Annual Report 2025

Highlights

In 2025, violence, displacement and economic collapse stripped millions of children in the State of Palestine of safety, stability and essential services.

In the Gaza Strip, conditions for children deteriorated with devastating consequences. Since October 2023, at least 20,000 children have been reported killed and thousands more injured, many with lifechanging disabilities requiring sustained rehabilitation. Tens of thousands lost one or both parents; many endured the destruction of their homes and communities. Despite the October 2025 ceasefire, large areas remained uninhabitable and access to health care, education, safe water and adequate nutrition was severely constrained.

Hunger became an acute threat. In August 2025, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared famine in northern Gaza following prolonged restrictions on the entry of humanitarian and commercial supplies. Young children faced widespread malnutrition, resulting in preventable deaths from hunger and disease, while damaged health facilities struggled to provide basic treatment.

Economic collapse further eroded people’s capacity to cope. Livelihoods were largely wiped out, poverty near universal in the Gaza Strip, and families increasingly resorted to harmful coping strategies. In 2025, more children – some as young as six – engaged in hazardous work to support household survival.

Education was entirely disrupted, and school-aged children in the Gaza Strip lacked safe access to formal, in-person schooling. Students and teachers faced destroyed classrooms, no learning materials and high levels of psychosocial distress. Attacks on facilities, infrastructure damage and insecurity deprived children of structured learning, social interaction and protective environments.

In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, risks escalated. Since October 2023, 239 Palestinian children have been killed, and nearly 1,900 injured. Thousands of children have been displaced with their families. Intensified militarised operations, settler violence, demolitions and movement restrictions displaced families, disrupted services and undermined access to education, health care and WASH services. Systems functioned but access was uneven and unpredictable.

The Palestinian Authority’s fiscal crisis further weakened services. Salary interruptions affected teachers, health workers and social service providers, reducing school days and access to care and heightening psychosocial stress. 

Across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, cumulative violence, deprivation and uncertainty severely affected children’s health, learning and psychosocial wellbeing, risking an entire generation’s future. 

Despite this, national institutions pursued recovery planning. In 2025, the Palestinian Authority advanced frameworks to transition from emergency response toward recovery, including multi-year reconstruction planning for the Gaza Strip. UNICEF provided technical leadership across child-focused sectors – health, nutrition, education, WASH and social protection – to keep children’s rights central to recovery and ensure that future investments support a more stable and dignified future for Palestinian children.