Aside from its direct killings, Israel's continued siege on Gaza and the psychological trauma of its war offensive are destroying life, especially children, writes Saleh Al-Naami The three cousins convinced their parents last Friday afternoon to let them play in the vineyard next to their house in Al-Qarara village in the southern Gaza Strip. The parents of Abdel-Sattar and Abed Rabbo Al-Ustul, both 10, and Mohamed Al-Ustul, eight, thought that there was no reason to fear for their children. There are no government agencies, military training sites or resistance figures nearby that might be targeted by Israeli warplanes, and so they let the children go outside to play. But as the three children's frolicking voices rose, an unmanned Israeli jet shot a missile directly at them, killing them all instantly. Their shattered bodies were thrown into the air, some of their parts getting caught on tree branches. The Israeli army's intentional killing of these three children has shocked and angered neighbours and everyone familiar with the scene of the crime, an area that is considered calm in comparison to the rest of the Gaza Strip. The killing and injuring of children in air raids is one of the most significant features of the horrific military campaign Israel is currently conducting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the most densely populated area on earth. A total of 1.5 million people living in an area of only 365 square kilometres means that Israel's use of bombs that weigh up to one tonne is a certain recipe for the killing and injuring of civilians, including women and children. According to the statistics of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 26 per cent of those killed and 45 per cent of those injured have been children. Mohamed Abu Tayr was with his father and two relatives in a field adjoining the town of Beni Suheila, east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, when an Apache helicopter fired three Hellfire missiles upon them, killing all four. In the town of Beit Hanoun, two siblings were killed on a donkey cart that was passing near the town police station. Lima and Talal Hamdan were on their way back from their family garden when Israeli planes bombed the police station, killing the two children. Just as the children of Gaza are being killed on the streets, recreation areas offer no guarantee that civilians won't be harmed within their precincts. Last Wednesday, scores of people sought refuge in the only recreation area in the Yabna Refugee Camp, near Rafah in the far south of the Gaza Strip, after the camp had been severely bombed. Then an Israeli Apache helicopter fired several Hellfire missiles on the site, killing three and injuring 30, some critically. Such incidents have driven some people to not allow their children outside to play at all. Marwan Abed Rabbo, 42, who lives in the Birket Al-Wizz neighbourhood near the Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp in the central Gaza Strip, told Al-Ahram Weekly that he put up a swing set inside his house so that his seven children could play without having to go outside. "I have to assume that a car carrying people slated for assassination by Israel could go down the street where the children play and that occupation planes would fire missiles on them and kill or injure my children, so it's better for them to stay by my side," he said. Yet keeping children at home does not guarantee their safety. Samar Alousha, four years old, and four of her sisters were killed last Tuesday in their home after the adjacent Emad Aqal Mosque was bombed. The mosque was destroyed, and with it part of the Alousha family's house, killing the five sisters. And the children in Gaza who are not killed are subject to psychological shock by these terrifying bombing operations. Ghassan Al-Nueimat futilely tried to calm his six-year-old son Ahmed and convince him to stay at home when night fell, but the child insisted on going with his mother and father to spend the night at his Aunt Attaf's house in the nearby Birket Al-Wizz neighbourhood. Ahmed, a first-grader, told his parents that their house's roof would collapse on them that night, and Ghassan had no choice but to take his family of five to spend the night at his older sister's. Ghassan explained to the Weekly that Ahmed had awakened terrified when a window had fallen onto his legs as an F-16 fighter jet had bombed a nearby police station. The impact had made all their windows fly off their hinges, and Ahmed cried until dawn, swearing that he would never spend another night in the house. Majed Al-Hanajereh, a university lecturer, has experienced similar distress with his four-year-old son Abida. Majed told the Weekly that the moment Abida hears the sound of Israeli planes in the sky he starts shaking and crying, and tries to cover his head with his palms. Several times he has asked his mother to hide him in the closet. Majed says that Abida has also started wetting himself, and now insists on sleeping between his parents. Yet it is not only children who are terrified and whose psychological wellbeing is harmed by Israeli bombings. Osama Suleiman, who lives in the Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp, told the Weekly that his 37-year-old wife falls apart whenever she hears jets break the sound barrier and loses her ability to speak. Osama says that his wife's case has caused problems for the entire family. Samir Quteh, a psychology professor at the Islamic University, says that the number of parents going to mental health centres to ask about treating their children has increased. Children's mental health has deteriorated due to the sounds of explosions rocking cities, towns, and refugee camps across the Gaza Strip. Quteh told the Weekly that the psychological symptoms Gazan children exhibit as a result of the fear produced by constant bombings include involuntary urination, fingernail-biting, fear of the dark, nightmares, pain of unknown origin, crying and introversion. Quteh expects the psychological wellbeing of Palestinian children to further deteriorate and for them to exhibit symptoms such as violence with peers, inability to concentrate, and poor academic performance. He notes that Palestinian children who are exposed to shock from bombing become less obedient and lose the ability to deal with their parents openly. What makes matters worse is that many parents don't or can't grant significance to their children's symptoms and don't seek treatment for them. Quteh expects for the poor mental health of children in Gaza to be aggravated by the current Israeli incursions and bombings. He says that during the incursions and bombings that took place prior to the ceasefire, the number of children suffering from shock increased by 30 per cent, and adds that the parents of about 50 per cent of children in shock don't realise the extent of their psychological trauma. Quteh also says that the violent scenes children see on television only makes matters more complicated and increases their levels of psychological pressure. From another angle, the Israeli massacres of Palestinians in Gaza have taken place at a time when the health sector is incapable of carrying out its role due to the effects of the two-year siege on the Gaza Strip. Hamam Nesman, spokesperson for the Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip, says that delivery rooms and medicine sections of hospitals have been turned into operating theatres in response to the large number of injured people received during this Israeli military campaign. In statements made to the Weekly, Nesman said that reception rooms and operating theatres are no longer sufficient for the emergency operations performed to save the lives of victims of bombings. The operating rooms in Dar Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest, are big enough to hold six injured people for emergency surgery under ordinary circumstances. During the current assault, however, the hospital has had to cope with 50 injured people needing surgery at once. Nesman also says that due to the shortage of medical supplies, many of the injured taken to hospitals end up dying. Palestinian hospitals are short of 230 kinds of medical supply, including medicines that stop bleeding and anaesthesia used in surgery. Nesman notes that this situation has forced surgeons to treat injured people without anaesthesia and to use other materials for stopping bleeding and for stitching, whether in reception rooms, emergency wards or in operating theatres. Some 220 pieces of essential medical equipment are currently out of order, including apparatuses that assist breathing and that are used in intensive care units, equipment used for anaesthesia, dialysis machines, and other equipment used in nurseries and paediatric departments, reports Nesman. Medical teams are not equipped to deal with the large number of injured being taken to Gazan hospitals, and due to the deficiency in the medical cadre, Health Minister Bassem Naim, a surgeon, has personally taken part in surgical operations. According to Nesman, medical delegations from Arab countries are needed to save the lives of those injured, and that the Ministry of Health is waiting for Egypt to allow Egyptian and Arab doctors into the Gaza Strip to help save lives. Due to the critical condition of many of those injured, they can't be transported to Arab states for treatment, and experience has shown that critical cases should be treated within the Gaza Strip. In the last Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip prior to the ceasefire, six of those injured died in Egypt's Arish Hospital as a result of their being transported and the lack of essential services in the hospital. Nesman further points to the shortage of ambulances, for of the mere 58 ambulances owned by the Ministry of Health, only 50 per cent of them are functioning and the rest have been reduced to scrap metal for lack of spare parts as a result of the two-year siege. And as for basic medicines needed by cancer and heart patients, Ministry of Health warehouses and private pharmacies in the Gaza Strip have completely run out of 105 kinds. Nesman warns that this situation will lead to increasing deaths of chronically ill people. He further warns that 180 children in the Gaza Strip suffering from PKU are threatened by the shortage of milk. If these children don't drink milk daily, their brains may atrophy and they will become mentally retarded. Another 80 children are critically threatened with lung cirrhosis if they don't receive necessary medication.
