A Maltese aid worker has described how 11 of the children killed in Israeli air strikes in Gaza were participants in a programme his organization was running to help traumatised young people in the besieged area.
More than eight days of violence in the latest escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has resulted in the deaths of more than 60 Palestinian children out of over 200 fatalities. There have also been casualties on the Israeli side, with at least ten people, including two children killed during rocket attacks.
Karl Schembri, who works with the Norwegian Refugee Council that runs a programme in Gaza helping children to deal with trauma, was horrified to learn that some of the participants were among the dead.
“The nightmares of these children have ended," he told Times of Malta. "They were buried with their nightmares and their dreams. They are gone forever. They were killed with their parents, they were all at home.
“They were killed with their relatives and neighbours in air strikes on very densely populated areas. It’s absolutely tragic the world keeps allowing this to keep happening,” he said.
Schembri said the NRC was reeling by the news of the children’s deaths, all aged between 5 and 15.
Among the dead were Lina Iyad Sharir, 15, who was killed with both of her parents in their home on 11 May. Her two-year-old sister Mina sustained third degree burns and remains in critical condition.
Another victim was 13-year-old Tala Ayman Abu al-Auf, who died along with her older brother, and her father, Dr Ayman Abu al-Auf, head of internal medicine at Gaza City’s Shifa hospital.
A third was was nine-year-old Yara Mohammad al-Kawlak, who died around 1am on Sunday in central Gaza City. One of the youngest was Rula Mohammad al-Kawlak, aged just five.
Tala Ayman Abu al-Auf, 13, and nine-year-old Yara Mohammad al-Kawlak were killed in a strike. Photo: Norwegian Refugee Council“We call on Israel to stop this madness: children must never be targets. Their homes must not be targets. Schools must not be targets. Spare these children and their families. Stop bombing them now,” said NRC's Secretary General Jan Egeland.
Amid the outrage, Israel has defended its military campaign, blaming Hamas militants for operating from among civilian areas.
Schembri has called out the international community, for failing to unite in calling for a ceasefire, and has urged the Maltese community to pressure the government to take a stand on the injustice.
“We need to show our position that we are against injustice and against this long term festering wound that has been left there with millions of Palestinians suffering at the receiving end,” he said.
While there are generous people out there who will be donating to NGOs and aid workers helping on the ground, that is just repairing the damage that is being willfully inflicted, he pointed out.
“Politicians are there to find these political solutions and we need to hold our own representatives to account to stop speaking as if its just a matter of words and never acting on them,” he said.