The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported this Friday that nearly 600 children were killed or injured by the offensive launched on March 2 by Israel against Lebanon, including more than 30 dead and nearly 150 injured by the wave of bombings carried out on Wednesday by Israeli troops against different parts of the country, including the center of the capital, Beirut.
“The violence in Lebanon continues to have devastating consequences for children,” said the organization, which noted that it receives reports about the rescue of children “among the rubble” after the latest Israeli bombings, while “others remain missing or separated from their families.” “Many are suffering trauma after losing loved ones, their homes and any sense of security,” he added.
In that sense, he recalled that “across the country, more than a million people were displaced, including some 390,000 boys and girls, many of them for the second, third or even fourth time,” while insisting that “International Humanitarian Law is clear: the civilian population, including boys and girls, must be protected at all times.”
Almost 600 girls and boys killed or injured in Lebanon.
Intolerable level of violence after the recent wave of attacks: https://t.co/k0RP5mEBMF pic.twitter.com/LTd9t2Vh4w— UNICEF Spain (@unicef_es) April 10, 2026
“All parties to the conflict must take all possible precautions to protect the civilian population and civilian infrastructure, and ensure safe, sustained and unhindered humanitarian access,” he noted, before calling for an end to the use of “explosive weapons with wide-ranging effects in densely populated areas,” as they “represent a deadly threat to children.”
In this context, he indicated that his teams are working in Beirut caring for “numerous children injured” by the attacks and stressed that he is expanding his emergency response “as needs increase.” “Our teams are helping to distribute essential supplies to shelters, medical supplies to public health centers, and mobile units are providing urgent care to displaced families,” he stressed.
UNICEF warnings
UNICEF also warned that “although ceasefire efforts elsewhere have brought some relief,” referring to the two-week truce agreed between the United States and Iran, “ongoing military activity in Lebanon represents a serious risk to that ceasefire and to efforts toward lasting, comprehensive peace in the region.” “The boys and girls in Lebanon cannot be left behind,” he concluded.
For its part, the non-governmental organization Save the Children regretted that Lebanon is going through a deepening crisis after the wave of Israeli bombings, with “many children separated from their families and loved ones,” according to Yara Hamadeh, senior manager of Advocacy, Media and Campaigns of the NGO in the country.
“There is enormous uncertainty, fear and anguish in the country. Many people say that what happened reminded them of the Beirut explosion in 2020. The attacks came without prior warning and very close to civilian areas,” he said. “Everyone in Lebanon will remember the exact time and details of what happened. In a matter of one minute, life can change completely,” he added, before noting that the information points to “more than a hundred airstrikes in less than ten minutes.”
Hamadeh noted that Save the Children teams “work day and night” to reunite the children with their families, although he acknowledged that “many people lost their lives in the bombings or later in hospitals.” “We know that there are minors among them, although there is still no definitive figure because the number of victims continues to increase. All this is happening in a country already devastated by war, with public services at their limit,” he said.
“A boy repeated to our team that he just wants everything to go back to the way it was before. The boys want to go back to their homes, to their routines, to their families. Being a humanitarian worker is the only thing that helps me cope with this as a Lebanese,” she said. “To feel that I contribute something, that I help, that I accompany, especially the children. Maintain hope that one day we will not be responding only to crises. Raise our voice and make visible what is happening in Lebanon,” he concluded.
Photo: Xinhua/Ali Hashisho
Lebanese authorities reported that nearly 1,900 people were killed and more than 6,000 injured as a result of Israel’s offensive, including more than 300 dead and 1,100 injured in the wave of attacks on Wednesday, just hours after Pakistan, as a mediating country, announced a ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran that, Islamabad initially indicated, should cover the entire Middle East region.
Condemnations for Israeli expansion in the West Bank
The Palestinian Authority condemned this Thursday the approval of 34 new settlements in the West Bank by Israel, which so far has not confirmed the measure, and asked the United States to act “immediately” to pressure the Israeli Government and put an end to what it described as a “dangerous escalation” against the Palestinian people.
“The Palestinian Presidency condemned the approval by the Israeli occupation authorities of the construction of 34 new settlements in the West Bank, considering it a dangerous escalation and a flagrant violation of International Law and UN resolutions,” he said in a statement posted on social networks, where he recalled that “all” settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territories “is illegal.”
The organization warned that “this dangerous decision represents a new step by Israel towards the implementation of annexation, expansion and displacement plans, the consequences of which will fall on the far-right Israeli Government, which insists on fueling conflicts in the region and dragging it into a new cycle of violence and escalation.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye reported in a statement:
-The approval of 34 new settlements in the occupied West Bank by the Netanyahu Government constitutes a serious violation of international law and UN resolutions
-Israel is… pic.twitter.com/uP2jxjn8mw— TRT Spanish (@trt_espanol) April 9, 2026
In this context, he called on the international community in general and the Government of Donald Trump in particular “to intervene immediately in order to stop these dangerous unilateral measures and pressure the occupation authorities to put an end to their policies of escalation and the continued violations against the Palestinian people and their territory.”
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) also spoke out on this issue, stating that the measure “confirms once again the plans and crimes of the occupation aimed at Judaizing the Palestinian territory, within the framework of the policy of annexation and imposition of fait accompli on the ground, in a context of taking advantage of the regional situation and international distraction.”
“We affirm that this plan is null and void, it will not change the reality on the ground in any way or grant legitimacy to the occupation. Our Palestinian people remain firm on their land and cling to their national rights, and the terrorism and barbarity of the criminal enemy will not deter them from confronting and frustrating the policies of Judaization and annexation,” he said in a statement published in ‘Filastin’, in which he asked the international community to “act urgently to stop the Government of the war criminal (Benjamin) Netanyahu.”
Jordan’s firm repudiation
Jordan joined the criticism, maintaining that this step by Israel implies “a flagrant violation of International Law” and “undermines the two-state solution and the right of the Palestinian people to establish an independent and sovereign State on the borders of June 4, 1967, with its capital in East Jerusalem.”
Jordanian Foreign Ministry spokesman Fuad al-Mayali expressed Amman’s “absolute rejection” and “firm condemnation” of “any attempt by Israel to impose its control over the occupied West Bank,” as well as “all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian land occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem.”
Along these lines, he recalled that “Israel does not have sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian lands” and that “all Israeli measures in the West Bank are illegitimate and illegal”, for which he called on the international community to “assume its legal and moral responsibilities”, “force Israel to stop its expansionist policies” and “guarantee the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to establish their independent State.”
Photo: Xinhua/Ali Hashisho
These statements come hours after the Commission against the Wall and Settlements and human rights organizations such as Yesh Din and Peace Now revealed that the Israeli security cabinet approved the creation of 34 new settlements in the West Bank. The decision would have been made in a meeting held two weeks ago, according to the Israeli newspaper ‘The Times of Israel’, which recalled that these meetings are confidential and that the Government has not yet officially confirmed the measure.
If completed, the initiative would raise to 103 the total number of settlements built or legalized since the current Government took office in December 2022, a figure well above the six approved in the previous 30 years, according to the same medium.
International Law considers all settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories illegal, although the Government of Israel distinguishes between those that have official authorization and those that do not, the latter being the only ones that it considers illegal, despite criticism from the international community and the rulings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in this regard.
GS with information from Xinhua and Europa Press
