Developments in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel

The plight of Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, has become more precarious since the previous reporting period, as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict intensified, with hostilities focusing on the Gaza Strip in mid-2006. From 1 November 2005 to 30 September 2006, an estimated 93 children, 83 in Gaza and 10 in the West Bank, were killed by Israeli forces. Between 28 June and 30 September 2006, since the start of the Israeli “Operation Summer Rains”, United Nations agencies working in the Occupied Palestinian Territory estimate that 289 Palestinians were killed, of whom 65 per cent were children, and over 1,261 injured in the Gaza Strip, of whom 189 were children, with 42 children killed in July alone.

Two Israeli children were reported killed as a result of separate Palestinian attacks on civilian areas in March 2006. Additionally, communities living close to the Gaza Strip border, particularly the city of Sderot, endure regular, often daily, home-made rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.

As at 30 September 2006, 389 Palestinian children, including two 12-year-old boys, had been detained by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, often following transport of the children out of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and into Israel. A field survey of former child detainees, provided by a United Nations agency, estimated that 60 per cent of the children interviewed were reported to have been subjected to physical coercion or inducement to collaborate with Israeli authorities.

Recent incursions and shelling as well as direct military attacks have damaged schools and health facilities. Restricted access to health-care providers has resulted in the serious deterioration of health and health services and, consequently, the health status of Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. On 17 July 2006, Israel Defense Forces bulldozers demolished the boundary walls of the clinic operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Beit Hanun, Gaza. Direct air attacks on schools caused extensive damage and injury; shrapnel landed inside schools and school compounds during operations in the vicinity of schools; and Israel Defense Forces soldiers forcibly entered schools, causing destruction and detaining students and teachers in schools.

The Barrier and its associated regime, such as the Seam Zone permit system, and checkpoints, which restrict the freedom of movement of Palestinians, has deepened concerns about Palestinian access to medical services and schools within the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and between East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank.

There is an increased exposure to unexploded ordnance owing to the recent military operations by the Israel Defense Forces.

Press Releases by the Special Representative:

For more information, visit UNICEF's web pages on the Occupied Palestinian Territory as well as the UN News Center

* Information based on the 2006 report of the Secretary General to the Security Council (A/61/529-S/2006/826) issued on 26 October 2006