'Israel' shoots, stabs, pepper-sprays children in West Bank, UN warns

• UNICEF says at least 70 Palestinian children have been killed in the occupied West Bank since January 2025.
• UN officials report a sharp increase in settler attacks, arrests, and school-related violence.
• WHO warns thousands of injured children in Gaza lack prosthetics and rehabilitation care.

Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank are facing escalating violence, including shootings, beatings, stabbings, and pepper-spray attacks, according to warnings issued Tuesday by the United Nations.

Speaking in Geneva, United Nations Children's Fund spokesperson James Elder said violence against children has intensified amid ongoing 'Israeli' military operations and a rise in settler attacks.

“We're seeing attacks become increasingly coordinated,” Elder told reporters. “Documented incidents include children shot, stabbed, children beaten, and children pepper-sprayed.”

UNICEF said at least 70 Palestinian children have been killed in the occupied West Bank since January 2025, averaging one child every week. Another 850 children have reportedly been injured, most by live ammunition.

The agency also warned that settler violence has reached unprecedented levels. According to UNICEF, March 2026 recorded the highest number of Palestinians injured in settler attacks in the past two decades.

Elder recounted meeting an eight-year-old Palestinian child hospitalized after being beaten with a wooden object during a settler attack. The boy’s mother reportedly suffered broken arms while shielding her four-month-old baby.

UN officials also raised concerns about attacks linked to education, including the killing, detention, and injury of students, alongside the demolition of schools.

“Schools, which should be places of safety and stability, are increasingly becoming places of panic,” Elder said.

He described accompanying children on their walk to school in the occupied West Bank, noting they constantly looked behind them in fear of possible attacks.

UNICEF further reported a sharp rise in the detention of Palestinian children by 'Israeli' authorities. According to the agency, 347 Palestinian minors are currently being held in 'Israeli' military detention facilities for alleged security-related offenses, the highest number recorded in eight years.

Of those detained, 180 are reportedly being held under administrative detention without regular access to legal counsel or the ability to challenge their detention in court.

In Gaza, the World Health Organization warned that thousands of children with severe injuries remain without adequate treatment or rehabilitation services.

WHO representative Reinhilde Van de Weerdt said around 10,000 children in Gaza are living with life-changing injuries.

The agency estimates that 43,000 of the 172,000 people injured in Gaza since October 2023 have suffered severe trauma affecting limbs, spinal cords, or the brain.

According to WHO, only a fraction of amputees in Gaza have received permanent prosthetic limbs due to severe shortages and restrictions on aid shipments entering the enclave.

More than 50,000 conflict-related injuries in Gaza currently require long-term rehabilitation, while no rehabilitation facilities remain operational, the agency added.