A child walks over rubble in Majdal Zoun, southern Lebanon. Courtesy UNICEF
The war, which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February and expanded with intensified Israeli attacks on Lebanon from 2 March, has also taken a heavy toll on the wider population. Local authorities report around 2,000 people killed in Iran and over 1,000 in Lebanon.
Mass displacement has followed. The UNHCR estimates up to 3.2 million people in Iran have fled their homes, including about 864,000 children. In Lebanon, more than 1 million people have been displaced, including roughly 370,000 children, many sheltering in schools and public buildings.
“Some 90,000 Syrians have returned to Syria since the onset of the conflict, alongside several thousand Lebanese,” UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban said.
Among the deadliest reported incidents was a US missile strike on an elementary girls’ school in Minab, southeast Iran, which killed at least 168 people, including more than 100 children, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS).
“Twenty-three days into the escalating conflict in the Middle East, children across the region are paying a devastating price. A further descent into a wider or protracted conflict would be catastrophic for millions more,” Chaiban said.
“Behind these numbers are parents, grandparents, teachers, brothers, and sisters. 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,” he added.
The fighting has also severely damaged essential services. “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,” Chaiban said.
UNICEF called for the protection of civilians. “Schools are not targets. Hospitals are not targets. Children are not targets,” he said, urging an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Staff on the ground described the impact on children. At a hospital in Beirut, a 14-year-old girl injured when her home was bombed said: “I was sleeping in my room and woke up to find stones and rubble on top of me… I was pulled from under the rubble and is now recovering at this hospital. Hundreds of children didn’t have the same luck.”
More than 350 public schools in Lebanon are being used as shelters, disrupting education for about 100,000 students. Chaiban said that while alternatives such as online learning are being explored, “schools provide more than learning. They offer structure, protection and continuity.”
UNICEF said it has reached tens of thousands of displaced people with aid, including water, food, and educational supplies, adding that “Fourteen injured children have received life-saving surgery.”
Despite this, the agency warned that needs are outpacing available resources, citing an 86 percent funding gap.
UNICEF called for an immediate ceasefire, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access, and urgent financial support to sustain relief efforts.
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