PHOTO ESSAY: In Gaza, orphaned children navigate grief while trying to hold on to childhood

GAZA (AP) — Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has left tens of thousands of Palestinian children without one or more of their parents, adding to what UNICEF has said is the conflict’s “unconscionable” toll on the territory’s youth.

The loss is among the war’s most lasting consequences, depriving children, many of whom are already traumatized, wounded or living in dire conditions, of the nurture and care provided by mothers and fathers as they negotiate their place in the world.

As of earlier this year, nearly 59,000 children had lost at least one parent, UNICEF said, with around 2,700 having lost both their mother and their father.

More than 73,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. The death toll comes from the health ministry in Gaza, which is part of the Hamas-run government but staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

“The tragedy is not limited to physical harm alone,” according to Dr. Ola Awad, president of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. “But extends to the very fabric of the family and social structure.”

Gaza’s society is rooted in extended family networks, with many relatives living together or in the same neighborhoods. Amid the devastation, relatives and other caregivers have tried to give the orphaned children some semblance of a normal childhood.

“It’s difficult to replace the love and affection of a father and mother. It’s difficult to compensate them for so many things,” said Mahmoud Nofal, 64, now the guardian of his two young grandchildren, ages 3 and 5.

“I am their provider. I bathe them and I supply them with everything they need,” he said at the tent they now call home in the southern region of Khan Younis.

Without their families, homes, or familiar routines, many children hold on to whatever they can from their lives before the war. Some have restarted school, help with chores at home or ride bikes along dirt roads with friends.

For Razan Shanan, it has been hard to let go. She was 10 years old when an airstrike killed five members of her immediate family. She was the only one who survived. The attack left her anxious and she clings to family photos recovered from the rubble of the six-story building where she and her family lived.

“No matter how much affection, clothing, trips, food, and drink I provide them, it can never replace even one percent of their family,” said Salah Al-Kafarana, who is now raising five nieces and nephews in Gaza City.

This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.

Habiba al-Kafarna, 5, who was orphaned when her parents, Ahmed and Sajida, were killed in an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people in 2025, stands behind a sofa in the Gaza City home where she lives, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian children walk between tents at an orphanage camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Raghad Ramzi Al-Ajal, who lost her parents in an Israeli airstrike, studies at the Gaza City home where she lives with relatives, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Razan Sharif Hamdi Shanan, 10, the sole survivor of an Israeli airstrike that killed her parents and siblings, poses for a photo at the home where she is staying with relatives in Gaza City, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinian children attend class in a tent classroom at an orphanage camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinian children attend class in a tent classroom at an orphanage camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Photos of the father and brother of Razan Sharif Hamdi Shanan, 10, the sole survivor of an Israeli airstrike that killed her parents and siblings, are displayed at the home where she is staying with relatives in Gaza City, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Mahmoud Nofal, 64, combs the hair of his three-year-old granddaughter, Raneen Nofal, whom he has raised since her parents were killed in an Israeli airstrike, in Khan Younis, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Eleven-year-old Ghazal al-Kibritti, who lost her parents and three siblings in an Israeli airstrike, poses with her grandmother, Huda al-Salti, at the Gaza City home where she now lives with her grandparents, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinian children walk between tents at an orphanage camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Mahmoud Nofal, 64, feeds his grandchildren, Tamim and Raneen Nofal, whom he has raised since their parents were killed in an Israeli airstrike, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Eleven-year-old Ghazal al-Kibritti, who lost her parents and three siblings in an Israeli airstrike, poses with a photo of her mother, Sana, at her grandparents' home in Gaza City, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Mahmoud Nofal, 64, cares for his grandchildren, Tamim and Raneen Nofal, whom he has raised since their parents were killed in an Israeli airstrike, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Ikhlas al-Kafarna, 35, teaches her orphaned nieces and nephews at her home in Gaza City, May 31, 2026. The children lost their parents in an Israeli airstrike. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Ikhlas al-Kafarna, 35, cares for her orphaned nieces and nephews at her home in Gaza City, May 31, 2026. The children lost their parents in an Israeli airstrike. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian children play at an orphanage camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb.12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Eleven-year-old Ghazal al-Kibritti, who lost her parents and three siblings in an Israeli airstrike, prepares her school bag at her grandparents' home in Gaza City, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinian orphan sisters Nabila and Basmala Al-Kafarna play with a doll at their home in Gaza City, May 31, 2026. Their parents were killed in an Israeli airstrike that struck a school sheltering displaced people on April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian orphan Dina Zourob, 17, hangs laundry outside her tent at an orphanage camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mahmoud Nofal, 64, plays with his grandchildren, Tamim and Ranin Nofal, whom he has raised since their parents were killed in an Israeli airstrike, outside their tent in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lashed out at NATO allies on Thursday, announcing a six-month Pentagon review of American forces in Europe whose outcome will depend on how fast the Europeans take responsibility for their own security.

“This will be a real review. It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe,” he told his NATO counterparts in Brussels.

Hegseth lambasted European allies for failing to provide U.S. forces access to bases in Europe to launch attacks on Iran, calling it “shameful.”

“These allies, they put America’s sons and daughters, our sons and daughters, at risk by denying them the predictable access, basing and overflight that never should have been in question at all,” he said.

Taking the microphone at the top of the meeting, Hegseth also railed against migration and gender equality policies in Europe, in remarks reminiscent to those of Vice President JD Vance in February last year that angered many Europeans.

“Instead of tanks and fighters and air defenses, the focus has been on gender equity and climate change and defense austerity. Europe’s borders flew wide open, welfare states expanded, defense budgets cratered. Along with Europe’s belief in itself and its civilization,” Hegseth said.

Hegseth's comments largely mischaracterized European policies today. On defense, European allies and Canada have launched an unprecedented effort to boost defense spending and expand their armed forces. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte noted on Thursday that they spent $90 billion more on defense last year, a 20% increase over 2024. And while Europe accepted large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers more than a decade ago, most countries have tightened their borders since.

The Trump administration now wants a reboot of the 32-nation organization to turn it into a “NATO 3.0” capable of deterring any threat, Hegseth said.

Hegseth's remarks came a few weeks after the United States told its allies that it would no longer supply certain warships and aircraft if one of them comes under attack. European allies and Canada are trying to work out how to plug the gaps.

NATO’s supreme allied commander, an American, is working on backup plans to defend Europe after the U.S. signaled on June 3 that it would no longer supply an aircraft carrier and support ships, aerial refueling planes and dozens of fighter jets, among other military assets, in a crisis.

The Trump administration insists that it needs to be able to plan for two simultaneous conflicts and wants more military resources at hand should a conflict break out with China in the Indo-Pacific region.

Under NATO’s collective security guarantee – Article 5 of its founding treaty – the 32 allies pledge that an attack on one of them will be considered an attack on all. It does not oblige them to provide military support, although many likely would.

In essence, the United States is scaling back how it might help should an ally trigger Article 5. The U.S. has by far NATO’s biggest armed forces. It does not intend to withdraw its nuclear weapons in Europe, which are key to NATO’s deterrence.

To underscore that point, NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group issued its first statement in 19 years after it had assembled at Thursday’s meeting.

In the statement, it “recalled that the strategic nuclear forces of the Alliance remain the supreme guarantee of Allied security and underpin NATO’s extended deterrence architecture.”

The ministers “agreed to continue enhancing NATO’s nuclear deterrence mission by modernizing NATO’s nuclear capabilities, strengthening its nuclear planning capacity, and adapting to achieve its security interests.”

United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, center right, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, center left, arrive for a media conference during a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arrive for a media conference during a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press statement on arrival for a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)