1 Million Kids Need Mental Health Support in Gaza

Meeting a week after a ceasefire paused the war in Gaza, after it raged for almost 470 days, the Security Council discussed the plight of children, with speakers calling for their needs to be prioritized, through the rebuilding of educational infrastructure, the provision of psychosocial support and ensuring a surge of humanitarian aid to the Strip.

“A generation has been traumatized,” Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, told the Council, pointing to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) finding that 1 million children need mental health and psychosocial support for depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

Nonetheless, today’s briefing marks “one of the rare times we are able to highlight positive developments”, he said, with the ceasefire providing a reprieve from relentless hostilities for Palestinians; allowing Israeli hostages and imprisoned Palestinians to be reunited with their families; and allowing a surge in life-saving humanitarian aid into Gaza. “Children have been killed, starved and frozen to death,” he said, adding:

“Some died before their first breath — perishing with their mothers in childbirth.” Citing conservative estimates indicating that over 17,000 children are without their families in Gaza, he stated that an estimated 150,000 pregnant women and new mothers are now in desperate need of health services.

Outlining the UN and its partners’ stepped-up response across the Gaza Strip in recent days to meet the needs of 2 million people across Gaza, he said they were enabled by improved operating conditions, including safe, unobstructed humanitarian access, the absence of hostilities and the almost complete cessation of criminal looting.

Such operations included the provision of life-saving services; delivering food parcels and flour and working to reopen bakeries; and distributing fuel to ensure that critical services, such as healthcare and water pumping, can run on back-up generators, he said, underscoring: “At the centre of this, as always, is United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).”

He went on to express alarm over the situation in the West Bank, where record-high levels of casualties, displacement and access restrictions witnessed since October 2023 have intensified since the announcement of the ceasefire. Voicing alarm over attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages and an ongoing military operation in Jenin causing death and displacement, he urged the Council to ensure the ceasefire is maintained and to ensure that international law is respected across the Occupied Palestinian Territory of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Restrictions on critical humanitarian items must be lifted, including items considered to be “dual use”, and there must be accountability for atrocities. Underscoring the need to ensure humanitarian operations are well-funded, with the 2025 Flash Appeal in need of $4.07 billion to meet the needs of 3 million people in Gaza and the West Bank, he stressed: “The children of Gaza are not collateral damage”, but deserving of security, education and hope. “They tell us that the world was not there for them through this war. We must be there for them now.”

The Council also heard from Bisan Nateel, from Tamer Institute for Community Education, an organization that helps Palestinian children express themselves through artistic activities, who recounted the “very simple dreams” expressed in drawings by the children she worked with, who “dreamed of going back to school, of playing with friends, and of not hearing constant shelling”.

Instead, she said, they were told to go to the safe place in south Gaza, through a “so-called safe corridor” where their lives were under threat, forced to see bodies along the road, forced to walk as snipers targeted them.

“They arrived unable to say a word about the horrific sights seen in their displacement journey, to a safe area that was targeted,” she said. Displaying a drawing by a child named Gazi when he was in al-Mawasi refugee camp, in which he drew himself feeling well-fed, at home with his father, she said: “But Gazi lost his life, along with his father, when their tent was attacked.”

Also citing the case of a 12-year-old girl in north Gaza, who saw the remains of relatives “torn to pieces” outside her tent, she said that amidst the horror and violence, the children of the Strip forgot “what it means to live, to be human”.

Throughout the conflict, she recalled awaiting news of Security Council meetings on the radio, hoping for a ceasefire that would end the massacres. “Every day we lost our friends, loved ones, our homes and lives,” she said, recalling the death of her friend Mohammed, alongside the children he was drawing and playing with at Al-Maamadani Hospital.

“We used to walk down the streets, not knowing if we would live or die, always waiting for the moment the Council would announce a ceasefire, and end the violations against the Palestinian people, including their right to life, violated during 470 days of continuous attack against Gaza,” she stressed. She voiced hope that Gazans’ “right to life” will he restored, and that children can go back to school, to play, to draw and to sing; to being “normal children in a normal environment, not surrounded by soldiers, and hearing weapons”. In Gaza, “we do not know how life looks like in the outside world,” she said, adding: “We have lost a lot in this war and I hope we will not lose more.”

Reliefweb

CrossFireArabia

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

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Israeli Army Admits ‘Colossal Failure’ on 7 October

The Israeli army released its findings on Thursday after months of investigations into the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, admitting to a “colossal failure” in anticipating the “Al-Aqsa Flood Operation​​​​​​​” launched by the Palestinian resistance group.

The investigation report said the military was unprepared for the attack, having been caught off guard by the number of Palestinian fighters who breached military bases and settlements near Gaza, according to Israeli Army Radio.

The findings also revealed that the army was surprised by the speed and coordination of the attack, which exceeded all expectations.

Doron Kadosh, the military correspondent for Israeli Army Radio, reported that the army admitted it had not considered the possibility of a large-scale surprise attack like the one on Oct. 7.

Kadosh wrote on his X that a threat of such an attack was never taken seriously or even considered, which left the army unprepared to counter it.

The investigation findings confirmed that Hamas fighters completely overran the Israeli army’s Gaza Division for several hours, specifically between 6:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

During this time, the Israeli military had no control over the area near Gaza. It took around 10 hours for the army to regain operational control over the region, which Hamas had effectively seized.

According to Army Radio, the findings exposed the army’s reliance on flawed strategic assumptions, including the belief that “Gaza posed a secondary threat that did not require significant military attention and that Hamas was deterred and focused on maintaining calm for economic benefits.”

The investigation further concluded that the army allowed “a severe security threat to develop along its borders by over-relying on the defensive barrier while significantly weakening border defense forces, including a shortage of troops in areas near Gaza.”

Additionally, the findings pointed to a sense of “arrogance” within the army and “overconfidence” in its intelligence superiority, with a firm belief that any potential Palestinian attack would be preceded by an intelligence warning.

“There was no one who saw or detected any sign of this event in advance, not even at the lowest intelligence level,” one of the central investigations found.

However, the lack of such a warning caused a major shock to military leadership and contributed to the chaos of the attack’s initial hours.

Several Israeli political, military, and security officials have previously admitted to personal responsibility for the failure to prevent the Oct. 7 attack.

As a result, some officials resigned, most notably Aharon Haliva, chief of the army’s Military Intelligence Directorate.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday criticized the Israeli army for not sending him the findings of the investigations.

According to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Netanyahu’s office sent a letter to the Ministry of Defense demanding an explanation for why the army had not submitted its investigation findings on Oct. 7.

However, Netanyahu has so far refused to take any responsibility for the attack or to establish an official investigation committee into the events of that day.

The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect on Jan. 19, pausing the Israeli war that has killed more than 48,300 people, mostly women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

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As it bans two MEPs many are asking what is Israel hiding?

Israel’s decision to bar two members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from entering its territory due to their pro-Palestine position is arbitrary and unfair. It also reflects Israel’s strategy of concealing its crimes against Palestinians, and is an expected reaction to MEPs who reject the complicit role most European politicians have assumed in response to the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli authorities stopped MEP Lynn Boylan, the head of the European Parliament EU-Palestine delegation, and MEP Rima Hassan upon their arrival at Ben Gurion Airport. The EU lawmakers were returned to Europe because of Hassan’s alleged “hostile” campaign to boycott and sanction Israel.

This decision reveals Israeli decision-makers’ disregard for fundamental human rights, such as freedom of movement and freedom of opinion and expression. It also embodies Israeli authorities’ insistence on its blackout policy and systematic restrictions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. These restrictions are intended to prevent any independent oversight or disclosure of the facts; by prohibiting the entry of human rights activists, independent investigation teams, politicians, journalists, and individuals opposed to its policies, Israel is attempting to hide evidence of its violations and monopolise public perception to avoid international scrutiny and accountability.

https://twitter.com/LNBDublin/status/1895218956560187853

This arbitrary measure is also used to maintain Israel’s illegal control over Palestinian borders and crossings. As part of its crime of apartheid and other human rights violations against the Palestinians, Israel uses its total control over movement into and out of the Occupied Palestinian Territory to persecute organisations and individuals for simply opposing illegal Israeli policies. It also denies the Palestinians their natural right to communicate with the outside world, such as by receiving international delegations and interacting with human rights and media institutions.

Moreover, the prevention of MEP Hassan from entering the Occupied Palestinian Territory is evidence of the Israeli government’s systematic policy of targeting and persecuting Palestinians in the diaspora by denying them the right to return to their homeland and imposing arbitrary restrictions on their ability to meet with their families. This is part of a larger Israeli strategy to isolate the Palestinians from their cultural roots and national identity, destroy their historical relationship with their land, and prevent the maintenance or establishment of any connection between displaced Palestinians and future generations and their homeland.

Given that MEP Boylan was planning to conduct tasks that are crucial to her job, such as meeting with representatives of civil society, Palestinian Authority officials, and Palestinian civilians affected by the Israeli occupation, the Israeli decision will inevitably make it more difficult for the two European MEPs to do their duties.

The European Union’s hesitant and frequently complicit stance towards Israeli crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly the genocide in the Gaza Strip for over 15 months, has not only shielded Israel from accountability but also encouraged it to intensify its repressive tactics to include EU citizens. By directly exploiting European silence, Israel is able to uphold its system of egregious oppression and illegally punish all those who oppose Israeli occupation and violations against Palestinians.

The two European MEPs were banned after the Israeli Knesset approved an amendment to the “Entry into Israel Law” on 19 February. The amendment forbids granting entry visas to anyone who denies the Holocaust or the 7 October attacks, or who supports the prosecution of Israelis based on their military service or security.

The new amendment enshrines an arbitrary, discriminatory policy that violates Palestinian rights as well as international law. It also lacks independent mechanisms for review and appeal, and is clearly a tool to punish human rights defenders, silence critics of Israel, and further exclude Palestinians from the international protection system.

Besides monopolising access to information to control the narrative, and ignoring or distorting facts that do not serve its interests, Israel’s policy of prohibiting or restricting the entry of independent individuals and entities concerned with human rights, relief efforts, and unbiased journalism into its territory affects the most vulnerable victims of its crimes more than anyone else. This policy primarily undermines humanitarian relief operations and the work of independent fact-finding and investigation committees concerned with interviewing victims and documenting violations.

Since the European Union is Israel’s biggest trading partner and accounts for roughly 29% of its goods trade, the Union has purposefully avoided using any of its pressure tools against Israel. Powerful EU nations like Germany have also persisted in sending sizable shipments of weapons to Israel in spite of knowing that they would be used in the genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Israel is an illegal occupying power with no legal authority to impose sovereignty or regulate anyone’s access to the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Therefore, the international community must act swiftly to force Israel to lift its illegal blockade on the Occupied Palestinian Territory—particularly the Gaza Strip—and to stop the arbitrary and illegal restrictions placed on the ability of individuals and organisations to travel there.

It is critical to end Israel’s policies of blackouts and refusals to cooperate in order, as these are plain attempts to isolate the Occupied Palestinian Territory and thwart any independent international oversight of Israeli violations. There is no question that the prohibitions placed on journalists, human rights advocates, and humanitarian organisations are intended to ensure the Palestinian population does not benefit from international protection mechanisms, plus prevent the documentation of Israeli crimes against Palestinians.

The European Union must end its pointless cycle of denunciation followed by inaction, and apply serious pressure on Israel to cease its flagrant transgressions of the EU’s partnership principles. The EU itself must also be compelled to halt all import and export activities involving weapons and technologies that Israel uses to perpetrate crimes against the Palestinian people.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor

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