As war ravages Gaza, thousands of children are being forced into adult responsibilities — working to provide food, water, and support for their families. According to recent reports, children as young as eight are now breadwinners.
For example, 15-year-old Mohammed Ashour sells coffee on Gaza City streets after his father was killed, having left school to care for his siblings.
Similarly, 11-year-old Mahmoud Abu Awda collects and sells small goods to sustain a family whose breadwinner died during the conflict.
Gaza’s education system — already crippled by destruction of schools — now serves as a distant memory for many youngsters. More than 660,000 children are reportedly out of formal education, while thousands now shoulder labour, childcare, and survival tasks.
Humanitarian agencies warn that this forced shift from childhood to adulthood brings grave risks: loss of education, long-term psychological trauma, malnutrition, exposure to unsafe working conditions, and a generation robbed of its childhood.
The crisis underscores how war has turned survival itself into a full-time job for many children in Gaza — and how urgent humanitarian and protective interventions are needed to preserve what remains of their childhood.
