Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), says that recent research highlights “the risk of family separation has dramatically increased in the past months, exacerbated by multiple rounds of displacements, arrests, Israeli evacuation orders and fatalities”, Al Jazeera reports.

In a post on X, he wrote, “Children are found living alone in hospitals as one example.

“About 17,000 children in Gaza are estimated to be unaccompanied or separated from their parents, according to [UN children’s agency] Unicef. Actual numbers may be higher,” he stated.