Source: Save the Children
At least 100 million children in countries directly impacted by the escalating violence in the Middle East and wider region face deepening fear, distress and the risk of physical harm and displacement, Save the Children said.
This is the most expansive conflict in the region in decades, impacting at least 15 countries with strikes destroying homes, schools and hospitals in some of the worst-affected countries. Children are at heightened risk of physical and mental harm, exploitation and abuse.
Nearly 200 children have been killed in the first five days, according to official and media reports – the equivalent of more than six classrooms full of children.
Many schools across the wider region have closed due to the conflict, children are being kept inside and not allowed out to play, families are struggling to access healthcare services, and children are struggling to sleep.
Prices of certain food items have skyrocketed in some areas. Families living in the region have spoken of doing everything they can to protect their children, ranging from fleeing homes to seek safety in schools and other buildings to moving in with relatives and friends with basements and more secure areas.
Save the Children staff said people are taping up windows to stop the glass shattering with explosions and playing white noise to help their children sleep.
Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children’s Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe Regional Director, said children were paying the highest price in the conflict:
“Every war is a war on children, and as always, we are seeing children impacted the most. Children are living in fear, caught in the crossfire of this adult war. We have already seen nearly 200 children killed, and more innocent lives could be lost without immediate action. Children must never be considered as acceptable ‘collateral’. Wars have laws and children must be off limits in every conflict.
“Children across the region are terrified of being pulled into a devastating regional war. For some, this is the first time they have faced blasts and explosions that shake their homes, and they don’t understand what is happening. Others have faced too many years of conflict that have marred their childhoods. Some have been displaced multiple times and lost all sense of safety and security.
“More than 100 million children are living in areas that have been impacted by the escalating hostilities. Every possible effort must be taken to end all hostilities, prevent further escalation, and safeguard children. Only diplomacy can prevent further civilian suffering and create the conditions for lasting security for children across the region. Any further escalation risks pushing an already fragile region into a wider conflagration, with children paying the highest price of a war that they played no part in creating.”
Save the Children urgently calls on all parties involved to immediately de-escalate and to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law, including by ensuring that civilians and civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, are spared from attack.
The use of explosive weapons in populated areas risks severe harm to civilians, especially children, and should be avoided at all costs.
Save the Children is the world’s largest independent child rights organisation, reaching tens of millions of children annually in about 110 countries through its work to save and improve children’s lives.
Save the Children is currently raising funds in New Zealand to support the response in the Middle East through its Children’s Emergency Fund.
Notes:
- [1] In the first five days since the escalation of hostilities in the Middle East and the wider region, government statements and media reports indicate that at least 181 children under the age of 10 have been killed in Iran, eight in Lebanon according to the country’s ministry of health, three in Israel and one in Kuwait
- More than 100 million children live in at least 15 countries that have been impacted by the escalation including Bahrain, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, occupied Palestinian territory, Syria, Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates. At least 14 countries have experienced one or more missile or air strikes since 28 February, while Israel closed some of the border crossings into Gaza following this escalation. Child population data for 2026 is taken from UN World Population Prospects.
