4 October 2018
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) remains deeply concerned by the further loss of life and mass casualties in Gaza, including children. At least 45 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers this year, 39 of them in Gaza.
Being shot dead is “only” one severe threat to Palestinian children. Last week MAP’s Director of Programmes in Gaza, Fikr Shalltoot, highlighted the devastating impact of Gaza’s humanitarian emergency on the health and welfare of its youngest residents while speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. In her speech, Fikr described the lived experience of children in Gaza:
“They will have never experienced a full day of electricity in their lives, and they are unlikely to have ever left the 40km by 12km Strip. They are now growing up in a place where the economy, healthcare, education, water and sanitation infrastructure are all de-developing. Unemployment among youth is 60%. They will see the daily suffering and struggles of their parents, including how serious health conditions deteriorate while Israel does not give them permits to travel to East Jerusalem for treatment. Last year 46 cancer patients died after this. Imagine watching that happen to your mother.”
Since then, three more children have been killed by Israeli forces. Last Friday Nasser Mosabih, 12, died after being shot in the head east of Khan Younis, south Gaza, and Muhammad Nayif al-Hum, 14, was fatally shot in the chest in the al-Bureij refugee camp, central Gaza. On Wednesday, Ahmad Samir Abu Habel, 15, was reportedly shot dead by Israeli forces near Beit Hanoun checkpoint.
Nasser and Muhammad were among the seven people killed at the ongoing “Great March of Return” demonstrations on Friday 28 September. It was the deadliest day in Gaza since 14 May. A further 506 were injured by Israeli forces using live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas. On Monday 1 October, a further 93 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces, during a demonstration in the northern coastal area of Gaza. Of those injured, 37 were hit by live ammunition. It was reported that Israeli forces opened fire directly targeting medical teams and ambulances as they tried to reach, treat and transfer wounded demonstrators.
Palestinian children are among the many people seriously injured at the demonstrations in Gaza. According to the World Health Organization, between 30 March and 22 September, of the 10,762 injured demonstrators referred to hospital emergency departments, 17% (1,845) were children. Hundreds of children have devastating limb injuries, and many require extensive limb reconstruction treatment.
Ayed Abu Eqtaish, Accountability Programme Director at Defense for Children International – Palestine has stated: “This year has seen a grave escalation in the rate that Israeli forces are employing lethal force against Palestinian children. This includes a growing body of cases which appear to be unlawful killings, within a longstanding pattern of impunity for Israeli forces who carry out these acts.”
The UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), Jamie McGoldrick, put the ongoing injuries and protests in context: “The growing number and expanding nature of demonstrations in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks reflects increasing frustration over worsening conditions of daily life and the continued deprivation of basic human rights, alongside the lack of a political process.”
MAP reiterates its call to the UK Government and the international community: