Around 40 children have been killed and many injured in one year of demonstrations along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, the UN said Thursday, calling for an "urgent de-escalation".
Thousands of Palestinians have gathered at least weekly along the border in protests that have led to deadly clashes with the Israeli military.
Demonstrators are calling for Israel to lift its crippling decade-long blockade of Gaza, while also demanding refugees be allowed to return to homes their families fled in the late 1940s during the creation of the Jewish state.
Around 40 children have been killed in the protests and "nearly 3,000 others have been hospitalised with injuries, many leading to life-long disabilities," the UN children's agency (UNICEF) said.
"UNICEF reiterates its outrage at the very high numbers of children who have been killed and injured as a result of armed conflict 2018," said UNICEF's Middle East director Geert Cappelaere.