54,468 orphans registered in Gaza as widows stretch budgets

Every forty-eight hours, three siblings in central Gaza pack their belongings and move from one aunt's tent to another. Mariam, 16, Aya, 14, and Jebril, 12, have maintained this rotation since their mother, Islam Abu Asser, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on 28 October 2025. The attack occurred on the nineteenth day of the ceasefire that began on 10 October 2025, striking the makeshift shelter in Deir al-Balah where the family had been staying.

The timeline of the Abu Asser family’s loss began years earlier. Their father died during the 2014 offensive on Gaza. When the war resumed in 2023, the family’s home in Gaza City was destroyed. They moved to the tent in Deir al-Balah with their mother. Jebril, who was injured in the blast, was sitting in his mother’s lap when the bomb hit, according to their aunt, Warda al-Muzeini.

The Palestinian Ministry of Social Development states that the three siblings are part of a registry containing 54,468 children who have lost one or both parents since October 2023. The ministry reports at least 64,000 widows and 71,000 orphaned children across the territory, a total that includes those bereaved in earlier Israeli military attacks. Data from the orphan registration system indicates that approximately 3,000 of these children have no registered guardian, custodian, or caregiver.

Al-Muzeini, who lost her husband in an air strike and now raises four children alone without a job, shares the care of the Abu Asser siblings with other widowed aunts. The women rotate the children between their homes, with each aunt spending two nights with the group. They divide the financial burden, with one purchasing pyjamas, another buying slippers, and a third providing pocket money for a few days. Al-Muzeini said she struggles to provide even one meal a day for her own household and the orphans.

Ministry spokesperson Aziza al-Kahlout said the figures do not fully capture the daily suffering of these families. She noted that children who lose both parents are deprived of education and childhood while being forced to carry adult responsibilities. Kahlout warned of growing risks of child labor, school dropout, and early marriage in Gaza, driven by poverty and the loss of family breadwinners. She described the situation for women who become the sole providers as a double burden of providing for and raising children amid devastation.

Wafaa al-Attar, 13, lost her entire family in a single strike on 22 February 2024. She left her home in Deir al-Balah to charge her father's phone at a nearby relative's house. A blast struck the multi-storey building, killing her father Ahmed, her mother Khouloud, and her four siblings: Rital, 8; Muhammed, 5; Obada, 3; and Yazan, 9 months. Attar suffered minor shrapnel injuries and was hospitalized. She later moved in with her uncle and his wife, who has a newborn child.

Attar said she wished she had been in the building when it was bombed. Her uncle’s wife told her that her father would want her to stay strong. The ministry’s next scheduled review of the orphan registry is not publicly dated, but the current count of 54,468 remains the official figure for children who have lost parents since the start of the war.