UNICEF says more than 340 children killed in Gaza since ceasefire was announced

GENEVA — UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires said on Friday, 16 October, that more than 340 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire was announced, according to a report by Indonesian news agency Antara.

Pires spoke at a press briefing at the United Nations office in Geneva, Antara reported. All figures and statements in this report come from that single Antara account of the briefing. Zenga News has not independently verified them.

Attacks continue despite the ceasefire

According to Antara, Pires said Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip are still taking place even though a ceasefire is in force. He also said the territory remains under a blockade.

Pires said attacks over the past two weeks killed five boys and two girls, Antara reported. He said at least 33 children were seriously injured in the same period.

He also noted the deaths of two other children from injuries they had sustained, according to Antara. Antara's account does not say whether those two deaths are counted among the seven reported for the past two weeks.

Pires repeated that Israeli forces have killed more than 340 children and wounded hundreds of others since the ceasefire was announced, Antara reported. The report does not give a precise figure for the injured. It also does not say how UNICEF verified the numbers or what the circumstances of individual deaths were.

The ceasefire was announced in October 2025, according to Antara.

Displacement and loss of parents

Pires said about 800,000 children in Gaza remain displaced, according to Antara. He said most of them live in tents or in buildings damaged by bombing.

He also said about 60,000 children have lost one or both parents, either during the war or since the ceasefire took effect, Antara reported. According to the same account, nearly all children need mental health support to recover.

Antara reported that Pires described children in Gaza as now facing their fourth winter while struggling to survive. He said the ceasefire has improved food security to a limited extent. The effects of the war, he said, continue to touch every part of children's daily lives.

Education and funding

Pires said more than 560,000 children have returned to learning since the ceasefire was announced in October 2025, according to Antara. That figure includes children at more than 200 learning centres supported by UNICEF, the agency reported.

He also drew attention to the large number of essential services in Gaza that are still not operating, Antara reported. He said the funding currently available falls far short of what is needed to meet humanitarian needs.

Separate remarks from the World Health Organization

Antara also reported separate comments from World Health Organization spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic. He said one medical evacuation from Gaza was carried out on 12 October, according to the report.

Jasarevic said the United Nations is committed to supporting medical evacuations, Antara reported. He said the purpose is to let patients reach specialised medical care that is not available in the Gaza Strip. Antara did not report how many patients were evacuated or where they were taken.

What is not stated in the report

Antara's account does not include a response from the Israeli government or military to the figures given by Pires. It does not say whether Israeli authorities dispute the number of children killed or the description of the attacks.

The report also gives no breakdown of where the deaths occurred, no ages beyond the term "children", and no information on how the ceasefire terms are being applied. Those details were not part of the material available to Zenga News.

Background

Antara said the ceasefire in Gaza was announced in October 2025. The agency's account describes continued strikes and a continuing blockade since then, according to Pires.

The Antara report carried links to two related stories. One had the headline that more than 2,000 patients in Gaza died while waiting for treatment or evacuation. The other concerned UN concern about continued Israeli attacks on civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories. Zenga News has not reviewed those articles, and their contents are not reflected in this report.

UNICEF is the United Nations agency responsible for children's welfare. According to Antara, it supports more than 200 learning centres in Gaza. The briefing took place at the UN office in Geneva, where UN agencies regularly give updates to journalists.

Antara credited the report to a translator and an editor and noted that its coverage of the briefing was published on 18 October 2026. A photograph accompanying the original article showed an injured child being carried from the site of an Israeli air strike at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, according to the caption. The caption is dated 19 August 2026, which is earlier than the briefing described in the article.