UNICEF: the world must be outraged by the deaths of children

The West Bank is a land of occupation and daily violence. A new analysis by Oxfam, the international confederation of non-profit organisations, paints a dramatic picture: in three years, the number of Palestinian casualties has exceeded that of the previous 17 years; since 2023, Israel’s plan for ethnic cleansing and annexation has caused over 46,000 people to be displaced, the construction of more than 925 barriers preventing the movement of 3 million people, and an unprecedented wave of violence that has claimed over 1,200 lives, including nearly 270 children. And 2026 is continuing the horrific pace of 2025. In the first few months of the year alone, in fact, there have been more than 540 attacks by settlers. Yesterday saw further casualties. As reported by the Wafa news agency, armed Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers, stole agricultural equipment and contaminated water wells in the Hebron governorate; others attacked Palestinian homes in the village of Taybeh, assaulting residents and damaging property east of Ramallah, whilst others set fire to Palestinian land in the village of Burqa. ‘Every day, our staff work to assist Palestinian families whose lives have been destroyed,’ explains Paolo Pezzati, Oxfam Italia’s spokesperson for humanitarian crises, ‘and it is heart-wrenching to see dozens of children killed. This is the cost of impunity, of Israeli violence and cruelty, which are plain for all to see, whilst world leaders look the other way.”

“The world must be outraged by the children who are victims of violence in Gaza and the West Bank,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF’s Regional Director for the Middle East, who noted that over the past weekend ‘eight children were killed and another 17 wounded in five different locations in the Gaza Strip, whilst in the West Bank a seven-month-old baby died after being shot by Israeli forces in Hebron’. Following the release of the B’Tselem video, which contradicts the IDF’s account of the shooting that killed the seven-month-old baby, the European Union has issued a strong condemnation. Through the spokesperson for the European External Action Service, Anouar Anouni, urged “the Israeli government to respect its obligations under international law to protect the Palestinian population in the occupied territories”.