Occupied Palestinian territory

Ruba* 31, is a Save the Children staff member in the West Bank, in the occupied Palestinian territory. On Mothers’ Day 2026, she was travelling with her two-month-old daughter to visit her mother when her car was violently attacked by Israeli settlers.

Shurouq, 32, is a Save the Children staff member in Gaza. Shurouq lost her husband after he was killed in the first weeks of the war. Along with her 3-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Karmel*, Shurouq has been displaced many times during the war.

The bodies of 40 children were among 112 Palestinian people buried today in Gaza, in one of the largest collective funerals in the occupied Palestinian Territory since conflict erupted in October 2023.

As World Breastfeeding Week begins, Save the Children and its partners in Gaza are diagnosing high rates of malnutrition in pregnant and breastfeeding women, with rates particularly bad in northern Gaza. Some mothers are resorting to feeding their children water mixed with ground chickpeas or tahini, while others are stopping breastfeeding earlier than they would prefer, due to difficulties and lack of support.

More than 74,000 children under five in Gaza will suffer acute malnutrition in the year to April 2027, according to new data, highlighting that the crisis remains catastrophic with children paying the highest price.

At least 19 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied Palestinian territory so far in July, with four children reportedly killed in Gaza this morning, with attacks near-daily despite a ceasefire.

"The surge in Israeli settlers’ attacks is not a surprise. The deafening silence of the international community is. Palestinian children are constantly living in fear and terror from Israeli forces and the settlers. Unprotected with no means of keeping them safe. This cycle of violence must be stopped."

Four Palestinian children have reportedly been killed and several injured by Israeli forces over the past six days, including a 10 year old in a tent in Gaza today, said Save the Children. The child rights organisation called once again for urgent international intervention.

After 1,000 days of war, children in Gaza said they had lost homes, schools and a sense of safety but not their hopes for the future with even the ongoing violence failing to stop them from dreaming of peace and careers to help them rebuild their communities.

The King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF) and Save the Children Jordan have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance mental health and psychosocial support services for children with cancer from Gaza who are receiving treatment at the King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC), as well as their caregivers.

In this staff account, Shurouq shares the reality of Gaza’s worsening food crisis after 1,000 days of war. Families face soaring food prices, aid restrictions, destroyed farmland, extreme heat, and pests, making it increasingly difficult to access nutritious food and meet basic needs while struggling to survive daily.

Israeli forces have reportedly killed seven Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank in the week since a UN Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israeli authorities and security forces have been deliberately targeting Palestinian children.

The report has concluded that Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in the West Bank.

Israeli authorities announced earlier today that they are closing border crossings into the Gaza Strip, including Kerem Shalom and Rafah, until further notice.

Save the Children staff have spoken with families who are too afraid to sleep at night, worried their children will be bitten by rats.

Students supported by Save the Children have been blocked from entering their school by an illegal barbed-wire fence, erected by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

Scorecard from humanitarian organisations assessing core civilian protection and humanitarian access provisions of the ceasefire plan reveals failure.

Shurouq, 31, is a Save the Children staff member in Gaza. Shurouq lost her husband after he was killed in the first weeks of the war. Along with her 3-year-old daughter, Karmel*, Shurouq has been displaced many times during the war.

Children in Gaza are holding funerals with dolls and turning war into a playtime game as violence becomes part of daily life after nearly two and a half years of war.

Save the Children analysis of UN data on settler violence in the West Bank found 685 children were displaced in the first three months of 2026, compared to an average of 63 across the same period in the three previous years

Food prices have surged in some of the most food-insecure countries in the Middle East and wider region due to the ongoing conflict, threatening to push the most vulnerable families further into hunger as Eid approaches.

Ramadan in Gaza this year is like no other. Ramadan is a time during which we celebrate life, reflect and come together with our families and loved ones. But this is the third Ramadan since the start of the war, and the painful reality of what we have endured over the last two and a half years is slowly sinking in. The tables are incomplete this year, not only because of what is missing from the plates, but because of who is missing from the chairs.

The current rate of evacuation means it would take 4.5 years for the 20,000 people including 4,000 children needing medical care to leave Gaza, Save the Children said.

The partial opening of the Rafah border has created a sense of disappointment across Gaza with families and children in urgent need of medical evacuation being left in limbo waiting for news, Save the Children said.

“The intensity of the recent airstrikes feel like the beginning of another wave of deadly violence. As we wait for Rafah to open, we must keep our eyes on the suffering across Gaza.”

Nearly two years since the Rafah crossing was closed in May 2024, people in Gaza are anxiously awaiting news of its potential reopening following the discovery of the last remaining hostage. The crossing has become the focus of renewed hope as families wait for the possibility of medical evacuations, education opportunities for students, reunification, and the movement of urgently needed aid.

A year on since 32,000 people, including 12,000 children in the West Bank were displaced by Israeli forces, children are showing signs of mental deterioration including bedwetting, refusing to eat and declining academic performance.

Children in Gaza are being killed by collapsing buildings and freezing cold temperatures as tents that are the sole shelter for families are blown away in strong winds, Save the Children said

Children in Gaza have entered 2026 facing ongoing storms and flooding that have ripped tents and left them exposed to water-borne diseases with an urgent need for supplies to rebuild shelters, Save the Children said.

Save the Children is calling on the Government of Israel to urgently reconsider new registration rules for international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) that could undermine the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance.

Israel’s aid restrictions mean that severe winter weather is cutting children in Gaza off from much-needed child protection and psychosocial support services, Save the Children said, as storms began again today

Israeli military operations have forced entire communities in areas of the northern West Bank into lockdown in their homes, keeping children out of school, jeopardising family incomes and increasing risk of physical violence and child detention from the Israeli military, Save the Children said.

Children in Gaza are sleeping on the bare ground with no shelter, in flimsy shorts and t-shirts that are sodden with sewage water after their tents flooded in a weekend of heavy rains, putting them at risk of disease, Save the Children said

One month after an agreed pause in hostilities in Gaza, children and families’ lives remain in limbo, with people unable to start repairs to homes without equipment and many scared to move due to unexploded ordinance or the fear of further airstrikes, Save the Children said.

“This cannot become the new normal under a ceasefire. A lasting ceasefire must mean safety, relief, and recovery for children not continued suffering. It must be fully respected and upheld."

The announcement of a pause in hostilities offers a moment of hope for children and families in Gaza. But while it provides a brief respite, it is not enough.

From destroyed homes and playgrounds to dreams of becoming doctors, writers, and fashion designers, children in Gaza have expressed how two years of war have reshaped their lives and risk shattering their dreams in a series of drawings released today by Save the Children

Reports of an impending pause in hostilities in Gaza signals a hopeful reprieve on the horizon for families and children, but must be a turning point to secure a definitive ceasefire, said Save the Children.

Shurouq, 31, is a Save the Children staff member in Gaza. Since October 2023, she has been displaced eight times after losing her husband in the first weeks of the war. In September 2025, under relentless Israeli bombardment, she left her home in Gaza City with Karmel*, her 3-year-old daughter. In this account, she tells us about the impact of two years of relentless violence and multiple displacements on her and her daughter.

The leaders of over 20 major aid groups in Gaza call for urgent intervention after a UN commission concluding, for the first time, that genocide is being committed.