Gaza is enduring the largest orphan crisis of our time. As the war drags into its 18th month, over 39,000 children have lost one or both parents. Around 17,000 of them are now completely alone. Behind every number is a child robbed not only of their family but also of their future.

This catastrophe, detailed by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics ahead of Palestinian Child Day, paints a bleak portrait of life in Gaza. The Israeli military campaign has killed more than 17,900 children. Some were infants, born and buried under the same rubble. Others died in tents, from cold, hunger, or wounds that could not be treated due to the collapse of the healthcare system. Many now bear lifelong injuries: amputations, blindness, deafness. And in a return to horrors once thought eradicated, polio has resurfaced due to a breakdown in vaccinations.

Childhood in Gaza has become a daily struggle to survive. Malnutrition is rampant, with nearly 60,000 children expected to suffer severe undernourishment. Hunger is not just a side effect of war—it has become a weapon, sharpened by siege and impunity.

In Israeli prisons, more than 350 Palestinian children are detained. The arrest and abuse of minors is part of a wider pattern of violations ignored by a world reluctant to hold the perpetrators accountable. In both Gaza and the West Bank, schools have been levelled, teachers killed, and students terrorised. More than 700,000 children in Gaza have been denied an education for two consecutive school years.

This is not just a humanitarian crisis—it is the deliberate destruction of a generation. And yet, the world watches in silence. Gaza’s children are asking the only question that matters: will anyone act before it’s too late?