GAZA, Palestinian Territories — Four out of five children in
Gaza suffer from
emotional distress,
Save the Children said Wednesday, 15 years after Israel
slapped a strict blockade on the Gaza Strip.
اضافة اعلان
Israel imposed the
measure in June 2007, as Hamas took control of the densely populated enclave.
Israel and Egypt continue to severely restrict the flow of people and materials
in and out.
In a report called
“Trapped”, Britain-based Save the Children said the mental health of Gazan
children has continued to deteriorate.
Since 2018, the
number reporting symptoms of “depression, grief, and fear,” had risen from 55
percent to 80 percent, the report said.
Save the Children’s
director for the occupied
Palestinian territories, Jason Lee said: “The
children we spoke to for this report described living in a perpetual state of
fear, worry, sadness, and grief, waiting for the next round of violence to
erupt, and feeling unable to sleep or concentrate.
“The physical
evidence of their distress — bedwetting, loss of ability to speak or to
complete basic tasks — is shocking and should serve as a wakeup call to the international
community,” he added.
Children make up
nearly half of Gaza’s population of 2.1 million. Around 800,000 young people in
the territory who have “never known life without the blockade”, Save the
Children said.
‘Open-air prison’
Israel insists the blockade is necessary to protect its citizens from
Hamas, a group blacklisted as a terrorist organization by much of the West.
Israel has launched
four wars against Gaza since 2007, most recently in May 2021.
Over the past 12
months, Israel has granted more work permits for
Gazans seeking better paid
jobs inside Israel. It has also relaxed some restrictions on the flow of goods
in and out of the territory.
But the blockade
remains broadly unchanged, with
Palestinians generally barred from leaving Gaza
through the Erez crossing to Israel.
Gazans also face
huge obstacles exiting through the Rafah crossing to Egypt.
In a statement
marking the anniversary of the blockade, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that
“Israel, with Egypt’s help, has turned Gaza into an open-air prison.”
HRW’s director for
Israel and Palestine, Omar Shakir, told AFP: “Young people face the brunt of
(the blockade) because they don’t know of a Gaza before the closure.
“Their horizons are
forcibly narrowed to a 40 by 11km strip of land and that prevents them from the
chance to interact and engage with the world,” Shakir said.
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