Gaza's lost childhoods
Behind the death toll are 17,000 heartbreaking stories of birthdays that will never be celebrated, playtimes that will never be enjoyed, hugs that will never be received...
Gaza's lost childhoods
Behind the death toll are more than 17,000 heartbreaking stories of birthdays that will never be celebrated, playtimes that will never be enjoyed and hugs that will never be received...
+17,400
The number of children killed in the Gaza war since October 7, 2023, according to Palestinian officials.
63.2%
The proportion of children killed who were under 12 years old
32
The average number of children killed a day in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and March 2025. The average class size in a UK state school in 2024 was 26.6 children.
They should be coming home, tired but content from a full day at school, dreading the homework set by their least favourite teacher. They should be receiving comforting hugs from parents and sitting down for a meal before running out to play with friends.
But in Gaza, the joyful sounds of childhood have been replaced by deafening explosions. War has reduced schools to rubble. And so many children have been orphaned that doctors now use a haunting acronym: WCNSF (Wounded Child, No Surviving Family).
In March this year, the Gaza war reached a grim milestone. More than 50,000 Palestinians had been killed since Israel began bombarding the strip on October 7, 2023. At least 15,600 of those killed were children, Gaza's Ministry of Health confirmed using their ID numbers. About 2,000 more children have been killed but their identities have not been confirmed. Israel's military launched its offensive after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel and killed 1,200 people.
| 6 out of 10 dead children were no more than 12 years old | ||
| Identified children | ||
| Children | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 1 year old | ||
| Between 1 and 2 years old | ||
| Between 3 and 5 years old | ||
| Between 6 and 11 years old | ||
| Between 12 and 17 years old | ||
| Source: Gaza Health Ministry (GHM). Data as of March 23, 2025 | ||
Israel has since launched air strikes and a ground invasion, severely restricted deliveries of food aid, and attacked hospitals and water treatment plants, making the war one of the deadliest assaults on a civilian population in modern history.
The official death toll, recorded by Gaza’s Ministry of Health, has been historically cited by the UN as well as global human rights organisations - but is disputed by Israel. The actual death toll is probably far higher. Thousands remain missing, mass graves are still being found, and, with Gaza’s healthcare system in ruins, counting the dead is nearly impossible.
Before the war, children comprised nearly half of Gaza’s population – making it one of the youngest societies in the world. Now, they are among its greatest casualties.
Despite global outcry, the war rages on. The ripple effects of the siege on daily life and all that is required to sustain it on those surviving are staggering. For Gaza’s children, the war has stolen birthdays, school days, limbs, parents – everything that defines our humanity.
In this essay, The National tracks some of these milestones to make sense of the scale of loss in Gaza. By estimating what a child might have experienced over the course of a full life, you can begin to grasp not just how many children have died, but how much life has been taken with them. It’s an attempt to count the uncountable and to put shape and meaning to stolen futures.
Birthdays lost
Birthdays lost
Based on the known date of death and documented birth dates, we know that:
15,613 birthdays in Gaza have been lost
Birthdays are among the most anticipated occasions in a person's life, even more so during childhood. With every passing year - each feeling shorter than the last - children stretch the limits of their patience, waiting for the gifts and extra love and attention they will receive from the closest people in their lives.
But more than blowing out the candles on a cake and tearing wrapping paper away from the surprises beneath, birthdays are the expression and celebration of another year of life, measured in memories, achievements and experiences.
In 2025, 11 per cent of the children killed in the war would have taken their first steps, said their first words, and experienced their first years of life. Another 12 per cent would have become adults.
Alexandra Saieh, head of Humanitarian policy and advocacy at Save the Children, told The National: "When children miss celebrating their critical milestones, it also robs them of their identity. It impacts how they identify with themselves and the experiences around them.
"In Gaza, hundreds of children never celebrated their first birthday because they were killed. Many never celebrated or experienced saying their first words or taking their first steps. Many parents also experienced the deaths of their children before they reached these critical milestones."
Alexandra Saieh
Save the Children
| How old would they be in 2025? | ||
| Registered children | ||
| Children | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 years old | ||
| 4 to 6 years old | ||
| 7 to 11 years old | ||
| 12 to 17 years old | ||
| more than 18 years old | ||
| Source: Gaza Health Ministry (GHM). Data as of March 23, 2025 | ||
Meals lost
Meals lost
In every part of the world, childhood is punctuated by meals. A sleepy but rushed breakfast before school, lunchboxes packed with care, and dinner at a family table – the setting for bonds to be formed, days to be shared and a moment of simply being together. These routines are invaluable in a child’s life, offering important structure and a sense of security.
But in Gaza, thousands of children will never experience those moments again.
Based on an average 75-year lifespan in Gaza, a person would be expected to consume 85,045 meals.
Between October 2023 and March 2025, at least 876 babies under the age of one were killed. Had they lived, they would have shared an estimated 82,125 meals with their families over the course of their childhoods – meals that have been lost forever.
Even before the war, more than 75 per cent of Palestinians in Gaza - many of whom lived in extreme poverty - depended on UN food assistance.
The blockade imposed by Israel weakened the strip's economy and closures of crossings, restrictions on imports and exports, as well as limited access to utilities including electricity, water and fuel, led to widespread unemployment, poverty and the stifling of businesses. It also caused food shortages.
In 2022, 64.3 per cent of Gaza's population was classified as moderately or severely food insecure.
Now, after the expiry of a ceasefire, the situation is catastrophic. With aid cut off since March, farmland bombed, food prices soaring, and markets emptying, most families are surviving on one or fewer meals per day.
For children in Gaza, hunger is turning into a slow death. Malnutrition causes stunting and wasting – conditions that hinder both physical and mental development.
A report by the World Food Programme in late March said: "Hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are again at risk of severe hunger and malnutrition as humanitarian food stocks in the Strip dwindle and borders remain closed to aid."
The UN previously warned that 1.1 million people in Gaza were at risk of famine.
These figures, however, cannot capture all that has been lost. They do not speak of the smell of a home-cooked meal and the chatter of loved ones gathering, nor of the devastation of a family shattered by war.
Playtimes lost
Playtimes lost
Educide – or scholasticide - is the mass destruction of a country or region’s educational infrastructure through war, invasion, or terrorism.
It is an atrocity that some academics and human rights groups have accused Israel of committing against the people of Gaza after the destruction of more than 90 per cent of the strip’s schools, along with every university.
The obliteration of the education system has not only halted learning and development for over 625,000 school-age children – it has shattered their sense of community and identity, and hope for the future.
Beyond academics, school provides routine and structure while encouraging independence and fostering social skills through interactions with adults and other children, including by playing.
Based on the day and age they were killed, Israeli attacks have stolen an average of 1,760 hours of playtime per child.
Play is not a luxury. It’s a vital part of cognitive and emotional development. Children learn through play, connect through it, and express their trauma in it, learning to communicate, process emotions and make sense of the world.
According to Save the Children, the consequences of this deprivation are devastating:
'There is an immense risk of irreparable mental harm that children in Gaza face now because they've been deprived of regular schooling, of play time, of a sense of safety and security'
Alexandra Saieh
Save the Children
Ms Saieh said: "This will cause not just immediate emotional distress, but potentially trauma that will be felt for generations to come. Trauma can be passed down through generations, and we're talking about an entire generation of children that have been deprived that normalcy, that sense of safety and security that children all over the world do have."
The war has stolen not only education but also the fundamental space to be a child. What remains is a generation of young people grieving or even unaware of what they have lost and what they could have been.
Hugs lost
Hugs lost
A hug is one of the simplest yet most profound human gestures.
When a baby is born, hugging plays a vital role in emotional bonding with its mother.
Scientists say hugs can provide health benefits, including reducing fear, stress, and pain. In 2020, academics from Japan's Toho University measured the effects of hugs on infants. The results, published in the science journal Cell, found that babies and children were soothed by hugs - specifically a "medium pressure" hug from a parent.
Hugging relieves feelings of loneliness, isolation, and anger. It also releases the hormone oxytocin, known as the "love hormone".
American psychotherapist and social worker, Virginia Satir, said: “We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth.”
If we assume each child in Gaza receives a minimum of four hugs per day, then Israel stole an average of more than 96,000 hugs per child based on the age and day they were killed, accumulating a total of more than 1.5 million lifetime hugs stolen from Gaza.
Lives lost
Lives lost
The death toll in Gaza places it among the deadliest conflicts in recent history.
Before the war, Gaza had a population of about 2.23 million. The current death toll, which has exceeded 50,000, represents over 2.2 per cent of the population in a very short period. The intensity of the violence in Gaza is also comparable to some of the most devastating conflicts in the 20th and 21st centuries, including:
• First World War: more than 16 million people killed, accounting for about 1.7 per cent to 2.3 per cent of the population in 4 years.
• Rwandan Genocide: approximately 800,000 people killed, comprising 10 per cent of the population, in 100 days
• Syrian Civil War: over 500,000 people killed, accounting for 2.18 per cent of the population, in 13 years
The war on Gaza is therefore one of the most concentrated tragedies in modern warfare.
Before October 7 2023, Gaza’s population was roughly the same as Paris, France. The loss of more than 50,000 lives is equivalent to wiping out two full districts of the French capital. Such a scale of death is hard to comprehend, but it underscores the unimaginable tragedy unfolding in Gaza.
No end in sight
No child will emerge from the horrors of bombardment without the imprint of trauma, the UN has said. But many will not make it out at all, with no end in sight to the conflict. Using the current data and trajectory of casualties, The National estimates the number of children's lives that could be lost if the war continues. The result? More than 37,300.
This war has not only taken lives, it has erased generations.
As tens of thousands continue to be denied the typical experiences that make up childhood – the sound of laughter in a classroom, being cared for by your parent and going out to play – what has been lost cannot be captured by numbers alone. Instead, Gaza's children have been forced into survival mode, and many will not make it out of the war at all.
Data and methods
Child deaths
This story is primarily led by data provided by Gaza’s Health Ministry on March 24, 2025. The file contained basic information (age, birth date, name, and ID number) on the 50,021 identified people who died from October 2023 to March 23, 2025.
People aged 0-17 were considered children.
The figure "32 children killed a day" is based on 17,400 identified and unidentified children recorded by the ministry from October 7, 2023 to March 31, 2025 (541 days).
Stolen life
To calculate the stolen milestones, we used the following information:
- Life expectancy: 75 years, based on: “Life expectancy losses in the Gaza Strip during the period October 2023, to September 2024.”
- Number of meals: At least three meals a day for children aged one to 17 years old and eight meals a day for babies under a year old.
- Playtime hours: 1 hour per school day, with at least 210 school days per year, based on the Palestinian education system. Children aged 6 to 17 years old are assumed to be of schooling age.
- Hugs: 4 hugs a day (minimum), according to author and family therapist Virginia Satir: "We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth."
The information above is informed by the data in the table below:
| Children's lives in numbers | |||
| Cumulative values | |||
| Age | Meals taken | Playtime hours | Hugs received |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Life expectancy | |||
Projected cumulative child deaths
The estimated total number of child deaths is calculated by multiplying the number of identified child deaths by the ratio of unidentified to identified deaths, based on the most recent data (March 2025).
Identified child deaths (projection)
Proportion of unidentified to identified child deaths
Identified and unidentified child deaths (projection)
Words: Fadah Jassem and Juman Jarallah
Data: Isaac Arroyo
Editor: Fadah Jassem
Graphics and Illustrations: Aneesh Grigary and Roy Cooper
Design Nick Donaldson
Sub Editor Richard Chimbiri
*Additional reporting by Nilanjana Gupta
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