"The smallest coffins are the hardest to carry." It is the cry in the eyes of parents embracing tiny, shattered bodies, repeated across social media and the news. It seems like a desperate howl that—in vain—echoes through Palestine, a futile attempt to cling to life, appealing to consciences.
Children in that region seem doomed to extermination at the hands of Israeli forces. And although the ceasefire was signed last October, it remains as dead a letter as the more than 21,284 children killed in Gaza and the West Bank between October 2023 and the first days of April 2026. This was reported by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) in connection with the commemoration of Palestinian Children’s Day on April 5th.
Of these, some 1,029 had not yet reached their first birthday, while 5,031 were under the age of five; which reflects, the report stated, "a veritable extermination of a generation that had not yet begun its life."
Bombs should not be the soundtrack of daily life for the youngest among us. Homes and schools should not be reduced to ashes, not even when they are empty. Learning to take cover from gunfire before learning to read or write is a reality. Smiling is a deferred longing when the priority is simply to see the dawn, to survive.
At what point did the targets of war become civilian facilities and human beings? It now seems, more than a collateral effect, a tool of combat.
It is just as terribly cruel to kill children with bombs as it is to do so through hunger, thirst, lack of medicine, depriving them of their fundamental rights, leaving them orphaned, causing them to lose one or more limbs, torturing them, or humiliating them.
According to the PCBS report, during this phase of a supposed cessation of hostilities—in which Israel has denied entry to humanitarian aid—an additional 157 children have died of starvation, and 25 more have died due to adverse weather conditions.
In February 2026 alone, 3,700 children were treated for malnutrition. Meanwhile, 60% of children between six and 23 months of age suffer from severe food insecurity.
Furthermore, it is estimated that at least 44,486 have been injured in the war, representing nearly 26% of all casualties. Of these, 10,500 have suffered injuries that have forever changed their lives, and 4,000 remain at risk of death.
In addition, with the ongoing attacks on Gaza and the deaths of some 72,289 Palestinians, more than 58,000 children have been left without parents.
"These figures confirm that what is happening constitutes a systematic attempt to annihilate an entire Palestinian generation, through a 'coalition of death' that includes indiscriminate bombings, starvation, a suffocating siege, and the harsh winter cold," emphasized the PCBS.
The harshest and, at the same time, most accurate description of what is happening amid this conflict—which dates back long before October 2023—is that expressed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres: the Gaza Strip is becoming a '"children’s graveyard."
Silence in the face of this genocide is also a form of murder.
