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Arab News
03-06-2025
- General
- Arab News
What future awaits Gaza's children under airstrikes and aid embargo?
DUBAI: 'Where is the world?' That was the chilling closing caption shared by 11-year-old Yaqeen Hammad in one of the final videos she posted on social media, just days before she was killed on May 23 by an Israeli airstrike on Deir Al-Balah in Gaza. Yaqeen's story has been thrown into particular focus this week as the world marks International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression on June 4, a reminder not only of those lost but of the futures stolen. As Gaza's youngest social media influencer, Yaqeen was known for the uplifting videos she created and her work alongside her brother at Ouena, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to humanitarian relief and development. Yaqeen's followers will remember her for her infectious optimism and volunteer work with displaced families. Just days before she died, she posted survival tips to help others endure life under siege. Now she has become a haunting symbol of the toll the war between Israel and Hamas is taking on young people. More than 50,000 children have been killed or injured since the latest conflict began, according to the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF. Thousands more have been orphaned or displaced by the ongoing violence. Israeli authorities launched military operations in Gaza in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, during which 1,200 people were killed, the majority of them civilians, and about 250 were taken hostage, many of them non-Israelis. Despite repeated international efforts to broker a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the ruling authority in Gaza, the continuing conflict has devastated the Palestinian enclave, creating one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world. For those children who survive long enough to see an enduring ceasefire, what kind of future awaits them? 'We are losing a generation before our eyes, condemning patients to die from hunger, disease and despair — deaths that could have been prevented,' American trauma surgeon Dr. Feroze Sidhwa told the UN Security Council on May 28. He delivered a searing account of what he witnessed during two volunteer missions in Gaza, the first in 2024, the second in March and April this year, at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. Sidhwa said he has worked in several conflict zones, including Haiti and Ukraine, but nothing compared to what he witnessed in Gaza. 'I operated in hospitals without sterility, electricity or anesthetics,' he told council members. 'Children died, not because their injuries were unsurvivable but because we lacked blood, antibiotics and the most basic supplies.' He stressed that during his five weeks in Gaza he had not treated a single combatant. 'Most of my patients were preteen children, their bodies shattered by explosions and torn by flying metal,' he said, describing six-year-old patients with bullets in their brains, and pregnant women whose pelvises had been shattered by airstrikes. 'Civilians are now dying not just from constant airstrikes, but from acute malnutrition, sepsis, exposure and despair,' he added, noting that in the time between his two visits he had observed a sharp decline in the general health of patients, many of whom were too weak to heal as a result of hunger. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, almost 71,000 cases of acute malnutrition, including 14,100 severe cases, are expected in Gaza between April 2025 and March 2026. As of May 29 this year, about 470,000 people in Gaza were facing imminent famine, the UN said, and the entire population was suffering from severe food insecurity. One in five children under the age of 5 years old is severely malnourished, and more than 92 percent of infants and pregnant or breastfeeding women are not receiving adequate nutrition. Despite global pressure on Israeli authorities to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, access for relief workers remains limited. The UN Relief and Works Agency said deliveries are sporadic and some areas are unreachable as a result of fighting. The day after Yaqeen was killed, Gaza was struck by another tragedy. On May 24, an Israeli airstrike hit the home of Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar, a pediatrician in Khan Younis who had long devoted her life to saving children, while she was on duty treating the wounded at Nasser Medical Complex. Nine of her 10 children were killed in the blast. The youngest was just 7 months old, the eldest only 12. Her husband Hamdi, also a doctor, and their 11-year-old son, Adam, were pulled from the rubble with critical injuries. Hamdi died in hospital on May 31. The Israel Defense Force said in response to initial reports of the strike that 'an aircraft struck several suspects identified by IDF forces as operating in a building near troops in the Khan Younis area, a dangerous combat zone that had been evacuated of civilians in advance for their protection. The claim of harm to uninvolved individuals is being reviewed.' Two days later, another child's face captured the attention of the world. Ward Jalal Al-Sheikh Khalil, 7, emerged from the flames alone when Fahmi Al-Jarjawi School in Gaza City, a shelter for displaced families, was hit by an Israeli airstrike on May 26. Her mother and two siblings were killed and her father is fighting for his life. In a now-viral video, Ward whispers through tears: 'There was a shooting and all my siblings died.' The Israeli military and Shin Bet, the country's internal security service, issued a statement about the bombing of the school, in which they claimed the strike had targeted a compound used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. 'The command and control center was used by the terrorists to plan and gather intelligence in order to execute terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops,' the army said. 'Numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.' Illustrations of a little girl surrounded by flames, inspired by Ward's escape from the school, quickly spread across social media, capturing the sense of grief and outrage over the suffering of children in Gaza. (Source: UNICEF) 'In a 72-hour period this weekend, images from two horrific attacks provide yet more evidence of the unconscionable cost of this ruthless war on children in the Gaza Strip,' UNICEF's regional director, Edouard Beigbeder, said on May 27. 'On Friday, we saw videos of the bodies of burnt, dismembered children from the Al-Najjar family being pulled from the rubble of their home in Khan Younis. Of 10 siblings under 12 years old, only one reportedly survived, with critical injuries. 'Early Monday, we saw images of a small child trapped in a burning school in Gaza City. That attack, in the early hours of the morning, reportedly killed at least 31 people, including 18 children. 'These children — lives that should never be reduced to numbers — are now part of a long, harrowing list of unimaginable horrors: the grave violations against children, the blockade of aid, the starvation, the constant forced displacement, and the destruction of hospitals, water systems, schools and homes. In essence, the destruction of life itself in the Gaza Strip.' Beyond the physical destruction, an invisible crisis is escalating. According to the War Child Alliance, nearly half of children in Gaza now exhibit suicidal thoughts as a result of the sheer weight of grief, trauma and loss. Aid workers report children as young as 5 years old asking why they survived when their siblings, parents or even entire families did not. During his address to the UN Security Council, Dr. Sidhwa described the despair he witnessed among young patients during his time in Gaza, and asked: 'I wonder if any member of this council has ever met a 5-year-old who no longer wants to live — let alone imagined a society in which so many young children feel that way. 'What astonishes me is not that some children in Gaza have lost the will to live, but that any still cling to hope.' Mental health professionals warn that many children in the territory display symptoms of complex trauma, including persistent nightmares, bed-wetting, social withdrawal, and panic attacks triggered by the sound of planes or ambulances. But with even the most immediate, basic means of survival out of reach for many in Gaza, mental health support remains a more distant concern, leaving an entire generation to navigate profound psychological scars alone. 'How many more dead girls and boys will it take?' asked Beigbeder, the UNICEF chief. 'What level of horror must be livestreamed before the international community fully steps up, uses its influence, and takes bold, decisive action to force the end of this ruthless killing of children?'
The Guardian
30-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
One afternoon in Gaza, two family tragedies: the childhoods cut short by Israeli airstrikes
At about 3pm last Friday, Dr Alaa al-Najjar, a paediatrician at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, received the charred remains of seven of her 10 children, killed in an Israeli airstrike. The bodies of two others were buried beneath the rubble. A few miles away, 11-year-old Yaqeen Hammad, known as Gaza's youngest social media influencer, was killed after a series of heavy Israeli airstrikes hit the house where she lived with her family. She was watering flowers in a tiny patch of greenery eked out of a displacement camp when she died. Her cousin, 16-year-old Eyad, was gravely wounded. Even by the terrible standards of the Gaza conflict, the deaths had the power to shock. But they were also a reflection of a daily reality in the territory: the killing and maiming of its very youngest citizens and the destruction of a young generation. According to local health officials, whose estimates have generally been found to be accurate by the global humanitarian community, more than 16,500 children have been killed in the 19 months since the war began – a figure almost 24 times higher than the number of children killed in Ukraine, where the population is 20 times bigger, since Russia's invasion. The World Health Organization tally for child deaths stands at 15,613. Colleagues of Najjar say that in the days since she lost her children she has spent her waking hours weeping outside a room in Nasser hospital. Inside lies her only surviving child, 11-year-old Adam, who is clinging to life with the help of a ventilator, his breathing shallow and his more than 60% of his body covered in burns. Najjar's husband, Hamdi, a 40-year-old physician, also survived the strike, but suffered severe injuries including brain damage and fractures caused by shrapnel. Reached by the Guardian, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said 'the Khan Younis area is a dangerous war zone' and that 'the claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review'. Speaking to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Adam's uncle, Ali al-Najjar, 50, issued a desperate plea: 'Adam must be taken away, to a real hospital, outside Gaza. I beg the Italian government – do something. Take him. Save him, Italians.' On Thursday, Italy's foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said the country was ready to receive Adam for medical care and was working to arrange his evacuation. Along a corridor in the same hospital where Adam is being treated lies Eyad. His father – and Yaqeen's uncle – is Hussein Hassan, a 46-year-old Red Crescent paramedic. Hassan said he was working in the hospital's emergency department when he received a call saying his son had been injured and his niece killed by a missile. Hassan said the family had received no warning that a strike was imminent and that he was haunted by the question of why a missile would be fired that hit children watering and planting flowers. 'How could this be? The children are still so young to be considered targets,' he said. 'Was there a targeted vehicle nearby? Or someone being pursued who passed by the street? I don't know.' When news of Yaqeen's death spread online on Monday, there was an outpouring grief and tributes from activists, followers and journalists. 'Yaqeen was cheerful, full of energy,' Hassan said. 'Due to my workload I hadn't seen her in a month before she died – and that's what hurt the most, that my last sight of her was when she was wrapped in a white shroud. 'I said my goodbye to her in the morgue at al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir-al Balah, and then carried her cold body into the ambulance to be transported for burial. Her family is devastated – she was their pampered youngest, the baby of the family.' Eyad remains in intensive care in Nasser hospital. He lost his left eye in the strike and has a fractured shoulder. When he was admitted to the hospital, shrapnel was embedded in various parts of his body. 'Seeing him in that condition broke my heart – my son, now lying in the hospital before my eyes,' Hassan said. 'Yaqeen's story is like that of so many children in Gaza who have been killed in the war, for no reason. They are not just numbers – each child has a story, a life, and families who are heartbroken by their loss.' The IDF says it is reviewing the circumstances of the strike. Three days later, in Gaza City, another family suffered another unimaginable loss. Six-year-old Ward Khalil's mother and two of her siblings were among dozens of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Fahmi al-Jarjawi school. Harrowing footage showed Ward leaving the scene of the strike, her body silhouetted against flames that had engulfed the school. The next day Ward gave an interview to Al Jazeera in which she recounted the horrors she had experienced. 'When I woke up, I found a huge fire, and I saw my mom was dead,' she said. 'I walked in the fire so I could escape … I was in the fire, and the ceiling fell on me. The ceiling all collapsed. The fire was blazing,' On top of Israeli strikes, Gaza's children are facing catastrophic levels of hunger. Aid agencies say Palestinian children are also bearing the brunt of an Israeli aid blockade that for nearly three months has severely restricted the flow of food and humanitarian assistance into the territory. The consequences have been devastating: last week, in one 48-hour period, 29 children and elderly people died from starvation, according to the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority health minister, Majed Abu Ramadan. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) estimated in May that nearly 71,000 children under the age of five were expected to be acutely malnourished by next March. Of these, 14,100 cases are expected to be severe. According to the UN humanitarian aid organisation for children, Unicef, more than 9,000 children have been treated for malnutrition in Gaza this year. 'These children – lives that should never be reduced to numbers – are now part of a long, harrowing list of unimaginable horrors,' Unicef said in a statement this week. 'The children of Gaza need protection,' it said. 'They need food, water, and medicine. They need a ceasefire. But more than anything, they need immediate, collective action to stop this once and for all.'
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Gaza's youngest influencer, 11, killed in Israeli strike after tragically offering war zone survival tips
Gaza 's youngest influencer, who posted survival tips for living in a war zone was killed in Israeli air strikes on Friday night. Yaqeen Hammad showed over 100,000 followers how to cook without gas but also how children living under bombardment found joy in daily life - posting images smiling and dancing. The 11-year-old was one of several children tragically killed in the strikes in central Gaza. Her body was torn apart and found between the rubble of the house that she lived in with her family in Al-Baraka area of Deir al-Bala. In one of her final posts, she wrote: 'Today was a day of joy for Gaza's orphans – we were giving them new clothes to bring a little happiness.' She also regularly shared videos of her work with Ouena collective, a Gaza-based non-profit organisation for humanitarian relief. They were posted under the handle @yaqeen_hmad, providing humanitarian updates and clips of her distributing toys to children with her brother Mohamed Hammad. When news of her death online hundreds of comments were left under her posts. One person wrote: 'What did a little girl do to deserve being killed?' Another added: 'I'm sorry we couldn't protect you.' Yaqeen is one of more than 15,000 children reported to have been killed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023, according to local health authorities. The strike was part of the latest influx of Israeli attacks, which killed 52 people on Monday, including 31 in a school turned shelter that was struck as people slept, igniting their belongings, according to local health officials. It follows an 11-week blockade on food, fuel, water and medicine, which has pushed the decimated civilian population of Gaza to the brink of famine, experts continue to warn. The Israeli military said 107 trucks carrying flour and other foodstuffs as well as medical supplies entered the Gaza Strip from the Kerem Shalom crossing point on Thursday. But getting the supplies to people sheltering in tents and other makeshift accommodation has been fitful and U.N. officials say at least 500 to 600 trucks of aid are needed every day. Israel imposed the blockade in early March, accusing Hamas of stealing aid meant for civilians. Hamas rejects the charge, saying a number of its own fighters have been killed protecting the trucks from armed looters. It has announced that a new system, sponsored by the United States and run by private contractors, will soon begin operations from four distribution centres in the south of Gaza, but many details of how the system will work remain unclear. The U.N. has already said it will not work with the new system, which it says will leave aid distribution conditional on Israel's political and military aims. Israel has maintained a presence in Gaza since the Hamas-led massacre of October 7, 2023, which saw gunmen storm into southern Israel and kill some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seize 251 hostages. It's subsequent ground and air war has left Gaza in ruin, displacing nearly all its residents and killing more than 53,000 people, many of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Gaza's youngest influencer aged 11 among children killed by Israeli strikes
Her life was one of war but Yaqeen Hammad somehow found a reason to smile. The 11-year-old was Gaza's youngest influencer, whose bright smile reached tens of thousands, including other children, while she offered practical survival tips for daily life under bombardment, such as advice on how to cook with improvised methods when there was no gas. In one social media post, Yaqeen wrote: 'I try to bring a bit of joy to the other children so that they can forget the war.' On Friday night, she was killed after a series of heavy Israeli airstrikes hit the house where she lived with her family, in Al-Baraka area of Deir al-Bala, in central Gaza. Her body, torn apart by the bombing, was recovered from beneath the rubble. When news of Yaqeen's death spread online on Monday, there was an outpouring of messages of grief and tributes from activists, followers and journalists. 'Instead of being at school and enjoying her childhood,' one of her followers wrote on X, 'she was active on Instagram and participating in campaigns to help others in Gaza. No words. Absolutely no words.' Mahmoud Bassam, a photojournalist in Gaza, said: 'Her body may be gone, but her impact remains a beacon of humanity.' Yaqeen and her older brother, Mohamed Hammad, delivered food, toys and clothing to displaced families, Al Jazeera has reported. She played an active role in the Ouena collective, a Gaza-based non-profit organisation dedicated to humanitarian relief. Yaqeen and Mohamed, a humanitarian worker, often visited camps and makeshift shelters for displaced families. In each place they went, she tried to spread cheer and comfort to the children. Hani Abu Rizq, a journalist and colleague of Yaqeen's in the Ouena collective, described her work as 'truly beautiful'. 'She had an entrepreneurial spirit and was always the first to do good. She loved helping others and bringing joy to children in displacement camps. She had a special touch, spreading hope and optimism among people despite the difficult circumstances,' he said. 'Her videos on social media received a great response from people because they were sincere and heartfelt. They conveyed the reality of Palestinian children in Gaza, who are suffering from all kinds of Israeli violations in this genocide that we have been subjected to for nearly two years.' In one of her final posts, she wrote: 'Today was a day of joy for Gaza's orphans – we were giving them new clothes to bring a little happiness.' She refused to give in to the war, dancing, smiling and handing out ice-creams and praying with other children.. In a post on Instagram on 15 May, she told her 103,000 followers: ''Despite the war and the genocide, we came today to make the children happy.'' 'Is there anything more beautiful than the smile of Gaza children,'' she wrote under the video. On 29 April, Yaqeen gave her followers some tips on how to cook with improvised methods when there was no gas. ''Did they cut off the gas? We made gas. We put wood here and a stove to let air in and make the fire burn more. We cook everything on it. Gaza: no to the impossible,'' she wrote. On 15 March, holding a bouquet of flowers, Yaqeen stepped into the tent where her brother was living and sang him Happy Birthday. ''Despite the pain and shock of Yaqeen's killing, this is the true face of the occupation,' Rizq said. 'Israel has killed a very large number of children during this genocide.' The Palestinian photojournalist Amr Tabash wrote on Instagram, alongside a clip featuring glimpses of Yaqeen working on humanitarian projects: 'Yaqeen was martyred, yet certainty remains in our hearts that the children of Gaza are the heartbeat of humanity and a reflection of global silence.' Mohamad al-Kadri, a volunteer with Muslim Doctors for Humanity, said: 'She was a child who carried in her heart a love for doing good, a spirit of initiative, and dedicated her young energy to planting hope in the hearts of those around her.' The Guardian has contacted the Israeli military for comment. Israel has intensified its air campaign in Gaza in recent days. Its airstrikes killed at least 52 people on Monday, including 31 in a school turned shelter that was struck as people slept, igniting their belongings, according to local health officials. On Sunday, Israeli attacks killed at least 38 people, health officials said, bringing the death toll to more than 100 over the weekend. Yaqeen died during the same series of strikes across the territory that killed nine of a paediatrician's 10 children, sparking international outrage. The Gaza health ministry says nearly 54,000 Palestinians, including 16,503 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks across the territory. On Thursday, health officials in the territory released a detailed breakdown of the numbers of children killed since Israel began its offensive in 2023 after the 7 October attacks by Hamas. According to their new data, 916 infants under one year old have been killed; 4,365 of those killed were between one and five years old; 6,101 were between six and 12 years old, and 5,124 were between 13 and 17.
The Independent
27-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
Who was Yaqeen Hammad? Gaza's 11-year-old influencer killed in Israeli strike
A young Gazan influencer has been killed as Israel's military offensive in the territory continued to intensify. Eleven-year-old Yaqeen Hammad reached tens of thousands with her social media videos, which focused on supporting the Gazan community by helping to distribute clothing and toys to orphans. She worked closely with the Ouena Collective, a Gaza -based non-profit providing aid and supporting projects in the Strip, alongside her older brother and humanitarian worker Mohamed Hammad, the Palestine Chronicle reports. The Chronicle said she was Gaza's youngest social media activist, posting videos about the work with her brother and Ouena building a kitchen to feed Palestinians during the month of Ramadan, as well as videos laughing and playing with other children. 'Is there anything more beautiful than the smile of children Gaza?' she wrote in the caption to a video just one week ago showing children enjoying games and dancing. She also posted videos about daily life, showing her followers how she cooks when there is little fuel to be had. Yaqeen was killed when Israel shelled al-Baraka in Deir el-Balah, northern Gaza, on Friday night, Al Jazeera reports. Tributes flowed on her social media following news of her death. 'Her body may be gone, but her impact remains a beacon of humanity,' Gazan photojournalist Mahmoud Bassam wrote. Dozens of Palestinians including women and children have been killed in Israeli bombardments since Friday, as Israel's renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip continues despite international condemnation. The UN's International Organisation for Migration said the renewed offensive had forcibly displaced nearly 180,000 people between May 15-25. A new aid system in Gaza opened its first distribution hubs Monday, according to a U.S.-backed group that said it began delivering food to Palestinians who face growing hunger after Israel's nearly three-month blockade to pressure Hamas. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is taking over the handling of aid despite objections from United Nations. The desperately needed supplies started flowing on a day that saw Israeli strikes kill at least 52 people in Gaza. The group said truckloads of food - it did not say how many - had been delivered to its hubs, and distribution to Palestinians had begun. It was not clear where the hubs were located or how those receiving supplies were chosen. Under pressure from allies, Israel began allowing a trickle of humanitarian aid into Gaza last week after blocking all food, medicine, fuel or other goods from entering since early March. Aid groups have warned of famine and say the aid that has come in is nowhere near enough to meet mounting needs. Hamas warned Palestinians on Monday not to cooperate with the new aid system, saying it is part of Israel's plans to transfer much of Gaza's population to other countries. Israel says it plans to facilitate what it describes as the voluntary migration of much of Gaza's population of 2 million, a plan rejected by Palestinians and much of the international community. Israel's military campaign has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and internally displaced some 90 per cent of its population. Many have fled multiple times.
