Muslim Al-Helou
16 years old
هند رامي اياد رجب
Hind Rami Iyad Rajab
5 years old
Israeli gunfire
29 January 2024
“I’m so scared, please come,” were some of the last words Hind said in a telephone call to rescuers after her family’s car came under fire in Gaza City as they attempted to flee approaching Israeli forces. Hind’s uncle, aunt and three cousins were killed initially. Hind and another cousin, 15-year-old Layan, survived and contacted the Palestine Red Crescent Society. Layan was later also killed, having made a harrowing call for help herself. “They are shooting at us. The tank is right next to me. We’re in the car, the tank is right next to us,” Layan screamed in a clip shared on social media, amid intense gunfire in the background, before she went quiet and the gunfire stopped. Hind was left stranded in the vehicle for hours on the phone, surrounded by her dead relatives, as paramedics attempted to rescue her. The rescue team eventually arrived in the area, but contact was lost with them and Hind. Hind and the paramedics were later also found killed. A Forensic Architecture investigation concluded that an Israeli tank had likely fired 335 rounds on the car. Read more.
ابراهيم كمال ابراهيم شاهين
Ibrahim Kamal Ibrahim Shaheen
Less than a day old
مسك محمود اسماعيل الاسود
Misk Mahmoud Ismail Al-Aswad
2 years old
نورا مصعب كمال ابونعيم
Noura Musab Kamal Abu Naim
3 years old
ريان عثمان ايوب العبادله
Rayan Othman Ayoub Al-Abadla
5 years old
ياسر محمود عودة العويسي
Yasser Mahmoud Ouda Al-Awaisi
15 years old
سماهر فادي خميس طنبوره
Samaher Fadi Khamis Tanbora
5 years old
As of the end of July there were 18,457 children named on the long official list of Palestinian victims of Israel’s war in Gaza. Over almost two years, that is equivalent to bombs, bullets and shells killing a boy or girl every hour of every day.
In reality the deaths are not spaced out so evenly. Siblings, cousins and playmates are often killed together, by an airstrike or artillery shell. Even children shot by snipers or quadcopters are sometimes brought into hospitals in groups, doctors say.
Together they account for nearly one-third of all the war dead whose bodies have been collected and identified before burial.
The list of named victims maintained by health authorities in Gaza is recognised as authoritative by the international community, the UN and Israel’s military, although Israeli politicians frequently try to dismiss it.
But the strict rules that ensure its credibility also mean it cannot capture the full scale of tragedy inflicted on Gaza’s children and their families.
Missing from the toll are the thousands of victims still buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings as well as the war’s many indirect victims. Israel’s blockade has created deadly shortages of food, medicine, clean water and fuel.
Starvation has killed at least 150 children. The lack of clean water, basic drugs such as antibiotics and medical care for diseases including cancer have caused many more deaths, which health officials say they cannot attempt to count while fighting continues.
Many of the children who survived attacks have life-changing wounds. More than 40,000 children have been injured in the war, according to the UN. Gaza is now home to more child amputees than any other place in the world.
The scale of child casualties dwarfs those from conflicts in Israel and occupied Palestinian territory and the broader region in recent decades.
In 2008 Israel’s Operation Cast Lead killed 345 children in Gaza over 22 days, statistics from the rights group B’tselem show. In 2014 Israeli attacks killed 548 children over 50 days of Operation Protective Edge.
In Iraq over the 15-year period that encompassed the rise and destruction of the Islamic State “caliphate”, between 2008 and 2022, the UN verified 3,119 child deaths in war.
“Overall, it is clear that children in Gaza are living through one of the most severe exposure situations we have documented in recent decades,” said Gudrun Østby, a professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), which tracks the global impact of wars.
All children in Gaza are exposed to “extreme conflict intensity”, a metric the PRIO defines as living less than 50km away from events where at least 1,000 people were killed by fighting in a single year.
The bloodiest period of Syria’s civil war, which began in 2011, offers some comparison. “[In Syria] each year from 2012 to 2015, more than half of all children lived in close proximity to extreme conflict events,” Østby said.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights documented more than 19,000 children killed in the first four years of the conflict. Syria’s population at the start of that war was about 10 times the population of Gaza in 2023.
Approximately one in every 50 children living in Gaza before the war have been killed by Israeli attacks, according to Save the Children.
Israel’s generals and soldiers are aware they are killing large numbers of children. The former head of military intelligence for much of the war said “it did not matter now” if children were among the dead.
Some politicians have argued that children are legitimate targets because they are used as human shields and the phrase “no innocents in Gaza” has become more commonplace in Israel.
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