Palestinian schoolgirls in school uniforms carry the body of their classmate, Sadil Naghnaghiya, 15, in Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank on June 21, 2023. (Photo by AFP)

Military weapons and explosives have killed the largest number of children across the world in 2024, with the Gaza Strip reporting the highest death toll, according to a leading humanitarian organization for children.

Save the Children said in a report published on Thursday that explosive weapons killed or injured children at record levels last year across the globe.

Surpassing all other areas in the world, Israeli forces killed at least 20,000 children in Gaza since Tel Aviv launched its genocidal war against Palestinians in October 2023, the report noted.

The NGO said that as wars increasingly move into urban areas, the number of child casualties increases.

Earlier this year, the UN`s International Children`s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) reported that the Israeli regime was directly responsible for the death or injury of more than 50,000 children in Gaza.

After Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine, and Syria were the conflict zones that claimed the most casualties among children in 2024, it pointed out.

In the past, children in conflict zones were more likely to die from malnutrition, disease, or collapsing health systems than from explosive weapons. Today, however, NGO officials warn that in many war zones, children are being deliberately targeted.

"The world is witnessing the deliberate destruction of childhood - and the evidence is undeniable," said Narmina Strishenets, senior conflict and humanitarian advocacy advisor at Save the Children UK.

"Children are paying the highest price in today`s wars... Missiles are falling where children sleep, play, and learn - turning the very places that should be the safest, like their homes and schools, into death traps."

The smaller bodies and developing organs in children mean their wounds from blasts can be much more severe, and recovery can be more complex and prolonged.

"Children are far more vulnerable to explosive weapons than adults," said Paul Reavley, a consultant paediatric emergency physician and co-founder of the Paediatric Blast Injury Partnership, a coalition between Save the Children UK and medical specialists.

"Their anatomy, physiology, behavior, and psychosocial needs make them disproportionately affected."

Since the Israeli regime launched the genocidal war on Gaza, nearly 70,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children.