Save the Children from Israel

I'm fairly certain I've run that headline before. This blog has been running since February or March 2004 so there have been plenty of occasions to call for children to be saved from the racist war criminals of the State of Israel. What happened this time is that I googled "Palestinian children arriving with bullet wounds to the head" because I wanted to find its origin and Save the Children came up first as a sponsored link.

Over half the population of the OPT are children. Poverty, conflict, violence and fear are a daily reality for many children and their families. Across the OPT, one in three families can't afford a balanced meal. One in five lives in ‘deep poverty’, unable to meet basic food, clothing and housing needs.

In Gaza the situation is worse. Even before the conflict escalated in December 2008, severe restrictions were placed on the movement of goods and people to and from Gaza. They were imposed by the Israeli government in response to the Hamas takeover in June 2007, and they have afflicted the lives of the 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza.

The blockade and the collapse of the economy meant there wasn’t much food to buy and people didn’t have much money to buy it with (unemployment rose to close to 40%). By late 2008 over 1.1 million people in Gaza were already dependent on food aid.

Now the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worsening. And children are suffering the most. At least 123 children have been killed in the conflict's first twelve days, and hundreds more injured.

Save the Children urges all concerned parties to restore the ceasefire immediately and resume steps to find a peaceful solution to the current crisis that jeopardizes the lives of children. A ceasefire of three hours is dangerously inadequate.

“Three hours was not a ceasefire, it was merely a brief curfew in the fighting. It will have done nothing to assuage the fear and stress that children are suffering, children who are once again spending the night petrified their houses could be bombed." - Salam Kanaan, country director

We're calling for the opening of Gaza borders and free access for humanitarian assistance to allow aid agencies to provide much-needed relief to vulnerable children and so that children and their families can access essential services. Find out more about our response. Donate now to our Gaza conflict appeal.Over half the population of the OPT are children. Poverty, conflict, violence and fear are a daily reality for many children and their families. Across the OPT, one in three families can't afford a balanced meal. One in five lives in ‘deep poverty’, unable to meet basic food, clothing and housing needs.

In Gaza the situation is worse. Even before the conflict escalated in December 2008, severe restrictions were placed on the movement of goods and people to and from Gaza. They were imposed by the Israeli government in response to the Hamas takeover in June 2007, and they have afflicted the lives of the 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza.

The blockade and the collapse of the economy meant there wasn’t much food to buy and people didn’t have much money to buy it with (unemployment rose to close to 40%). By late 2008 over 1.1 million people in Gaza were already dependent on food aid.

Now the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worsening. And children are suffering the most. At least 123 children have been killed in the conflict's first twelve days, and hundreds more injured.

Save the Children urges all concerned parties to restore the ceasefire immediately and resume steps to find a peaceful solution to the current crisis that jeopardizes the lives of children. A ceasefire of three hours is dangerously inadequate.

“Three hours was not a ceasefire, it was merely a brief curfew in the fighting. It will have done nothing to assuage the fear and stress that children are suffering, children who are once again spending the night petrified their houses could be bombed." - Salam Kanaan, country director

We're calling for the opening of Gaza borders and free access for humanitarian assistance to allow aid agencies to provide much-needed relief to vulnerable children and so that children and their families can access essential services. Find out more about our response. Donate now to our Gaza conflict appeal.

Much of it is old news now, more children have been targeted and killed and the evidence is overwhelming but there are still, in spite of Israel, Palestinian children to save.