Gaza’s children live in fear after ‘15-year lockdown’

Fifteen years of Israel’s blockade and repeated military operations have left Gaza’s children in a perpetual state of fear, worry, sadness and grief, according to Save The Children.

In Trapped, a 32-page report issued on Wednesday, the aid organisation said that since its 2018 survey, “the psychosocial wellbeing of children, young people and their caregivers has declined dramatically to alarming levels”.

The number of children who reported emotional distress increased from 55 per cent to 80 per cent, while “more than half of Gaza’s children have contemplated suicide and three out of five are self-harming”.

Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip has been imposed since June 2007 when Hamas seized control and expelled the Palestinian Authority’s administration and security forces. Since then, Gaza’s children have faced five violent episodes, the Covid-19 pandemic and a “life-limiting land, air and sea blockade”, said Save the Children. Children account for 47 per cent of Gaza’s population of two million, “with over 800,000 having never known life without the blockade”.

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When children were asked about “unwanted feelings”, they spoke of “fear, nervousness, anxiety, stress and anger, and listed family problems, violence, death, nightmares, poverty, war and the occupation, including the blockade, as things they liked least in their lives”.

In a letter published as a foreword to the report, children wrote: “Above all, we want to live like children in other countries who can play in playgrounds instead of hiding from bombs. We want Gaza to be a safe and beautiful place where we can live in peace.”

Also marking the anniversary of the closure, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported it “has devastated the economy in Gaza, contributed to fragmentation of the Palestinian people, and forms part of [the] Israeli authorities’ crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution against millions of Palestinians”.

“Israel’s closure policy blocks most Gaza residents from going to the West Bank, preventing professionals, artists, athletes, students and others from pursuing opportunities within Palestine and from travelling abroad via Israel, restricting their rights to work and an education,” HRW said. Palestinians who apply for permits to make the 104km journey from Gaza to the West Bank may have to wait weeks to get a reply, if one is forthcoming.

Palestinians interviewed by HRW had been prevented from travelling to the West Bank for training on medical equipment and devices, seminars, organisational work, employment, and sporting and cultural events.

Under a policy adopted in 2006, Gaza residents cannot reside in the West Bank and Gazans who arrived on temporary permits and remain “are unable to gain legal residency”, HRW said. Evidence HRW collected “suggests the main motivation is to control Palestinian demography across the West Bank, whose land Israel seeks to retain, in contrast to the Gaza Strip”.

Egypt has exacerbated the situation by limiting travel via the crossing at Rafah in southern Gaza, demanding large sums for quick transit, and mistreating travellers. Rafah has been open more often than from 2013-2018, but restrictions remain.

“Israel, with Egypt’s help, has turned Gaza into an open-air prison,” said Israel and Palestine HRW director Omar Shakir. Instead of emerging from Covid isolation with the rest of the world, Gaza’s “Palestinians remain under what amounts to a 15-year-old lockdown”.

The Irish Times asked the Israeli government’s press office to respond to the Save the Children and HRW reports and is yet to receive a reply.

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