Here is an important example of what life was like for the children of Gaza before October 7.
In a 2015 BBC interview, Syed shared his experience:
Syed's life was shattered on the day the 12-year-old, his 11-year-old brother Mohamed, and their six cousins went to Gaza's beach to play football.
It was the natural playground for young boys from a family of fishermen which has lived off the sea for generations.
"We didn't know that beach was dangerous," says Syed
His eyes still, round, sad pools, as he remembers 16 July, one of the most harrowing days of the war.
By the end of that day, Mohamed and three of his cousins were dead. An Israeli investigation said its air force mistook the children for Hamas fighters when a pilot fired twice at a "compound" next to the beach.
Syed and the three other boys who survived still show small scars on their legs and disturbing signs of being severely traumatised.
"For the son I lost, my tears will never dry," says his mother. But she fears she lost two sons last summer.
"Those left behind are lost like those who died," she laments, as she looks across their small one-bedroom home at Syed, who stares blankly into the distance.
Syed finds it hard to sleep, and too tough to go to school because it reminds him of his brother. Even the sea, which had been a constant reference point in his life, no longer feels safe. "I never used to get scared, but now I do," he tells me as we ride in a speed boat close to the shore and he fiddles nervously with the cords of his life jacket.
ID: via The Slow Factory Access
If she had white skin the world would've stopped for her.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society says while some of the children have been released, at least 240 others remain in Israeli detention. “Many have been subjected to torture,” the group said in a statement. Children in detention are “exposed to all kinds of retaliatory measures, including abuse, torture, as well as medical negligence”, the group added. According to the group, some children currently held in Israel’s Megiddo prison have been detained from the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip.
-- "At least 640 children detained in West Bank since October 7: Prisoners’ group" from Al Jazeera, 17 Jun 2024 15:55 GMT
Hey everyone, this is Bisan from Gaza. I'm still alive but Hind is not. Do you remember Hind Rajab? This seven (7) years old child who was missed 12 days ago. Hind was in a car with five (5) family members and they were all killed - except Hind - by an Israeli bomb, and then she called the Ambulance, she asked them to rescue her. Two Ambulance men from the Red Crescent tried to do this but they were also missed. Now; today they were found killed. The body of Hind found killed, found murdered. It's just a new massacre added to the list of endlessly massacres committed by Israel against my people; Palestinians in Gaza right now.
No one holds Israel accountable until now. No one is doing anything. Hind was killed. Who is the next? I don't know, it might be any one of us, but I mean, it's a new, it's a new massacre - she is murdered. You all heard her story, you all heard her voice asking for help saying (Bisan speaks in Arabic first then translates to English the following) "take me with you, take me from here". She was between dead bodies for days, alone and no one could rescue her. We knew where she was, we knew that she was okay, we knew that she could contact the Red Crescent but no one rescued her.
-- Bisan on Instagram, 02.10.2024
There really is nothing left to say.
*64km²
As famine threatens more lives in North Gaza, a Palestinian father searched through garbage to collect spoiled potatoes to feed his children, while Israeli forces target any attempts to deliver food to the northern Gaza areas.