With the ceasefire still precarious in Gaza, what are the immense challenges facing Palestinians and humanitarian organisations as they deal with the complete obliteration of communities where 90% of housing has been destroyed ?
17,000 children in Gaza are without families. 150,000 pregnant women and new mothers require immediate health care. For many babies the ceasefire has come too late, dying in their first few breaths of life.
At least 14,500 children have been killed with thousands more with life changing injuries. According to UNICEF, one million children in Gaza are in need of mental health and psycho-social support for depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.
Aid is starting to get in but the enormity of the destruction of Gaza will take decades of support – that includes the clearance of unexploded ordnance, and restoring the civilian infrastructure deliberately targeted with countless numbers of war crimes committed by the Israeli forces. An estimated 50,773,496 tonnes of rubble is required to be cleared and bodies recovered. It will take a very long time before the world knows the number killed during the Gaza Genocide.
Israel has been emboldened in The West Bank to continue its illegal settlements and campaign of murderous violence against the people living there by US President Trump’s lifting of sanctions against the settlers.
Speaking to the UN Security Council, Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said:
“Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinian villages, setting homes and properties on fire.”
2,000 Palestinian families have been forced to flee from their homes in Jenin. The settlers use social media to form armed groups attacking families and destroying their homes. They are aided and abetted in their illegal actions by the Israeli Defence Force, IDF. On 14 and 15 January there were repeated airstrikes on the Jenin Refugee Camp.
Peace campaigners in Orkney will again meet on the Kirk Green on Saturday 25th January between 1 and 2pm in the hopes that the fragile ceasefire will become permanent. As there is a funeral taking place in St Magnus Cathedral, those attending the vigil will be at the Mercat Cross and not on the steps.
On the first day of the ceasefire three female Israeli hostages were released from Gaza and 90 Palestinians, among them 69 women and 21 children, were released from Israeli detention camps into the West Bank including East Jerusalem, as part of the implementation of the ceasefire deal.
Four captured Israeli soldiers held as hostages will be released by Hamas on Saturday. Israel will release 180 Palestinians from their detention camps in exchange.
In Orkney, the islanders attending the vigils, will be discussing whether or not to continue with their Saturday vigils. Some are also taking part in a ‘Stitch for Solidarity’ project, part of a Scotland wide banner making initiative. They will be meeting on Saturday, 25 Jan, at 11 am in the room next to the Picky Centre café and invite all those who would like to be a part of this to join them.
For the surviving children of Gaza, a generation traumatised by the actions of the Israeli State, and of those in The West Bank experiencing ongoing and increasing violence and murderous attacks, the ceasefire needs to be a lasting one. The Palestinians seized, transported, and incarcerated in Israeli camps, must be released. That hope seems as far off as ever with the US military and political support of Israel continuing with the new President.
Fiona Grahame
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