UN: 257 Palestinian children killed in Gaza

In the ongoing chaos of Gaza, it's difficult to get exact casualty figures. Since December 27, at least 750 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza Health Ministry official Dr. Moawiya Hassanain.

Smoke rises after an explosion in the northern Gaza Strip January 8, 2009. Palestinians faced even grimmer conditions in the Gaza Strip on Thursday after a UN aid agency halted work, saying its staff were at risk from Israeli forces  fighting Hamas militants, after two drivers were killed.  [Agencies]

Of those, at least 169 were 17 and younger, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which posts staffers at hospitals to track casualties. UNICEF said at least 100 children and minors were killed in the first 10 days of fighting.

"We are talking about urban war," said Abdel-Rahman Ghandour, the Jordan-based spokesman for UNICEF in the Middle East and North Africa. "The density of the population is so high, it's bound to hurt children. This is a unique conflict, where there is nowhere to go."

Successive generations of Gaza children have grown up with violence, part of the accelerating conflict with Israel. In the late 1980s, many threw stones at Israeli soldiers in a revolt against occupation. In the second uprising, starting in 2000, some were recruited by Hamas as suicide bombers.

Sarraj, the psychologist, said he fears for this generation: Having experienced trauma and their parents' helplessness, they may be more vulnerable to recruitment by militants.

In his Gaza City apartment, Sarraj tries to reassure his own children.

His 14-year-old stepdaughter lost her school, the American International School, to a recent airstrike, and a girlfriend was killed in another attack. The family lives in the middle-class Rimal neighborhood and still has enough fuel to run a generator in the evenings, enabling the children to read.

Yet when the bombings start, he can't distract them. "They are scared," he said. "They run to find the safest place, in the hallway, away from the window."

Associated Press writer Karin Laub reported from Ramallah, West Bank.