Bethlehem - Israeli military forces and settlers killed 38 Palestinian children and injured 209 children between January and September of 2007, according to a new report from the British charity Save the Children.

©Ma'an Archive/Wissam Nassar
Palestinian children participate in a candle lights rally in Gaza City November 1, 2007. Some 200 children lit candles and held banners urging the international community to intervene and press Israel to lift the closure that was tightened since Islamic Hamas movement took over the territory in mid-June.


By the end of September, 335 children were jailed in Israeli detention facilities, most of them from poor households in the northern West Bank.

29 children were killed in inter-factional fighting in the occupied territories.

Save the Children also reported at least 11 incidents in which Israeli troops attacked Palestinian Authority and UNRWA-run schools. In six of these attacks, the soldiers used either teargas, sound bomb, or stun grenades.

The group also recorded at least 10 separate attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian students from Cordoba elementary school in the West Bank city of Hebron, injuring at least 18 students.

58% of Palestinians live below the poverty level. In addition, one third of Palestinian households cannot afford a balanced meal for their children, including 51% of Gaza households.