‘Orphanage city’ helps children in Gaza as the war grinds on

The latest death toll has surpassed more than 41,000 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health – the majority of them women and children – while most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have been forcibly displaced and trapped in only 10 per cent of the territory, but in this grim situation, new initiatives aim at radiating even the slightest sliver of light amid the darkness of war.

In the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis, teacher Mahmoud Kallakh set up a camp aimed at providing some relief to families who had lost their men and breadwinners.

The Al-Baraka orphanage camp currently hosts 400 Palestinian families displaced to this area of southern Gaza. In an interview with our correspondent in Gaza, Ziad Taleb, Mr. Kallakh said that the initiative works to provide care to families in what he described as an “orphanage city”, including shelter, food and drink, medical care alongside educational and social services, with help, including from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

“We have a dedicated medical centre and a school sponsored by the United Nations, through UNICEF, which thankfully provided the necessary resources for the school, embracing students, providing them with stationery and paying teachers’ salaries,” Mr. Kallakh said. “We want to establish this school completely, to replace these small tents, to create a more comfortable environment for students to receive their education.”

More than 17,000 orphans in Gaza

The number of children served here is just a drop in the sea of orphaned children in Gaza who are in need of protection. The number of unprotected orphans in Gaza now ranges between 17,000 and 18,000, many of whom are unaccompanied by any family members.

Taleen Al-Hinnawi lost her father as a result of the war and is trying to adjust to her new life in Al-Baraka orphanage camp. Signs of shock and sadness filled her face as she spoke to UN News, telling us about her father.

“Baba [Arabic for dad] was very affectionate,” she said. “I don’t feel like Baba was martyred.”

The young girl’s outlook on life has completely changed.

“Israelis are trying to wipe entire families out of the civil registry,” she said.

Taleen said she wished to return to her home in Gaza City “so life can return to normal, study like everyone else and memorise the Quran like everyone else. Before that, we lived in our house. We never bothered anyone, and we kept to ourselves.”

‘We lost them’

“This war took away from me my father and my only brother.”

With these words, young Nada Al-Gharib began telling her story. She and her mother were also injured in the strike on the tent where the family was sheltering in Khan Younis. They were trapped inside for three days.

Nada said her family had been displaced from northern Gaza to Khan Younis “because that’s what the occupation demanded of us”.

“We came here, we were trapped. My father and my only brother were martyred, and my mother and I were injured,” she explained.

‘We are like siblings here’

After they managed to leave the tent, Nada and her mother went to the industrial area west of Khan Younis, where they received treatment and were trapped again. They passed through Israeli checkpoints, she recalled, as they crossed into Rafah, which they also fled, and finally ended up at the Al-Baraka orphanage camp.

She and her mother found a second home in this camp, she said, “because everyone around us has the same story and pain”.

“We are like siblings here,” she said. “All mothers are like our mothers, and all children are our siblings. We love each other here very much. We love our lives. Even though it’s hard and the loss [of our loved ones] is hard for us, we try to live for them.”

Nada said her father was a great, kind man who loved his family very much.

“He would never let us do anything difficult,” she said. “Now, things are difficult. We have to fetch water and do things that men are supposed to do, but we have no other choice because we lost them.”

Escalating hostilities

UNICEF says the escalation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip is catastrophically affecting children and families, with children dying at an alarming rate. More than 14,000 children have been killed, according to estimates by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and thousands more have been injured.

An estimated 1.9 million people – about 9 out of 10 Gazans – have been internally displaced, more than half of them children, without adequate water, food, fuel and medicine.

The UN agency is calling for an immediate and lasting humanitarian ceasefire, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to all children and families in need inside Gaza, including in the northern Strip, the immediate, safe and unconditional release of all abducted children and an end to any grave violations against children, including killing and maiming.