{"id":17976,"date":"2026-04-04T06:38:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T13:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=17976"},"modified":"2026-04-04T06:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T13:38:18","slug":"death-displacement-and-military-duties-children-plunged-into-crisis-by-middle-east-war-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=17976","title":{"rendered":"“Death, displacement and military duties: children plunged into crisis by Middle East war”, The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Back to News<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Displaced<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Children rest in a tent in a temporary encampment for displaced people after and escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the war. Photograph: Yara Nardi\/Reuters, 4 April 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US-Israeli war will have a lifelong impact on millions of children across the Middle East<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By William Christou<\/a> in Beirut, Lorenzo Tondo<\/a> in Jerusalem, Oliver Holmes<\/a> in London, 4 APR 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millions of children have been plunged into crisis by the war in the Middle East, with reports of child soldiers in Iran, mass forced displacements in Lebanon<\/a> and the killing of hundreds of minors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the UN agency for children, Unicef, more than 340 children have been killed and thousands injured since the US and Israel<\/a> launched their attacks on Iran, which has retaliated with bombings across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The highest reported child casualty event occurred on the first day of the war when a US missile strike on a school<\/a> in Iran killed at least 160 children and teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel\u2019s invasion of Lebanon \u2013 and its continued attacks in the occupied West Bank and Gaza \u2013 have compounded the bloodshed. Across the region, more than 1.2 million children have been displaced<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChildren in the region are being exposed to horrific violence, while the very systems and services meant to keep them safe are coming under attack,\u201d said Unicef\u2019s executive director, Catherine Russell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following are some of the ways the war has affected children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forced displacement in Lebanon<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

More than 1.1 million people, including nearly 400,000 children, have been forced to flee their homes by Israeli bombing and displacement orders in Lebanon, according to a Unicef assessment. Nearly 90% of that total are living outside shelters, with many sleeping in the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nidal Ahmed, 52, and two of his children are living in a tent in an impromptu encampment with hundreds of other families in Biel, Beirut\u2019s nightclub district. This is Ahmed\u2019s second displacement \u2013 his home in Tyre was destroyed in an airstrike on the second day of the Israel-Hezbollah war, and his brother\u2019s home in the southern suburbs of Beirut was ordered to be emptied by Israel days after he had fled there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Children<\/a>
Displaced children play football in a yard inside a school, which was converted into a shelter for displaced people. Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 5pm and we haven\u2019t had anything to eat today,\u201d Ahmed said, his eight-month-old daughter, Zahraa, sitting in a stained onesie in front of him. \u201cWe\u2019ve only been able to give the kids tea and some bread. It\u2019s not suitable for a child this young to eat bread, but what can we do?\u201d he said, gesturing to some crumbs of old flatbread Zahraa had been chewing on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 5pm and we haven\u2019t had anything to eat today,\u201d Ahmed said, his eight-month-old daughter, Zahraa, sitting in a stained onesie in front of him. \u201cWe\u2019ve only been able to give the kids tea and some bread. It\u2019s not suitable for a child this young to eat bread, but what can we do?\u201d he said, gesturing to some crumbs of old flatbread Zahraa had been chewing on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a month of displacement, Ahmed has run out of money to feed his children. He relies on local organisations which show up irregularly, distributing one meal on most, but not all, days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conditions of their displacement are \u201chumiliating\u201d, Ahmed said, pointing to the tent he has erected for him and his children, the blue tarpaulin hastily thrown over a wooden frame and pinned down with rocks. \u201cI tried to cover it to protect us from the rain, but we wake up every morning with our mattresses soaked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As his three-year-old son, Ahmad, plays with another child in a vacant lot, Ahmad says he gets to shower once a week, on Fridays, when his father drives them 30 minutes to the house of a friend, who allows them to use the bathroom. For their more immediate needs, there is one bathroom for hundreds of families, who wait in line for half an hour for a chance to use the toilet, which has no running water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unicef\u2019s representative to Lebanon, Marcoluigi Corsi, warned last month that displacement would have lasting effects on the children. \u201cThis relentless cycle of bombardment and displacement is severely compounding their psychological scars, embedding deep-seated fear and threatening profound, long-term emotional harm,\u201d said Corsi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahmed said he has already seen some of these effects in his own children. When Israeli jets break the sound barrier or bomb Beirut, his son starts to run, trying to hide from a bomb he thinks will land on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Children<\/a>
Displaced children arrange a bouquet of flowers outside their tent in a carpark in Beirut\u2019s waterfront area. Photograph: Ibrahim Amro\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ahmed himself is exhausted. He had to leave his wife and 17-year-old daughter in the hospital in Tyre after they were injured in the bombing of their house. He shows a picture of his comatose wife in a hospital bed, counting her ailments: Skull fractured in 33 places, internal bleeding, spinal injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey say she won\u2019t make it,\u201d Ahmed said, looking at his children. \u201cThe children are kept busy now, they\u2019re playing. But when they come home and don\u2019t find their mother there, it will be a disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deaths, injuries and mourning in Palestine<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite a ceasefire which is now more than five months old, health officials in Gaza say at least 50 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the Iran<\/a> conflict began more than a month ago. The number of child fatalities is unclear but on 29 March Israeli airstrikes on checkpoints killed at least six Palestinians, including a girl, according to local rescue services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gaza Strip has not recovered from 23 months of Israeli bombardment, which killed tens of thousands of people and destroyed hospitals and schools in what a UN investigation found to be a genocide. Up until October last year, an average of at least one Palestinian child was being killed every hour. The number of children killed by Israeli forces in its war on Gaza surpassed 20,000 late last year, according<\/a> to Save the Children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Iran war did not open a new front in Gaza, it has deepened insecurity and resulted in an intensification of ongoing Israeli military operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Small<\/a>
Displaced Palestinian children wait to refill canisters with water at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Photograph: Eyad Baba\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Closures and movement restrictions in Gaza triggered by the escalation have disrupted access to basic services, and forced some schools to close. Crossings into Gaza were shut for the first few days of the war, blocking humanitarian aid and commercial goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers and security forces have escalated their violence against Palestinians since the start of the Iran war, killing at least three children. On 15 March, Israeli police shot dead two young Palestinian brothers<\/a> and their parents in Tamoun, firing at the family\u2019s car as they returned from a Ramadan shopping trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mohammed, five, and Othman, seven \u2013 who was blind and had special needs \u2013 were killed alongside their mother, Waad Bani Odeh, 35, and father, Ali Bani Odeh, 37. Two other brothers survived. Khaled, 11, later said he had heard his mother crying and his father praying before they died. After the shooting, he said Israeli border police dragged him from the wreckage, taunted him and beat him. One officer told him: \u201cWe killed dogs,\u201d Khaled said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Israel, at least four children have been killed by retaliatory Iranian missiles. One of the worst attacks occurred on 1 March, when an Iranian missile rocked the central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018No excuse\u2019: Children as young as 12 guard checkpoints in Iran<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Reports of children as young as 12 being used by Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to guard security checkpoints have raised the alarm on the use of child soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report<\/a> at the end of March saying the IRGC was conducting a campaign to recruit children to volunteer as \u201chomeland defending combatants\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 26 March, a IRGC official in Tehran said<\/a> a campaign to enlist civilians, called \u201cHomeland Defending Combatants for Iran\u201d, had set the minimum age at 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poster for the recruitment drive features a boy and a girl alongside two adults, including a man in a military uniform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York-based HRW said the military recruitment and use of children was a grave violation of children\u2019s rights and a war crime<\/a> when the children were under 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
A young member of Iranian militia forces attending an anti-Israeli march in Tehran in January.Photograph: Majid Asgaripour\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bill Van Esveld<\/a>, the associate children\u2019s rights director at Human Rights Watch, said: \u201cThere is no excuse for a military recruitment drive that targets children to sign up, much less 12-year-olds. What this boils down to is that Iranian authorities are apparently willing to risk children\u2019s lives for some extra manpower.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An 11-year-old Iranian boy had already reportedly been killed in an Israeli airstrike while at a security checkpoint. Alireza Jafari\u2019s mother, Sadaf Monfared, told the municipality-run newspaper Hamshahri that he had been helping patrols and checkpoints run by the Basij, a volunteer militia under the command of the IRGC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Esveld said: \u201cThe officials involved in this reprehensible policy are putting children at risk of serious and irreversible harm and themselves at risk of criminal liability. Senior leaders who fail to put a stop to this can make no claim to care for Iran\u2019s children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attacks on schools and a loss of education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The US bombing of a primary school in Minab<\/a> on 28 February killed scores of people, most of them seven- to 12-year-old girls<\/a>. The strike is the worst mass killing of the US-Israeli war against Iran so far, and has been described by Unesco as a \u201cgrave violation\u201d of international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relentless attacks across the region are destroying and damaging the facilities and infrastructure that children depend on, including hospitals, schools, and water and sanitation systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Aerial<\/a>
People digging graves for children killed in the strike on the primary school in Iran\u2019s Hormozgan province. Photograph: Iranian Press Centre\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said<\/a> 316 medical centres and 763 schools had been severely damaged or destroyed by US-backed Israeli attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These attacks, and the general violence, have shut down education. Save the Children said at least 52 million school-age children have had their education disrupted across the region, moving to online learning or having none at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the 669 collective shelters in Lebanon, 364 are public schools<\/a>, according to Unicef. In Israel, schools have been repeatedly closed across much of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Adults<\/a>
Emergency personnel evacuate children from an impact site in Bnei Brak after Iran launched missiles towards Israel.Photograph: Nir Elias\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ahmad Alhendawi, the regional director for Middle East and north Africa<\/a> and eastern Europe at Save the Children, said: \u201cIn every conflict, classrooms are usually the first to close and some of the last places to reopen. Every missed lesson deepens the scars of war. Not every child can escape the violence or afford to move their learning online; we know that for the most vulnerable children, once they leave school many will never return.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cSchools are protected sites and attacks on them could amount to grave breaches of international humanitarian law. The laws of war must be respected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The psychological toll<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The bloodshed and upheaval has exposed children to traumatic events. Prolonged exposure to violence and instability is known to have lasting impacts on brain development, emotional regulation and long-term mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
A child injured in a strike is treated at Mofid children\u2019s hospital in Tehran. Photograph: Majid Asgaripour\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While there has been a near total internet blackout in Iran, satellite TV stations are still beamed in and received. The London-based satellite channel Iran International has started broadcasting a segment between news bulletins that gives advice on how to deal with children\u2019s fears and anxieties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery war is a war on children,\u201d said Alhendawi. \u201cChildren are living in fear, caught in the crossfire of this adult war,\u201d he said. \u201cWars have laws and children must be off limits in every conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back to News Children rest in a tent in a temporary encampment for displaced people after and escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the war. Photograph: Yara Nardi\/Reuters, 4 April 2026 The US-Israeli war will have a lifelong impact on millions of children across the Middle East By William Christou in Beirut, Lorenzo Tondo in Jerusalem, Oliver Holmes in London, 4 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17976"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17976"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17977,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17976\/revisions\/17977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}