ICSPR on Palestinian Children’s Day Childhood Under the Guillotine Genocide, Systematic Orphanhood, and a Future Besieged by Blood and Rubble
Date: April 3, 2025
Press Statement
ICSPR on Palestinian Children’s Day: Childhood Under the Guillotine Genocide, Systematic Orphanhood, and a Future Besieged by Blood and Rubble
Today, April 5, marks “Palestinian Children’s Day,” which was declared by the late President Yasser Arafat in 1995 to affirm commitment to the rights of Palestinian children and in recognition of their sacrifices, coinciding with “Orphan’s Day.”
This year comes as Palestinian children face the most brutal genocide in modern history, with Israeli occupation forces targeting their lives, bodies, and dreams, in complete disregard for all international conventions, particularly the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989. The Gaza Strip has effectively become a “graveyard for children,” as the killing machine has not been limited to direct targeting but has extended to the destruction of the entire living, psychological, and physical environment of a whole generation.
What children are experiencing today represents the peak of physical targeting. More than 14,500 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip alone, in addition to hundreds in the West Bank, while tens of thousands have been seriously injured. ICSPR is deeply alarmed by the rising number of children suffering from amputations, which has exceeded 1,000 cases, with children losing one or both limbs. This leaves them facing a bleak future amid the destruction of the healthcare system and the prevention of prosthetic entry or access to treatment abroad, effectively condemning them to lifelong disability imposed by the occupation.
This tragic reality coincides with the catastrophe of orphanhood that has shaken global conscience. Data indicates a shocking rise in the number of orphans in Gaza from 22,000 before the aggression to 64,616 children, including 826 “sole survivors” whose entire families were wiped out. All are left without family support in an environment lacking even the most basic elements of safety.
The tragedy does not stop at killing and orphanhood; it extends to fundamental rights such as health and education. The destruction of 90% of educational facilities has deprived more than 625,000 students in Gaza of schooling, turning schools into rubble or overcrowded shelters lacking basic human conditions. With the absence of safe drinking water and the collapse of environmental systems, children have become vulnerable to epidemics, skin diseases, hepatitis, and even the re-emergence of polio. Dozens have died as a result of the systematic starvation policy targeting their fragile bodies.
Meanwhile, Palestinian child detainees in the West Bank and Jerusalem continue to suffer, as occupation forces carry out arbitrary arrest campaigns against hundreds of children, subjecting them to abuse and torture in detention. At the same time, all children in Gaza are suffering from severe psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress due to repeated exposure to death and displacement, threatening the destruction of an entire generation’s psychological development.
In light of this comprehensive tragedy, the International Commission to Support Palestinian People’s Rights (ICSPR), while honoring all Palestinian children on this day, affirms that justice for them is not merely a slogan but a test of the credibility of international law, and that global silence is the fuel for the continuation of these crimes. Accordingly, ICSPR calls for the following:
- Urgent action by the international community and the United Nations to stop the genocide and provide immediate international protection for children.
- The International Criminal Court to open an urgent and independent investigation into crimes targeting children, including deliberate killings and the policy of forced amputations, as crimes against humanity.
- The World Health Organization and UNICEF to establish specialized medical centers for treating injured and amputee children, and to provide intensive psychological support for Gaza’s orphans.
- High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to pressure the occupation to release detained children and to cease targeting educational and health institutions.
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