Children and children's rights have long been a focal point of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict, dating as early as the 1929 Hebron massacre and the 1948 Deir Yassin massacre, both of which claimed the lives of children, precipitating a long conflict that has often led to the displacement, injury, and death of youths. Youth exposure to hostilities increased notably during the First and Second Intifada, where harsh responses from Israeli forces towards Palestinian adolescents and children protesting the Israeli occupation led to the arrest and detention of many Palestinian youth, in addition to other human rights abuses.

Children have been regular victims and, at times, used as perpetrators of violence in the conflict, including being used as suicide bombers. Israeli and Palestinian children have suffered from attacks, including bombings and shootings, often targeting or involving schools and other youth spaces. Reports indicate that such violence has had severe psychological impacts on children, including trauma and PTSD. International organizations, including the UN and Human Rights Watch, have expressed grave concern about the treatment of children in the conflict and have called for both sides to adhere to international conventions on the rights of children. In fact, during the Gaza war, the United Nations added the Israeli Defense Forces to a list of offenders who fail to protect children. According to B'tselem's calculations, as of 2021, some 2,171 Palestinian children had been killed in the last two decades by Israeli forces,Gideon Levy 'A Brief History of Killing Children,' Haaretz, 20 November 2021. and 139 Israeli children have been killed by Palestinian forces.'Killing of Minors,' B'tselem 2021. Save the Children has estimated that up to 21,000 children have gone missing from the Gaza Strip between October 2023 to June 2024.Gaza's Missing Children: Over 20,000 children estimated to be lost, disappeared, detained, buried under the rubble or in mass graves,' Save the Children 24 June 2024.

Efforts have been made to address the conflict's impact on children, with various peace projects involving youth from both sides. These initiatives aim to foster understanding, reconciliation, and dialogue, emphasizing education and shared experiences. Despite these efforts, the ongoing conflict continues to significantly affect the lives of children in both Israeli and Palestinian societies.

History

Youth have been affected by military action since before the creation of Israel. The 1929 Hebron massacreTom Segev, One Palestine Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate, MacMillan, 2000,p 319 , . claimed the lives of 24 school-aged Yeshiva students and children under 5.Laurens, Henry. La Question de Palestine: Une mission sacrée de civilisation. Fayard, 2002. ISBN 978-2213612515 In early April 1948, adolescent militants from the Irgun and Lehi terror groups participated in an indiscriminate massacre of no less than 107 Palestinian residents of the village of Deir Yassin including women and children.Hirst, David, The Gun and the Olive Branch. Faber and Faber, pp. 252–253 , 2003, (first published 1977).Kana'ana and Zeitawi, The Village of Deir Yassin, Destroyed Village Series, Berzeit University Press, 1988. Later that month, 15-year-old Haganah fighter Yaakov Fadida was killed in combat at the for Tiberias.

The youngest fallen "soldier" commemorated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is (, 1938-1948). Hebrew version: He was 9 or 10 years old. He was killed in for the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, in present-day East Jerusalem. During the battle, Nissim was a lookout and courier. An account of the battle written by a 20-year-old Israeli soldier accused the community's adults of "extraordinary cowardice" while praising the children for working as runners between positions. Children from the Jewish Quarter also assisted in the battle by helping to construct improvised explosive devices designed by the Irgun. After the area was surrendered to Jordanian forces Nissim and 7 other combatants were buried in a mass grave by a local Palestinian man. Later, in 1967, after the Six-Day War, the Palestinian man who buried the fallen soldiers showed Israelis where to find the mass grave. Nissim's body was identified by the presence of his baby teeth. Nissim and the 7 older soldiers were reburied together at the Mount of Olives.

Since the Six-Day War, when the West Bank and the Gaza Strip fell under Israeli military occupation, according to Anton Shammas, the idea of 'childhood' was abolished and dropped from Israeli military declarations, so that if a 10-year-old happened to be shot, he was referred to as 'a young man of ten'.Lisa Hajjar, Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza , University of California Press, 2005, p. 191. With the outbreak of the First Intifada (1987–1993), stone-throwing was defined as a felony, children began to be arrested with bail set at US$400, and if this was not paid, they could be held in administrative detention for 1 year. The continued Israeli occupation and the stalled Israeli–Palestinian peace process has led to Palestinian protests and political violence, building up to mass protests during the First Intifada. Many youth were involved in nonviolent demonstrations, sit-ins, walk-outs, boycotts, civil disobedience and strikes organized by popular committees.Julie M. Norman, The Activist and the Olive Tree: Nonviolent Resistance in the Second Intifada, The American University, ProQuest, 2009, p. 69–70 , There also was rioting, grenade throwing, and suicide bombings.

J. Kuttab refers to the First Intifada as the "children's revolt" because youth "possessed a new spirit that challenged the occupation" and inspired even adults to action. James L. Gelvin has written that the "paradigmatic symbol" of the First Intifada was "unarmed Palestinian children throwing stones at Israeli tanks."James L. Gelvin, The Israel–Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War, Cambridge University Press, 2007, p. 213 , Approximately 90 percent of young males and 80 percent of young females engaged in some form of activism. The much more violent Second Intifada (2000–2005) was led by adults in the Palestine Liberation Organization following the collapse of the 1993 Oslo Accords.

A 2007 survey showed that 17 percent of the Palestinian population is made up of children under the age of five, and 46 percent under 15.Poll: 10% of Palestinian children have lasting malnutrition effects , Associated Press article in Haaretz, 11 April 2007. In 2012, it was estimated that the densely populated Gaza Strip had a population of 1.7 million, over 800,000 of whom are children.Ryan Villarreal, Israel's Blockade Of Gaza Puts Palestinian Children's Health At Risk: Report , International Business Times, 14 June 2012.

Rock-throwing and firebomb attacks by Palestinians on Israeli residents have been described as regular occurrences in the West Bank, and in many cases they directly affect children.*Benari, Elad (18 April 2012). Arabs Throw Rocks at Jewish Girls in Hevron . Israel National News. Retrieved 27 January 2013. Fleishman, Itamar (24 December 2012). Israeli car stoned near Hebron; driver lightly . Ynetnews. Retrieved 27 January 2013. Lappin, Yaakov and Yonah, Jeremy Bob (17 January 2013). Molotov cocktail throwers arrested in West Bank . The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 27 January 2013. Israelis have recounted incidents in which Palestinians targeted children on school buses,Ya'ar, Chana (2 May 2012). Arab Ambush of Children's Bus in Jerusalem . Israel National News. Retrieved 27 January 2013. and report that in Hebron they "routinely throw stones at children in the playground."Fleishman, Itamar (10 July 2012). Hebron: Shalhevet Pass' sister hurt in rock attack Ynetnews. Retrieved 27 January 2013. According to the IDF, Arab snipers have fired at cars containing children, and rockets from Gaza have landed in locations that are typically frequented by large numbers of children.

A UN draft report on children in armed conflict, scheduled for publication in mid-June 2015 and prepared by Leila Zerrougui for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, reportedly recommended adding both Israel and Hamas to the "List of Shame" due to repeated violations of children's rights. Human Rights Watch wrote to Ban Ki-Moon on 27 April requesting that the names of Israel and Hamas remain on the list in the context of reports that Israel had been lobbying to have its name removed. Israel denies it has lobbied the UN over this. Inclusion in the list requires that a pattern of multiple instances of repeated abuses of children be evidenced. Human Rights Watch cited in its 2014 report on events in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict over the preceding year nearly a dozen cases of Palestinian children killed by Israeli security forces and over 1,200 Palestinian children injured. In addition, 41 incidents in which school facilities were damaged, classes interrupted, and students injured by IDF forces were registered. Palestinian armed groups, the reports also noted, had launched in the same period some 63 rockets into Israel from Gaza, resulting in disruptions to the schooling of over 12,000 Israeli children.'UN: Ensure Integrity of Children's 'List of Shame',' Human Rights Watch 4 June 2015.

During the Gaza war, according to the Israeli government, up to 40 of the hostages taken by Hamas were children.Nathan Frandino, Israeli children held hostage in Gaza face a long road to recovery after release,' Reuters |23 November 2023:' According to the Israeli government, up to 40 of the hostages are children, including a 10-month-old baby and preschoolers, some of whom saw their relatives murdered before their eyes just before being kidnapped.' Initial reports of 40 babies decapitated and one cooked in an oven were later proven to be false.

Casualty figures Below is a summary of tables of child fatalities from 1987 to 2022 presented by B'Tselem. It provides an overview of killings of Israeli children by Palestinian militants and of Palestinian children, largely by Israeli security forces. Per the below, the Israeli government disputes some of these numbers, especially regarding the Gaza War.

+ Summary of B'Tselem tables of child fatalities in Israel, West Bank & Gaza, 1987–2022 Date range Period Fatalities Notes Reference Israelis Palestinians Total 9 December 1987 – 28 September 2000 From the start of the First Intifada to the start of the Second Intifada 18 281 299 under the-age-of 17 29 September 2000 – 26 December 2008 From the start of the Second Intifada to the start of the 2008 Gaza War 123 961 1084 27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009 During the 2008–2009 Gaza War 0 345 345 19 January 2009 – 31 October 2012 From the end of the 2008–2009 Gaza War 6 37 43 1 November 2012 – 18 January 2022 Ongoing 10 840 850 Total fatalities 157 2464 2621

The First Intifada of mass protests and rioting by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza started in 1987, and children frequently participated. In an article in the London Review of Books, American professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt claimed that the Israel Defense Forces ("IDF") encouraged troops to break protesters' bones. The Swedish branch of Save the Children estimated that during the first year of the intifada, between 23,600 and 29,900 children required medical treatment for such beating, tear gas, and gunfire injuries and that nearly a third were under the age of ten. The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs lists 24 Israeli child fatalities between 1993 and 1999.