Israel kills 15 children in Lebanon in last 7 days, UNICEF calls figure 'staggering'

Israel has killed 15 children and injured 62 over the last seven days in Lebanon, the United Nations said Friday, despite the nominal "cease-fire" in place since April 17, 2026.

UNICEF, the U.N. agency dedicated to the rights of children, called the figures "staggering" and stressed that under international humanitarian law, children had to be protected at all times during conflict.

"According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, 77 children have reportedly been killed or injured over the past week alone," UNICEF spokesman Ricardo Pires told a media briefing in Geneva.

"Fifteen children killed and 62 injured in seven days. That's an average of 11 children every 24 hours. We understand the vast majority of these children were impacted by airstrikes in south Lebanon. Only yesterday, seven children were killed and 30 injured," he said.

A ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah was supposed to have taken effect on April 17 but has never been observed. Both sides accuse each other of violating it and justify their attacks by the other camp's alleged breaches.

In total, since the cease-fire was announced, Israel has killed 55 children and wounded 212, Pires said.

Pires called for all parties to respect the ceasefire in full and to comply at all times with international humanitarian law, under which "children and civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times."

Israel's war on Lebanon re-escalated after 15 months of a one-sided cease-fire when Hezbollah launched rockets at northern Israel following the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Since March 2, Israel has been waging an all-out war on southern Lebanon with continuous strikes and an ongoing ground invasion.

In recent days, Israel has issued repeated evacuation warnings to swathes of the southern coastal city of Sour and carried out heavy strikes.