Children of Gaza Terrorized and Terrified

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By Mohammed Asad with Eileen Fleming

On Thursday three more Palestinian children were killed in the Gaza Strip according to Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qodra, “The three children, aged 7, 8 and 11, were killed in an Israeli strike in eastern Gaza City.”

beachfront Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on July 28, 2014. At least 10 Palestinians are killed and more than 40 are injured in two Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, medics say, adding that most of the casualties are children. Photo Copyright (C) 2014 Mohammed Asad. All Rights Reserved. Permission to republish given with full credit to Mohammed Asad and The Arab Daily News. — beachfront Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on July 28, 2014. At least 10 Palestinians are killed and more than 40 are injured in two Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, medics say, adding that most of the casualties are children.
Photo Copyright (C) 2014 Mohammed Asad. All Rights Reserved. Permission to republish given with full credit to Mohammed Asad and The Arab Daily News.

Israel also killed 17 Palestinians including three commanders of the Ezzeddin al-Qassam, the armed wing of Palestinian faction Hamas on Thursday.

Since July 8, Israel has killed over 2060 Palestinians including more than 450 children.

Over 10,000 Palestinians have also been injured according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

According to Israeli figures, 64 soldiers and three Israeli civilians-have been killed.

On Wednesday, Pernille Ironside the top Unicef official for the Palestinian enclave told The New York Times:

If you’re 7 years old, you’ve now gone through three wars.

Already before this conflict, the situation in Gaza for children was extraordinarily dire.

There was a major water and energy crisis, massive unemployment, 80 percent of the population on some kind of aid.

The future was pretty bleak, if you’re a young person in Gaza.

People underestimate the toll that has on little people.

I would say they’re both terrified and terrorized.

Ms. Ironside also said that if Israel’s trade constraints on Gaza were not relaxed, a preliminary analysis showed it could take 18 years to rebuild destroyed housing, furthering the prospect that young Gazans would reach adulthood in deprivation, anger and despair.

Palestinian relatives mourn the body of Palestinian of Al-Quds brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, Shaban Al-Dahdouh, during his funeral in Gaza City, 06 August 2014. For the first time in nearly a month, the guns went silent in the Gaza war after the ceasefire agreement a day earlier. Israel had brushed off international criticism of the high civilian death toll in Gaza, saying the operation was necessary to destroy rockets and a network of tunnels built by Hamas to attack Israeli communities and army bases near Gaza. Photo Copyright (C) 2014 Mohammed Asad. All Rights Reserved. Permission to republish given with full credit to Mohammed Asad and The Arab Daily News. — Palestinian relatives mourn the body of Palestinian of Al-Quds brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, Shaban Al-Dahdouh, during his funeral in Gaza City, 06 August 2014. For the first time in nearly a month, the guns went silent in the Gaza war after the ceasefire agreement a day earlier. Israel had brushed off international criticism of the high civilian death toll in Gaza, saying the operation was necessary to destroy rockets and a network of tunnels built by Hamas to attack Israeli communities and army bases near Gaza.
Photo Copyright (C) 2014 Mohammed Asad. All Rights Reserved. Permission to republish given with full credit to Mohammed Asad and The Arab Daily News.

Can we truly believe we are civilized if we allow the children of Gaza to be denied a childhood?

LEARN MORE:

Obama, Kerry silent on murdered Gaza children, civilians in latest war crime

In 2005, Eileen Fleming established WeAreWideAwake.org in response to her first of 8 trips to both sides of The Wall as a public service.

In 2012, Eileen Fleming ran for US HOUSE of Representatives

Eileen is the Administrator for FREE VANUNU and TNT/Telling Nuclear Truths

Follow her at TWITTER, read her fifth book as she lives it HERE.

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Mohammed Asad

Mohammed Asad is a photo journalist based in the Gaza Strip. Friend him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mohammed.asad.90.

photographer Mohammed Asad's photo of Dalia Khalifa won an award in March 2015 at a competition organised by the UN.

'Unbreakable' - is the photo of 9yr old Dalia Khalifa, taken at Al-Shifa Hospital on Aug 9th, 2014. Dalia was badly injured in an Israeli air strike during Operation 'Protective Edge'.

'Unbreakable' is the Grand Jury Winner in the photography competition, organised by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Middle East and North Africa (UN OCHA).

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Mohammed Asad's home in Shujaiyya was destroyed by Israeli missiles, mortars and tank fire on Friday August 1, 2014 while he was documenting the Israeli massacre of civilians in the Gaza Strip. He is now living in temporary housing as he scrambles to find Internet access to share his photographs when possible.]