GAZA -- Since the beginning of the latest Palestinian Intifada in September 2000, Israeli soldiers have fatally shot 449 Palestinian children in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a government report said Friday.

The report was published by the Palestinian Statistic Center to mark Palestinian Child Day, DPA reported.

The report said 224 Palestinians under 18 were killed in the West Bank and 225 were killed in the Gaza Strip and added that 11 percent of the deaths were of girls.

More than 40,000 children were also injured during the Intifada, the report said.

As for the economic, medical and social situation, the report said about 65.5 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip live below the poverty line.

The report said boys and girls represent about half the Palestinian population, and three in four lived under the poverty line in 2002, compared to one in four in 1998.