Content warning: This article describes injury to children and may be distressing. The stories are shared with permission.
Ahmed*, aged 10, was playing outside with friends when an airstrike hit a nearby house. A piece of shrapnel struck his leg and shattered the bone. Several of the friends he was playing with were killed in the same strike.
Ahmed has since undergone multiple surgeries. An external metal fixator now supports his leg as it heals. His father, Mohammed*, says the war has had a devastating impact on his son's mental and physical health.
Save the Children's Emergency Health Unit is providing life‑saving healthcare to children and families like Ahmed’s in the Gaza Strip. But the scale of what children in Gaza are facing goes far beyond what any single organisation can meet alone.
What is happening to children in Gaza
The numbers are almost impossible to comprehend.
More than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza since October 2023 — around one child every hour over nearly two years of war. As of July 2025, over 40,500 children are estimated to have been injured.
Gaza is now home to the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history.
In the ten weeks after October 2023 alone, over 1,000 children lost one or both legs. Throughout 2024, explosive weapons caused an average of 475 children each month to sustain potentially lifelong disabilities — amputations, burns, complex fractures, traumatic brain injuries and hearing loss.
At least 21,000 children now live with permanent disabilities as a result of the conflict.
In an area where 2.2 million people are confined to just 365 square kilometres, there is nowhere safe to go.
97% of schools in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. The health system has collapsed. Many children undergo operations without adequate anaesthesia. Prosthetic centres are no longer functioning. Only 12% of essential mobility equipment — like wheelchairs and crutches — is available.
Doctors have coined a term for children who arrive at hospitals entirely alone, with no family left to comfort or advocate for them: WCNSF — Wounded Child, No Surviving Family.
What Save the Children is doing in Gaza right now
Despite extreme danger and the destruction of critical infrastructure, Save the Children has maintained operations in Gaza throughout the conflict.
Our Emergency Health Unit is delivering life‑saving medical care directly to children and families.
We have provided:
- cash assistance so families can buy food, medicine and essential supplies
- clean water where water systems have been destroyed
- child‑friendly spaces offering psychosocial support
The barriers our teams face
The siege of Gaza has severely limited the flow of humanitarian supplies. Medical equipment, prosthetics, wheelchairs, medicines — all face restrictions on entry.
The health system that would normally treat severe injuries has been effectively dismantled. Operations are sometimes performed without proper pain relief. Children are discharged with no access to prosthetics or follow‑up care. Chronic pain — which research shows can persist long after physical wounds heal — often goes untreated.
Dr Ghassan Abu‑Sittah, a surgeon specialising in blast injuries in children, spent 45 days operating in Gaza. He described babies who had suffered amputations before they had learned to walk, and children whose damaged growth plates will affect their development for decades. “By their 20s or 30s they may need joint replacements,” he said — procedures typically associated with people in their 70s or 80s.
Gaza, he said, is redefining war injuries.
Why we are calling for change
Humanitarian response alone is not enough.
Save the Children has campaigned for a definitive ceasefire — and more than 100,000 people signed our petition calling for action to protect children. Young people from our Young Peacemakers Assembly wrote an open letter urging a ceasefire and suspension of arms sales. Over 60,000 people signed it before it was delivered to the Prime Minister.
Clearing explosive ordnance from Gaza is expected to take a decade and cost hundreds of millions of pounds. Rebuilding a healthcare system capable of supporting thousands of children with complex, lifelong injuries will take far longer.
What you can do
Ahmed is still recovering. Thousands of children like him are waiting for care that may not come for months or years.
Save the Children is on the ground in Gaza, and we are not leaving. But the scale of need — emergency care, rehabilitation, psychosocial support and protection — far exceeds what humanitarian organisations can deliver alone.
A monthly gift enables us to plan ahead, sustain our teams and support children not only through the immediate crisis but the long recovery that follows.
*Names have been changed to protect identities.
Frequently asked questions
Is Save the Children a reputable charity for Gaza?
Save the Children has operated in the occupied Palestinian territory for decades and has remained in Gaza throughout the conflict. We run emergency health units and primary healthcare centres, and we are registered with the Fundraising Regulator. We publish full financial accounts annually, showing exactly how donations are used.
How does Save the Children spend donations for Gaza?
Donations support emergency healthcare through our health units, cash assistance for families, clean water provision, safe spaces for children, and primary healthcare centres. They also fund advocacy work — essential for securing long‑term protection and change. Full details are available in our annual report.
What is happening to children in Gaza right now?
As of early 2026, more than 20,000 children have been killed since October 2023, and at least 21,000 are living with permanent disabilities. Nearly all schools have been damaged or destroyed, and the healthcare system has been severely degraded, leaving many children unable to access surgery, prosthetics or rehabilitation. Save the Children continues to provide emergency care and advocate for children’s protection — but the scale of need far exceeds available support.
