Seventy Palestinian children have been killed in the West Bank since the start of Israeli operations in January 2025, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced today, clarifying that 93% of them were killed by Israeli forces.

“Children are paying an unbearable price due to the escalation of military operations and attacks across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said during a press conference in Geneva.

“Thus, from January 2025 to today, at least one Palestinian child has been killed on average every week in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, which is under Israeli control. This corresponds to 70 Palestinian children killed during this period,” he added, noting that a further 850 children were also injured during the same timeframe.

He clarified that 93% of the children who died were killed “by Israeli forces.”

For the majority of those killed or injured, this occurred “by live ammunition,” the UNICEF spokesperson said.

He stressed that UNICEF is calling on Israeli authorities “to take immediate and decisive measures to prevent further children from being killed or maimed and to protect their households, schools, and access to water, in accordance with international law.”

“UNICEF is also calling on member states with influence to use it to ensure respect for international law,” he said.

Violence in the West Bank has surged since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered by the deadly attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel. In January 2025, the Israeli army launched an “anti-terror operation” primarily targeting Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank.