Gaza: Children severely wounded

Ihsan Redwan, the SOS Children National Coordinator based in the Gaza Strip, has been able to give the latest update on the continuing violence. He reports that more and more children and families have been severely affected by the conflict, including beneficary families of the SOS Children Family Strengthening Programmes.

Children injured

Continued violence in the Gaza Strip has affected all 196 beneficiary families (including 900 children) of the SOS Children's Family Strengthening Programme. The SOS Social Centre remains closed for the time being as it is not safe for civilians to travel to it. Volunteers supporting the programme (20 in total) have been told to remain in their homes and stay in contact with the families by telephone. The current situation does not permit regular home visits.

A young boy who was severely wounded in the first days of the attacks is currently with his family in a stable condition although he is not able to access proper medical care due to overcrowding in all of Gaza’s hospitals. A second child from one of the families has also been injured. A young 13 year-old girl called Esmaa’, living in the Al-Burejj refugee camp, was shot in the leg on January 14. She was taken to Al-Aqsa Shuhada Hospital where her injuries were reported as severe and needing surgical care. However, due to the lack of doctors and more urgent cases, she was bandaged and sent home in a stable condition.

Many families forced to leave their homes

SOS Children runs programmes in six major areas of the Gaza Strip including Jabalia, Al Maghazi, Al Burejj, Rafah and Khan Younis. Communication with the families remains extremely difficult . Phone lines are often jammed due to the high volume of calls making it difficult to reach others and obtain accurate information on the status of families. In addition, electricity is unavailable in most areas, which further complicates reliable communication.

Many of our families have been forced to flee their homes as a result of continued air strikes and more recently, the presence of ground troops. Those who have been forced to flee their homes have found refuge with relatives or in UNRWA (United National Relief and Works Agency) shelters.

According to an UN Field Update on Gaza, more than 28,000 Gazans have been forced to flee their homes. This same report has listed ‘protection of civilians’ as one of the priority needs of the current crisis, stating that Gazan civilians, 56% of whom are children, are bearing the brunt of the violence. Families living in the Jabalia refugee camp and in Rafah have been most affected by recent attacks and civilians there are finding it increasing difficult to find safe shelter.

The distribution of humanitarian goods was temporarily halted due to the danger posed on humanitarian workers but has since resumed. All families staying in UNRWA shelters are receiving supplies, and when possible goods are also delivered to residential areas. Although many basic food items remain unavailable, as far as we know all of our families have had access to adequate amounts of food over the last 20 days.

SOS Children has arranged with UNFPA (United National Population Fund) to deliver over 300 hygiene hits (complete with blankets, towels, sanitary napkins, slippers, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc…) to beneficiary families in these areas. Another delivery of hygiene kits will take place in three days.

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