A year after a 50 day war in which more than 2,000 people died and which left tens of thousands homeless, World Vision has called for Israel’s seven year blockade of Gaza to be lifted to allow unimpeded access for humanitarian workers to aid children who “continue to live in the shadow of violence and fear”.
Conny Lenneberg, an Australian who is the organisation’s regional leader for the Middle East and Eastern Europe, said conditions in Gaza after the conflict were “deplorable”, particularly for children.
Thousands of children remain affected by last year’s fighting in Gaza as families are forced to live in the rubble of their homes. PICTURE: World Vision
‘Because of the blockade…they are not able to bring in what they need to rebuild their lives,” she said this week.
A report recently published by a UN inquiry appointed to investigate the conflict found evidence pointing to “serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law” by both sides in the conflict, some of which they said “may amount to war crimes”.
UN figures in the report show 2,251 Palestinians died during the war in July and August last year including 1,462 civilians of whom more than a third were children. Sixty-six Israeli soldiers were also killed during the conflict along with six Israeli citizens, one of whom was a child.
Ms Lenneberg said she was horrified by the civilian toll in the conflict, in particular the deaths and injuries suffered by children. Nine of the children killed in Gaza during last year’s conflict were sponsored through World Vision including Amena, killed when her family went home for one day after more than 40 days of moving between UN shelters.
“Nothing can justify the conduct of this war which saw children and civilians trapped, with nowhere to seek shelter from relentless bombardments that destroyed homes, apartment blocks, schools and hospitals,” she said.
While World Vision was able to establish dozens of “child-friendly spaces” in Gaza in the wake of the war, the blockade has prevented rebuilding with 100,000 people, more than half of whom are children, still displaced from their homes.
Ms Lenneberg said she was “heartbroken” by the deaths last winter of infants whose families had no proper shelter. “(J)ust some blankets in the ruins trying to keep out the bitter cold”.
She added: “World Vision believes the ongoing occupation and conflict has robbed generations of Palestinian and Israeli children of peace, justice, and hope for a future where fullness of life is possible. What children on both sides of this conflict need most is peace.”
On Monday, a report published by humanitarian group Save the Children found that children living in the areas “hardest hit” during last year’s conflict were still showing signs of “severe emotional distress” including high levels of bed wetting and nightmares.
It has been estimated that about 1,500 children lost their parents during the war.
