Gaza & West Bank: 2 Palestinian Children Killed

Two Palestinian children were killed Tuesday in separate incidents in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as tensions with Israel continue to escalate.

Gaza Strip Airstrike

Twelve-year-old Youssef Asaliya was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Jabalia, located in the northern Gaza Strip. His body was transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital in western Gaza City, according to Palestinian medical sources.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the strike, stating that troops identified a “terrorist who crossed the Yellow Line and approached the troops, posing an imminent threat to their safety.” The military said the “terrorist” was “eliminated in order to remove the threat.”

Additional Israeli airstrikes were reported east of the Gaza Strip, along with the arrest of two Palestinian fishermen off the coast, local sources and eyewitnesses said.

West Bank Incident

In the West Bank, one child was killed and another seriously injured by the explosion of unexploded ordnance left by the Israeli army in the central Jordan Valley, Palestinian security sources reported.

The IDF confirmed soldiers were dispatched to the area following a report of three Palestinians injured while “playing with unexploded ordnance.”

Rising Death Toll and International Criticism

Gaza-based health authorities reported that Israel has killed 603 people and injured 1,618 others in the Gaza Strip since a ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, 2025. The total death toll since the conflict began on Oct. 7, 2023, has reached 72,063, with 171,726 others injured.

The violence occurred amid renewed international criticism of Israeli settlement policy. Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East Philippe Lazzarini warned that “accelerating the dispossession of Palestinians & expanding Israeli settlements will do nothing to bring long-needed stability & peace to the region.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Israel to “reverse these measures,” urging all parties to “preserve the only path to lasting peace, a negotiated two-State solution in line with international law.” Israel seized control of the West Bank after the 1967 war and has established settlements there, a move deemed illegal by the international community.