Deaths and injuries are at their highest levels since records began in 2006, and up by 42 percent on the 2020 total, the UK charity says.
Nearly 12,000 children were killed or injured in conflicts worldwide last year, of which 70 percent were a result of explosives, the United Kingdom-based charity Save the Children has said, with those in Gaza suffering the most from Israeli attacks.
This was the highest number since records began in 2006 and was up by 42 percent on the 2020 total, the group said in a new report published on Thursday.
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Explosive weapons killed or injured children at record levels last year, as wars increasingly move into urban areas, the report, called Children and Blast Injuries, revealed.
“The world is witnessing the deliberate destruction of childhood – and the evidence is undeniable,” said Narmina Strishenets, senior conflict and humanitarian advocacy adviser at Save the Children UK.
“Children are paying the highest price in today’s wars … Missiles are falling where children sleep, play and learn – turning the very places that should be the safest, like their homes and schools, into death traps.”
Previously, children in war zones were more likely to die from malnutrition, disease or failing health systems.
But as conflicts take place more frequently in urban areas, children are being caught up as bombs and drones strike hospitals, schools and residential areas, Save the Children said.
“Actions once condemned by the international community and met with global outrage are now brushed aside as the ‘cost of war.’ That moral surrender is one of the most dangerous shifts of our time.”
The conflicts that claimed the most casualties among children in 2024 were in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank, Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine and Syria.
Thousands killed in Gaza
The deadliest conflict in recent years for children is in Gaza, where 20,000 children have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war on the coastal enclave since October 7, 2023.
The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF estimates that more than 64,000 children have been killed or injured in Gaza by Israel. Homes, hospitals and schools have been destroyed, while essential medical services have collapsed.
According to Save the Children’s report, Gaza now has the “largest cohort of child amputees in modern history”.
Despite a ceasefire taking effect on October 10, Israeli attacks have continued, killing hundreds of Palestinians across the enclave. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 46 children have been killed in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire.
“In 2024, the use of explosive weapons in Gaza left an average of 475 children each month with potentially lifelong disabilities such as amputations, severe burns, complex fractures and hearing loss,” the report said.
In war-ravaged Sudan, the UK charity revealed some 10 million children were living within 5km (3.1 miles) of “active conflict zones”.
“Explosive weapons have caused devastating child casualties: over 1,200 children were killed or injured in 2023, rising to 1,739 in 2024 – a near-40 percent rise in just one year,” the report said.
In Ukraine, the number of children injured or “maimed” by explosive weapons increased by 70 percent – from 339 children in 2023 to 577 in 2024, it added.
Children’s smaller bodies and developing organs mean injuries from blasts can be much more severe, and recovery can be more complex and prolonged.
“Children are far more vulnerable to explosive weapons than adults,” Paul Reavley, a consultant paediatric emergency physician and cofounder of the Paediatric Blast Injury Partnership, a coalition between Save the Children UK, Imperial College London and other partners, said in a statement.
“Their anatomy, physiology, behaviour and psychosocial needs make them disproportionately affected.”
Meanwhile, Anthony Bull, director of the Centre for Paediatric Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College London, said treating injuries from bomb blasts was “far from straightforward”.
“It takes specialised knowledge and continued research to ensure children can not only recover but grow after amputation or surgery,” he said.
The report warned that the impact of explosives will last well beyond periods of active bombardment, whether “through explosive remnants of war that continue to threaten lives or the lasting mental health impacts on affected communities”.
