page_title: Children in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
section_title: Casualty figures
hierarchical_section_title: Children in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict / Casualty figures
caption_attribution_description: English: January 10, 2009 protest against Israel invasion of Gaza at Lafayette Park, between White House and U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's temporary hotel residence.
context_page_description: Children in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict refers to the impact of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict on minors in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Laurel Holliday, in her 1999 book Children of Israel/Palestine, writes that two "ethnically distinct peoples – both Palestinians and Israeli Jews – lay claim to the very same sand, stone, rivers, vegetation, seacoast, and mountains" and that the stories she presents show that "Israeli and Palestinian children grow up feeling that they are destined for conflict with their neighbors".
  Both the Israeli Defense Forces and militant Palestinian groups have been accused of violating the rights of children and causing injury and death. The media has been used manipulatively to create support for different sides. Children have been the victims of indoctrination, school closures, medical problems and post-traumatic stress as a result of the conflict. At the same time, various educational projects have been established to counter indoctrination and negative stereotypes.
context_section_description: Below is a summary of tables of child fatalities from 1987 to 2012 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.
  Total fatalities in the First Intifada, minors under the age of 17 (Dec. 9, 1987 – Sept. 28, 2000): Israelis – 18; Palestinians – 281 (by Israel security forces) and 23 (by Israeli civilians)
  Total Casualties: (Sept. 29, 2000 – Sept. 30, 2012): Israelis – 129; Palestinians – 1337
  Fatalities since the outbreak of the second intifada and until operation "Cast Lead" (Sept. 29, 2000 – Dec. 26, 2008): Israelis – 123; Palestinians – 954
  Fatalities during operation "Cast Lead" (Dec. 27, 2008 – Jan. 18, 2009):  Israelis – 0; Palestinians – 345
  Fatalities after operation "Cast Lead": (Jan. 19, 2009 – Oct. 31, 2012): Israelis – 6; Palestinians – 38
  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 two years of the intifada, between 23,600 and 29,900 children required medical treatment for such beating 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.
  As the B'Tselem summaries show, from the outbreak of the Second Intifada starting in 2000, through the 2008–2009 Gaza War, to September 2012 there were a greater number of child fatalities. A study by the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism covering September 2001 to January 2005 found that 46 Israelis and 88 Palestinians were below the age of 12 at the time of their deaths. The youngest victim of violence during the Second Intifada was an Israeli infant who was nine hours old at the time of his death. Other Israelis, children among them, were killed abroad in attacks related to the conflict.‹See TfM› During the 2004–2009 period there were reports of 30 or more Palestinian children and infants dying, including as a result of miscarriage, at Israeli checkpoints where they were held for long periods of time and denied medical care. Additionally, suicide bombings and other attacks have caused Israeli women to suffer miscarriages, and numerous pregnant women have been killed.
  Casualties after the three-week Gaza War during the winter of 2008–2009 were disputed. B'Tselem put out a report stating that 320 Palestinian minors under the age of 18 who did not take part in hostilities had been killed by Israeli forces. It was unknown if six other dead children took part, but 19 children between the ages of 16 and 18 who did so also were killed. Defence for Children International reported that 352 children had died as a direct result of Israeli military action. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights found that 318 Palestinian children been killed. Al Mezan Center for Human Rights found that 355 Gazan children were killed by Israeli forces. According to Amnesty international the Palestinian fatalities included "some 300" children. The Israeli military later released its own figures, stating only 89 children under the age of 16 died. According to Elihu D. Richter and Yael Stein of Hebrew University B'Tselem data showed that the overwhelming majority of Palestinian child deaths were male teenagers, suggesting many could have had some role in combat or support for combat.
  Studies conducted by Israel's International Institute for Counter-Terrorism indicate that 96 percent of Palestinian fatalities during the Second Intifada were male and that the vast majority of child casualties were teenagers. Israeli fatalities do not show any great inclination in regards to gender or age.
caption: Man protests killing of children in Gaza War during January 2009 Washington DC protest
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