Explosive Weapons Caused Record Child Casualties in 2024, Save the Children Warns

Save the Children reports that nearly 12,000 children were killed or injured in armed conflicts worldwide in 2024, and that roughly 70% of those casualties resulted from explosive weapons. The charity's new report, Children and Blast Injuries, says this is the highest annual total since monitoring began in 2006 and represents a 42% increase compared with 2020.

Urban warfare driving unprecedented harm

The report links rising child casualties to the increasing use of explosive weapons in populated urban areas, where bombs, missiles and drones strike homes, schools and hospitals. As a result, children who once more commonly died from malnutrition or disease in war zones are now being killed or seriously maimed by blasts and shrapnel.

“The world is witnessing the deliberate destruction of childhood — and the evidence is undeniable,” said Narmina Strishenets, senior conflict and humanitarian advocacy adviser at Save the Children UK. “Children are paying the highest price in today’s wars … missiles are falling where children sleep, play and learn.”

Where the toll is highest

Save the Children identifies the Palestinian territories (Gaza and the occupied West Bank), Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine and Syria as the conflicts with the largest child casualty totals in 2024. The report describes Gaza as the deadliest recent theatre for children and cites estimates that tens of thousands of children there have been killed or wounded since October 7, 2023. UNICEF estimates that more than 64,000 children in Gaza have been killed or injured; Save the Children adds that Gaza now has the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history.

Although a ceasefire took effect on October 10, reports say attacks have continued, and Gaza's Health Ministry reported at least 46 child deaths linked to strikes since the ceasefire began. Save the Children states that in 2024 explosive weapons in Gaza left an average of 475 children each month with potentially lifelong disabilities, including amputations, severe burns, complex fractures and hearing loss.

In Sudan, the charity reports roughly 10 million children were living within 5 km of active fighting. Explosive weapons caused over 1,200 child casualties in 2023, rising to 1,739 in 2024 — an almost 40% increase in a single year. In Ukraine, injuries to children from explosive weapons rose by about 70%, from 339 in 2023 to 577 in 2024.

“Children are far more vulnerable to explosive weapons than adults,” said Paul Reavley, consultant paediatric emergency physician and co-founder of the Paediatric Blast Injury Partnership. “Their anatomy, physiology, behaviour and psychosocial needs make them disproportionately affected.”

Anthony Bull, director of the Centre for Paediatric Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College London, added that caring for blast injuries in children is highly complex and requires specialised surgical skills and long-term rehabilitation to help children recover and grow after life-changing injuries.

Long-term impact

The report warns that the harmful effects of explosive weapons persist long after active bombardment ends: unexploded remnants continue to pose lethal risks, and survivors and communities often face lasting physical disabilities and severe mental health consequences. Save the Children calls for urgent measures to reduce the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and to expand specialised medical and psychosocial support for child survivors.