Gaza Health Ministry Reports 60,000 Children Orphaned Amid Strikes

The Ministry of Health of Gaza reported that 60,737 children have lost at least one parent since the conflict began in October 2023. The agency stated that 52,095 children lost their fathers, 5,929 lost their mothers, and 2,713 lost both. Additionally, 2,276 families have been completely wiped from the civil registry, with the total death toll in Gaza surpassing 73,000.

Despite a ceasefire agreement established in October 2025, the ministry reports over 1,100 deaths from continued Israeli strikes. On July 30, 2026, further airstrikes killed at least four Palestinians, including an eight-year-old girl in Khan Younis and an 18-month-old baby in the Bureij refugee camp. The Israeli military stated these strikes targeted Hamas members.

These escalations coincide with stalled ceasefire negotiations in Cairo involving Hamas and mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkiye. Negotiations remain deadlocked over Israel's failure to withdraw from Gaza and Hamas's refusal to disarm. Concurrently, a June 23 report from a United Nations independent commission found that Israeli authorities deliberately targeted children, amounting to genocide and war crimes. Israel has rejected these accusations as scandalous.