70 Palestinian children killed in occupied West Bank/East Jerusalem since 2025: UNICEF reports systemic violence under prolonged military occupation and settler expansion
Original framing: “UNICEF says 70 children killed in West Bank and East Jerusalem since 2025 - Reuters” — Reuters (via Google News)
The 70 child deaths since 2025 echo the 1948 Nakba’s 15,000+ Palestinian child fatalities, and the 1987-93 First Intifada’s 200+ child killings—part of a century-long pattern of colonial violence. Military Order 1651 (2009) legalizes night raids on Palestinian homes, while settler violence has surged 400% since 2020 under Netanyahu’s far-right coalition. Historical parallels include U.S. counterinsurgency in Vietnam (Operation Phoenix’s child killings) and French colonial Algeria’s 'ratissage' tactics.
The 70 child deaths since 2025 are not anomalies but symptoms of a 76-year-old settler-colonial project, where Israel’s military occupation (backed by $3.8B in annual U.S.
aid) enforces apartheid through night raids, settler violence, and impunity. This violence is normalized by Western media’s 'security' framing, which obscures the historical continuity from 1948’s Nakba to today’s Gaza sieges—a pattern mirrored in Kashmir, Colombia, and South Africa. Indigenous Palestinian knowledge systems of sumud and tawtah offer decolonial alternatives, yet are sidelined by donor agendas and NGO bureaucracies. The solution lies in truth commissions, military aid conditionality, and dismantling apartheid infrastructure, while centering marginalized voices like Bedouin communities and Gaza’s child survivors. Without addressing the root causes—settler expansion, international complicity, and racialized state violence—child killings will persist as a global pattern, not a local tragedy.