UNICEF said in a press release dated 6 August 2026 that at least 300 children have reportedly been killed in Gaza in the 300 days since a ceasefire was announced in October 2025 — an average of one child each day, despite an agreement for the suspension of military operations and the entry of humanitarian aid almost 10 months earlier. The agency said hundreds more children have been injured, many severely.

Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Edouard Beigbeder said a ceasefire leaving an average of one child dead each day is failing children. UNICEF described families crowded into roughly a third of the Gaza Strip, sheltering among destroyed buildings, rubble and accumulated solid waste, while children face acute malnutrition, disease, unsafe water and damaged sanitation systems. Beigbeder said recent announcements set out a roadmap for the next phase of the ceasefire, including steps towards ending hostilities and scaling up relief, and called for agreements to translate into action, asking whether the killing stops, aid reaches children at scale, hospitals reopen, water flows and children return to school safely in September.

UNICEF called on all parties to comply with their obligations under international law and to protect children's access to healthcare, education, safe water and food, and to allow safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access.