Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), has said that children in Gaza are "bearing the brunt" of the war.

In a post on X, he pointed to recent research which revealed that “the risk of family separation has dramatically increased in the past months, exacerbated by multiple rounds of displacements, arrests, Israeli evacuation orders and fatalities".

Citing UNICEF numbers, he said that “about 17,000 children in Gaza are estimated to be unaccompanied or separated from their parents", adding that the number was likely higher.