Gaza... Childhood buried and dreams fading in an ongoing crime against humanity.

In the Gaza Strip, childhood bears no resemblance to what the rest of the world knows. Children there do not play in peace, nor do they go to school safely or sketch their dreams in colorful notebooks. Instead, they live under relentless bombardment as the ongoing Israeli war rages on. They dwell in tents for the displaced, under the shadow of a suffocating siege, deprived of even their most basic rights.

What is happening in Gaza is not a natural disaster — it is a systematic crime against humanity, carried out daily against a defenseless population, with children at the forefront whose lives have been turned completely upside down.

The children of Gaza, who before the war used to go to school, receive their education, and line up in orderly rows for morning assembly, now find themselves standing in lines at charity kitchens, waiting for a meal—or queuing for a small amount of water to quench their thirst. Thousands of them have lost their parents and have become the sole providers for their siblings, burdened with responsibilities far beyond their years.

Al-Mujtama’ magazine’s correspondent in Gaza met with several children as they searched for a glimpse of life after surviving the Israeli bombardment.

Twelve-year-old Mohammed Abu Kamil says the war has completely changed his life. Before it began, he would wake up early, go to school, attend his classes, then return home to do his homework and live his life like any other child in the world—playing and having fun with his friends. He notes that while life in Gaza was difficult even before the war, it was still manageable and far better than it is now; everything has changed entirely.

He adds that he lost his home, his school, and his friends. Amid famine and the lack of food, surviving an airstrike now marks the beginning of a new struggle: the search for life and survival. His day revolves around finding a meal for his family. He is forced to go to a charity kitchen that prepares and distributes food to civilians, where he waits for hours under the scorching sun and walks long distances just to bring back something to ease their hunger. He shares that, at times, due to the overwhelming crowds and the sheer number of people in need, he returns to his tent empty-handed—and they spend the night without food.

Mohammed also explained that there’s another line he must join—the water line. He stands in front of a truck filled with potable water, waiting his turn to fill a single jerrycan to quench his family’s thirst.

He expressed his hope that the war would end soon so that the children of Gaza could enjoy a dignified life and return to living, playing, and laughing like other children around the world. Yet, at the same time, he wondered with sadness: “How can life return to us when I’ve lost my friends, my home, my toys—everything that made up my world?”

He called on the relevant child welfare organizations to provide protection for the children of Gaza who are subjected to various forms of torture, killing, and starvation.

The child Atiyah Al-Farra told "Al-Mujtama": He has become very scared and suffers from many health issues due to the war and intense shelling and the sounds of rockets falling on Gaza relentlessly, with loud explosions occurring; this has caused him a state of panic and fear, especially during the nighttime when the shelling peaks.

He said that he spends most of the night awake due to fear and bombing, and as soon as the sun rises, he rushes and travels long distances to provide water for himself and his family. He is forced to carry more than one gallon because the number of family members is large, and they distribute survival tasks among themselves—some take care of providing water, others firewood, others food from the soup kitchen, and so on for the family's needs.

Al-Farra stressed that they are suffering from severe hunger, eating very little and never feeling full because the food available to them is scarce. This has led to extreme emaciation and noticeable weight loss among the children. He urgently appealed for immediate intervention to stop the war and provide protection for the children of Gaza.

As for young Hassan Abu Shamala, he shared that he was forced to take on responsibility at an early age after losing his father in the war. He has become the sole provider for his family, with everything now falling on his shoulders. To support them, he sells small bags of water in the streets, trying to earn enough to buy food. However, he stressed that what he makes is barely enough to afford anything due to the extreme inflation devastating the Gaza Strip. Still, he does his best to provide even the simplest of meals for his younger siblings.

He added that he assigns his siblings different tasks—one goes to the charity kitchen to get food, another fetches water—working together just to survive. He emphasized that before the war, they lived a dignified life, provided for by their father. But today, that life is gone—his father is gone, their home is gone, and with them, everything beautiful in his life has vanished.

Since the beginning of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, statistics from the Palestinian Ministry of Health and international organizations indicate that more than 17,000 children have been killed as a result of Israeli airstrikes. Thousands more have been seriously injured—many have lost limbs or suffered permanent disabilities. In addition, thousands of children are considered missing or have been buried beneath the rubble of their homes. According to UNICEF reports, thousands more are suffering from severe psychological trauma.

Read the article in Arabic