Childhood is consumed in the hell of Gaza

Four-year-old Haneen is one of the survivors of last Monday's Israeli bombardment of the Fahmi al-Jarjawi school , which left 36 dead, including 18 children. She was sheltering there with her family and hundreds of displaced people after having to flee their home in Shujaiya, northeast Gaza. "Suddenly, I woke up and saw fire everywhere. I couldn't find my mom or dad. I started running and shouting 'Mom! Dad!' but there was no one there," the little girl recalled when UNICEF workers found her at the school on May 26.

The girl was taken by paramedics to Al Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City with second-degree burns covering 25% of her body, including half of her face. Haneen is the only survivor in her family. Her father, Hassan, her mother, Shaimaa, and her one-and-a-half-year-old sister, Mariam, died in the fire caused by the bombs that day.

The image of a girl walking through the flames of the school after the bombing has become a symbol of the hell on earth that more than two million Gazans have been living in for nearly 20 months. And especially the children. The little girl in that recording broadcast by Al Jazeera is, according to the Qatari network, Ward Jalal al-Shiek Jalil, about five years old, who tearfully recounted how she saw almost her entire family die. Her father and one of her brothers survived but were hospitalized in serious condition.

“In a 72-hour period this weekend, images of two horrific attacks provide further evidence of the disproportionate cost of this ruthless war on children in the Gaza Strip,” said Edouard Beigbeder , UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, a day later.

“On Friday, we saw videos of the burned and dismembered bodies of the children of [Dr. Alaa] al-Najjar's family being rescued from the rubble of their home in Khan Younis. Of 10 siblings under the age of 12, only one survived, but with serious injuries. Early Monday, we saw images of a little girl trapped in a burning school in Gaza City,” Beigbeder recalled. These cases “are not numbers,” she said, and add to “a long and heartbreaking list of unimaginable horrors.”

For Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, this week's incidents were no longer just one among thousands when he broke down in tears before the Security Council, outraged by the suffering and death of Gaza's youngest children. Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, more than 17,000 children have died, around 1,000 of whom were under one year old. "It's unbearable. How could anyone tolerate this horror?" he asked, heartbroken.

The international community has renewed its criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu's government for the damage his Operation Gideon's Chariots, to, in his words, "conquer Gaza," is causing to the civilian population in Gaza.

In addition to the relentless military operation, Israel's policy of blocking entry and seamlessly distributing aid has turned the Palestinian Strip into "the hungriest place in the world" —in the words of Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)—with its entire population (2.2 million people, half of them children) at extreme risk. The UN denounces this indiscriminate use of hunger as a weapon of war, without distinguishing between combatants and innocent people, which represents a violation of international law.

"We are constantly encountering cases of children who are left without their caregivers," says Rosalía Bollen, UNICEF spokesperson in Gaza, where she was stationed until the end of April. At least 39,384 minors have lost a parent, of whom 1,945 have been orphaned by both parents, according to February data on this situation from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health. Since then, with the breakdown of Israel's unilateral ceasefire on March 18, the intensification of attacks, and the blockade of basic supplies, these numbers have continued to rise.

The death of parents and close relatives isn't the only reason tens of thousands of children are left without caregivers in the enclave, Bollen points out. "The problem is even bigger; there are many circumstances: there are children whose parents are injured and admitted to hospitals, or parents who are detained by the army and taken outside Gaza, there are cases of abuse..." UN estimates put the number of children in this situation without parental protection at 17,000. In the absence of institutions to care for them, most are taken in by extended families.

“There's a community network here; they're not left alone. The families are very large and open. At the clinic, many women arrive with five or eight children, saying half are their own and the rest belong to other relatives who were killed,” explains Martina Marchiò, leader of the Médecins Sans Frontières medical team in Gaza City, via text message.

At Médicos del Mundo health care centers, explains Sally Suhail Saleh, the NGO's coordinator in Gaza, these children are given direct access to services, "without emphasizing whether they are accompanied by their parents or guardian."

Ward Jalal al-Shiek Jalil was found by her uncle when he saw her in photographs on the news. But in a collapsed Gaza, there is no structured system for tracing family members when rescuers find children alone in the ruins. “Reuniting these children with their families is almost impossible,” laments Suhail Saleh.

UNICEF is one of the agencies charged with the arduous task of searching for living relatives of children left without close adults to care for them. “It’s very time-consuming,” but they almost always manage to find someone to take them under their wing. “It’s the most beneficial thing for them,” Bollen explains. “The relatives who take them in are very supportive; they do it by default, not out of obligation. They themselves face many difficulties; they have nothing to eat, have been displaced several times, and are faced with one more mouth to feed,” she adds. The organizations support these families with money to buy food and psychosocial support.

According to the experts consulted, a minority of those who cannot find refuge in extended family when their closest relatives are missing are missing. In these cases, "the risk they run is extreme," warns Suhail Saleh of Doctors of the World, via voice messages. "They are more susceptible to exploitation and abuse. Without guardians, they are vulnerable to forced labor, recruitment by armed groups, and also to some forms of sexual abuse." Bollen explains that without a home or food and traumatized, "they will do whatever it takes to survive." Only in these cases, when organizations find them completely alone and no one can take care of them, are they taken to one of the shelters run by NGOs.

“The situation is difficult everywhere right now, especially in the north. The families of these orphaned children are doing everything they can to ensure at least one meal a day, but many people haven't eaten in three or four days. Community kitchens are closed, and the market is almost empty. People come to our clinic crying because they're starving—children, adults, and the elderly. Yesterday [Friday], two children were collecting grass in the street to cook for the night,” Marchiò recounts.

“Malnutrition among children and pregnant and lactating women has increased by 32% in our clinics in Gaza in recent weeks,” says the MSF worker. The UN estimates in its latest situation report last Wednesday that around 71,000 children under the age of five are at risk of severe malnutrition , including 14,100 in critical condition.

“Palestinian children have nothing to do with October 7th,” Bollen exclaims, indignantly on the other end of the phone. But since the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel that day, in which more than 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 kidnapped, the children of Gaza are losing everything in this war : their lives, their health, their parents, and even their future.

Public schools are all closed and are now serving as shelters for displaced people. The UNICEF spokesperson admits she's surprised that when she asks parents or guardians in Gaza what they need for their children, they respond with education. "You expect them to say food or medicine, but they're worried because, after two years without classes, they fear there's an entire lost generation."

UNICEF is one of the organizations on the ground trying to alleviate this shortage by providing training in tents. But the Israeli army's constant evacuation orders make it very difficult to maintain these learning spaces for long. "Some children take classes online, others attend makeshift schools in tents or buildings still standing, led by a few teachers," Marchiò notes.

All this physical and psychological harm suffered by the youngest children, according to the MSF coordinator, is not accidental. “Children are targets. Many arrive at hospitals already in critical condition, with serious injuries. Some survive, but their lives change forever because they are left with some disability. I remember a nine-year-old girl who came to our clinic for treatment of her wounds. She lost both legs, her father, and two brothers. Her mother and sister were still alive. The sister was with her. Both had the look of an adult. The girl told us: 'I want to die to be reunited with my father.' At that moment,” Marchiò continues, a huge explosion shook the floor and walls: “At that moment, I thought we had lost, that humanity had lost, and that tomorrow there will be no forgiveness for anyone.”