Yes, as long as we look on the West Bank only. Although the numbers in the quote are inaccurate. Using their own source, the data provided by Defense for Children International Palestine at two sets of data:
Child fatalities by month
and
Child fatalities by Region*
Shows us that in 2023 (excluding the months of Oct, Nov & Dec) there were 40 child fatalities in the west bank, which is the highest number since 2003 when there were 56 child fatalities in the west bank (in 2022 there were 36).
If we search for the numbers provided, 45 in 2022 and 47 in 2023 this includes children in Gaza and the West Bank, in which case, 2021 had 78 fatalities, more than 2023 pre October.
A very important distinction that needs to be made about this data, is that it would be more appropriate to call it fatalities of minors rather than children. They don't provide data about fatalities per age group per region, but they do provide data about the total
Child fatalities by age group
where we can see that their definition of a child includes anyone under 18 years old. And that a third of all child fatalities over the years were 16-17 years old.
The data by region per year, excluding Gaza is:
Year |
Hebron |
Bethlehem |
Jericho |
Jerusalem |
Ramallah |
Tubas |
Salfit |
Nablus |
Tulkarem |
Qalqilya |
Jenin |
Total |
2000 |
9 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
7 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
50 |
2001 |
9 |
5 |
0 |
4 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
34 |
2002 |
13 |
6 |
0 |
3 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
33 |
10 |
1 |
31 |
108 |
2003 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
16 |
9 |
3 |
14 |
56 |
2004 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
19 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
32 |
2005 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
24 |
2006 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
19 |
2007 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
17 |
2008 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
11 |
2009 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
2010 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
2011 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2012 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
2013 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
2014 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
13 |
2015 |
6 |
2 |
0 |
8 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
28 |
2016 |
14 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
32 |
2017 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
12 |
2018 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
2019 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
2020 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
2021 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
17 |
2022 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
9 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
36 |
2023 |
8 |
6 |
4 |
13 |
12 |
7 |
0 |
16 |
12 |
3 |
40 |
121 |
2024 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
22 |
In this table 2023 includes the fatalities from the entire year, as in Oct-Dec there were 81 fatalities, this puts the number at 40.
Just to give a perspective, violence is not isolated and goes both way, 2023, excluding the Oct 7 attack and the subsequent war had the most Israeli terror casualties since 2008. According to the ISA end of year reports for 2023 and 2014 (both downloadable pdf files) in 2023, excluding the months of Oct, Nov & Dec there were 35 Israeli fatalities due to terror activity:
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
207 |
452 |
208 |
117 |
56 |
30 |
13 |
36 |
15 |
11 |
22 |
10 |
6 |
19 |
29 |
17 |
18 |
16 |
12 |
3 |
21 |
33 |
35 |
Plotting this data, including the total Palestinians killed (from UN OCHA data) in the West Bank before Oct. 7 shows the clear correlation between the numbers.
* - the area in the DCIP data indicates the area where the child lived, not died, but assuming that travel between the West Bank and Gaza is almost non existent, I assumed that a child from the West Bank might be killed in another area of the West Bank, not in Gaza, and vice versa.