Ted Chaiban, the deputy executive director of UNICEF, said Monday that 324 children have been killed in Iran and Lebanon since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran started.
At a press briefing in New York City, Chaiban said that 206 children in Iran and 118 children in Lebanon have been killed since the U.S. and Israel began strikes on Feb. 28. Four children in Israel and one child in Kuwait have been killed by Iranian retaliation, he added.
In total, Chaiban said that more than 2,100 children have been killed or injured in the region since fighting began.
“Behind these numbers are parents, grandparents, teachers, brothers, and sisters,” he remarked. “Communities, cities, and nations are in shock. Alongside the dead and wounded, we are witnessing rapid displacement across several countries, driven by relentless bombardment and evacuation orders that have emptied communities, and entire urban areas.”
The Hill has reached out to the Pentagon, State Department and Israeli Embassy for comment.
On the first day of the conflict, a missile strike on an Iranian girls school killed at least 168 people, including more than 100 children, according to Amnesty International. While neither the U.S. nor Israel has taken responsibility, The New York Times reported earlier this month that an ongoing military investigation found that the U.S. was responsible.
The paper reported that the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school was due to a targeting mistake by the U.S. military, which was carrying out strikes on an adjacent Iranian military base the school building used to be part of.
Chaiban also noted Monday that the office of U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Barham Salih estimated on March 12 that up to 3.2 million Iranians, including up to 864,000 children, have been displaced as a result of the war. UNHCR noted that the majority of those are fleeing from Tehran and other major urban areas to northern Iran and rural areas.
In Lebanon, UNHCR estimates that more than 1 million people, including roughly 370,000 children, have been displaced, Chaiban said. Many families have taken refuge in public buildings, including schools, he noted.
“Across the Middle East, around 44.8 million children were already living in conflict-affected settings before this escalation,” he said. “The consequences of what is unfolding now will be long-lasting for them.
“Too many homes, schools and hospitals, the systems and services children depend on, have been damaged or destroyed. Health systems that were already under strain are now buckling. Supply chains are disrupted.”
Also Monday, Human Rights Watch researcher Nadia Hardman wrote in Al Jazeera that Israel is strategically displacing Shiite individuals in Lebanon via the “same tactics” it has used in Gaza and the West Bank.
“The international community can and should do better,” she wrote. “Governments should urgently act to end the potential forced displacement of civilians in Lebanon, ensure their right to return, and prevent further attacks on Lebanese civilians.”
President Trump announced Monday morning that the U.S. is halting strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure for five days after “productive conversations” regarding an end to the conflict with Iran.
But Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, denied Monday that such talks are taking place.
“No negotiations have been held with the US, and fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped,” he wrote on the social platform X.
