Rafa.. Displaced children bear breadwinner policy

Gaza – Forced displacement caused by Israel’s brutal war Gaza StripChildren's living conditions are so dire that they find themselves forced to take on tasks beyond their childhood to help their families with daily affairs.

Child Adham Nusair (13), who spent long hours gathering bits of wood and cardboard to light a fire and prepare bread for his family at the city's Doha secondary school, now sits in front of a primitive stove. Lafa is located at the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip.

As war broke out in 2017, the Nusair family was forced to leave their home in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. October 7Last October, in anticipation of Israeli attacks, the town, which borders the Israeli security fence and has become accustomed to it, lived in a school in the town of Beit Lahiya for several weeks before being forced to move to the city again. Rafa Bordering Egypt.

There was widespread damage to the town's farms, infrastructure and homes, including that of the child Nasir's family. Despite his young age, Adem told Al Jazeera, “My wish is to return to Beit Hanoun and rebuild our destroyed house.”

tortured childhood

In the walled classrooms of the Adem family and other relatives, Adem was supposed to sit in a chair and receive his eighth-grade education in a destroyed school in his town. Instead, he found himself displaced, sharing the joys and sorrows of his family and responsible for her daily needs.

Adham realized early on the hardships of the job, saying: “Oh God, I'm tired. We're tired, we can't find food. We want to go home.” He was referring to international organizations' reports that 2.3 million Palestinians face Warnings of famine translate into reality, in which some 85% of Palestinians have been forced to flee their homes, with some recorded deaths from starvation.

Despite the harsh suffering Adem and his peers are suffering, the sight of these children has become familiar in the streets and public squares, in front of public schools or shelter centers affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Palestine refugees (UNRWA).UNRWA) In the city of Rafah, they stand at simple “sales stalls” to save a small amount of money to help meet their family's needs for scarce goods and commodities in the market.

Most goods and merchandise are sold out in shops and markets, where prices have risen wildly as a result of Israel's harsh siege and the war escalating for a third straight month. Meanwhile, UNRWA said that “relief supplies from Egypt's Rafah land crossing can only meet 5% of the needs of Gazans.”

work instead of school

Just before dawn, two brothers, Anas (12) and Mahmoud (10), accompany their father Ayman Rayhan (36) to the building he has built nearby using old wooden boards of a stall. An UNRWA school refuge center is where his family of five lives. Meager aid is not enough.

Anas and Mahmoud help their father Ayman prepare bread, popularly known as “saj bread”, on a primitive wood-burning stove to overcome the severe cooking gas crisis. The eldest son told Al Jazeera, “My father and I work together to meet the needs of our family… The school food is enough for us.”

Ayman had never been in the industry but found it a source of livelihood as demand for ready-made bread increased prices on the black market due to a severe shortage of flour. About 12 times more, while most destitute people cannot afford to buy it.

The bread-making process begins with Ayman, including kneading, cutting and rounding, and is then handed over to his two sons Anas and Mahmoud. They are responsible for rolling the dough into medium rounds and then ripening it on the bread. stoves and sell them to passers-by who crowd the streets of Rafah.

It is estimated that more than 700,000 displaced people have taken refuge in the city, which had a population of less than 300,000 before the war broke out.

Mahmoud, who dreams of studying medicine when he grows up, said: “Schools are for education, not housing (…) Life was difficult, overcrowded and diseased, there was no drinking or sanitation water, and food was scarce, and both It’s canned food, I don’t know if it’s good or not.”

bakery seller

Not far from the displaced Rayhan family in Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip, child Ahmed Abu Assi (14) shouts to passers-by, promoting his family from Zaitoun, Gaza City Baked goods made by displaced families in the (Zaytoun) community. (25 members) live in a rented house.

Ahmed told Al Jazeera, “My grandfather who came up with the idea bought a bag of flour and the women prepared the pastries (baked goods) at home and I took them to the market every morning to sell” until evening so that we could Buy vegetables and other essentials at their prices. “

Ahmed is very satisfied with the income he earns from selling baked goods every day. He said: “I sell all the food prepared at home every day. The country has no needs and people eat everything because of the war and siege.”

Israel imposes tight restrictions on aid trucks arriving in Gaza Strip via… Rafah land border crossing For Egypt, it stems its flow at a faster pace and in sufficient quantities while continuing to close Kerem Shalom border crossing the only commercial sector and prevents the supply of commercial goods and goods to the small coastal sector.

The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory for Human Rights said that thousands of displaced people arriving in the city of Rafah faced extremely overcrowded conditions, with more than 12,000 people per square kilometer, and suffered inhumane treatment that reached tragic proportions.

A Geneva-based human rights monitor has warned of the dangers of Israel's plans to make forced displacement a reality, as it would lead to displaced people increasingly suffering from disease, epidemics and hunger.