Gaza Ministry Logs 54,468 Children Who Lost Parents Since 2023

Mariam, 16, Aya, 14, and Jebril, 12, pack their belongings every two days to move from one aunt’s tent to another in central Gaza.

The Palestinian Ministry of Social Development recorded 54,468 children who lost at least one parent in the territory since October 2023. The ministry’s registry lists a total of 71,000 orphans and 64,000 widows, a count that includes victims of earlier Israeli military attacks.

The Abu Asser siblings lost their father during the 2014 offensive. They sheltered with their mother, Islam, in Deir al-Balah after the war began in 2023 destroyed their home in Gaza City. An Israeli bomb hit the tent on the nineteenth day of the ceasefire that took effect on 10 October 2025, killing Islam in front of the children. Jebril was sitting in his mother’s lap when the blast struck and was injured.

Aunt Warda al-Muzeini stated that the children have no stable home. They primarily stay with their paternal grandmother but rotate between maternal aunts for two nights at a time. Muzeini lost her husband in an air strike and now raises four children alone without a job or reliable income. She reports struggling to provide one meal a day. Another aunt is also a widow, and the sisters share expenses, with one buying pyjamas, another slippers, and another providing pocket money.

Aziza al-Kahlout, the ministry spokesperson, said the statistics do not capture the daily suffering. She explained that a child who loses both parents loses care, safety, and education while being forced to carry adult responsibilities. Women acting as sole breadwinners face the dual burden of providing for and raising children amidst devastation.

Kahlout warned of growing risks of child labour, school dropout, and early marriage driven by poverty and displacement. She noted that orphaned children are especially exposed as economic conditions worsen and adequate shelter remains scarce.

Wafaa al-Attar, now 13, lost her entire family in a single blast on 22 February 2024. She was 10 when she left her home in Deir al-Balah to charge her father’s phone at her uncle’s house. A massive blast hit the multi-storey building, killing her father Ahmed, her mother Khouloud, and four siblings: Rital, eight, Muhammed, five, Obada, three, and nine-month-old Yazan.

Attar suffered minor shrapnel injuries and was hospitalized. Her uncle told her the family had died, and she fell silent for two or three hours. She later moved in with her uncle, his wife, and their newborn. Attar said she wished she had been in the house when it was bombed and acknowledged that no one could replace her family.