UN condemns child death toll from Israel’s West Bank operations

The United Nations condemned on Tuesday (May 12, 2026) the toll from swelling Israeli military operations and settler attacks in the occupied West Bank on children, with 70 Palestinian children killed since early 2025.

“Children are paying an intolerable price for escalating military operations and settler attacks across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” UN children’s agency spokesman James Elder told reporters.

Since January 2025, when Israel began a large-scale military operation in the West Bank, “at least one Palestinian child has been killed on average every single week” there, he said, adding that another 850 children had been injured during that period.

“Most of those killed or wounded were done by live ammunition,” he said.

Children shot, stabbed, beaten

Mr. Elder said that Israeli forces were responsible for a full 93% of the children killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since January 2025, but also pointed to “historic levels of settler attacks”.

According to the UN, March 2026 saw the highest number of Palestinians injured by Israeli settlers in at least 20 years, he said, pointing to “documented incidents (including) children shot, stabbed… beaten”.

Mr. Elder, who recently returned from the West Bank, told the story of one eight-year-old boy, who was asleep when settlers attacked his village.

“His family home had been demolished two months earlier, so he was sleeping outside,” he said, adding that the boy “was beaten with a piece of wood and hospitalised for head injuries”.

The boy’s mother, meanwhile “had both her arms broken when she reached across to protect her four-month-old baby”, he said.

Mr. Elder highlighted that the violent attacks were taking place against the backdrop of the “steady dismantling of the conditions children need to survive and grow”.

“Homes are demolished, education is destroyed, water systems are attacked, access to healthcare is obstructed, movement is restricted,” he said.

A dramatic spike in the number of barriers and restrictions imposed across the West Bank meanwhile meant children were “routinely cut off from schools, from hospitals and other essential services”, he said.