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Child Casualties in West Bank (2025-2026)
Statistics on children killed and injured in the occupied West Bank since early 2025.
Primary Sources
UN condemns child death toll from Israel's West Bank operations
– The UN condemned on May 12 the toll from “escalating” Israeli military operations and settler attacks in the occupied West Bank on children, with 70 Palestinian children killed since the start of 2025.“Children are paying an intolerable price for escalating military operations and settler attacks across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” UN children’s agency spokesman James Elder told reporters.Since the start of 2025, when Israel began a large-scale military operation in the West Bank, “at least one Palestinian child has been killed on average every single week” there, he said, adding that another 850 children had been injured during that period.“Most of those killed or wounded were done by live ammunition,” he said.Israeli forces were responsible for a full 93 per cent of the deaths, Mr Elder said, highlighting that the scaled-up military operations had come amid “historic levels of settler attacks”.According to the UN, March saw the highest number of Palestinians injured by Israeli settlers in at least 20 years, he pointed out.“Documented incidents include children shot, stabbed, children beaten, and children pepper-sprayed,” Mr Elder pointed out.He stressed that such incidents were taking place against the backdrop of the “steady dismantling of the conditions children need to survive and grow”.“Homes are demolished, education is destroyed, water systems are attacked, access to healthcare is obstructed (and) movement is restricted,” he said.At the same time, there has been a dramatic spike in the number of barriers and restrictions imposed across the West Bank, meaning children in the Palestinian territory “are routinely cut off from schools, from hospitals and other essential services”.All of this has caused mass displacement, with more than 2,500 Palestinians – 1,100 of them children – displaced in the West Bank in just the first four months of 2026.“That surpasses the total displacement recorded in 2025,” Mr Elder pointed out.Since the war in Gaza erupted in October 2023, after Hamas’ attack in Israel, violence has also surged in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967 in contravention of international law.Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,070 Palestinians, including many militants, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Authority figures.Official Israeli figures, meanwhile, show that at least 46 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israel...
UNICEF says 70 children killed in West Bank and East Jerusalem since ...
Birds fly as smoke rises during an Israeli army operation in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 2, 2025. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabGENEVA, May 12 (Reuters) - Seventy children have been killed in the occupied Palestinian territories excluding Gaza since early 2025, amounting to around one a week, while over 800 have been injured, the U.N. children's agency said on Tuesday.Most of those killed or injured in the West Bank and East Jerusalem were hit by live ammunition but others were stabbed, beaten or pepper-sprayed, UNICEF said. Sign up here."These are not isolated incidents. They point to a sustained pattern of the worst kind of violation - violations against children," spokesperson James Elder told a Geneva press briefing after visiting the West Bank last week.He said 93% of the children who had lost their lives since January 2025 had been killed by Israeli forces. The others were victims of settler attacks, unexploded ordnance or accidental hits by Palestinian forces, he said.The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Human rights groups have described a renewed surge in violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers and soldiers since 2023.The United Nations and most countries deem Israel's settlements on West Bank land captured in the 1967 war illegal, a view that Israel disputes.Reporting by Emma Farge; Additional reporting by Pesha Magid in Jerusalem; Editing by Kevin LiffeyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Children shot, stabbed and pepper-sprayed in occupied West Bank - UN News
Israeli military operations and surging settler attacks in the occupied West Bank are killing and maiming a growing number of Palestinian children, while in Gaza tens of thousands with life-changing injuries lack access to treatment and rehabilitation, UN agencies warned on Tuesday.
Who are Israeli settlers and why violence is rising in West Bank
Settler violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is on the rise. Since the beginning of 2026, settlers have killed at least 10 Palestinians and injured 385 others across the West Bank.
