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About half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are children
Habiba (8) was killed when Israeli airstrikes hit her home in Gaza in October 2023. Photo: Trócaire
Habiba (8) was sitting at home painting and watching the news with her family when she was killed by Israeli airstrikes that hit her home in Gaza City.
“She was carrying a colouring brush, not a weapon,” Habiba’s mother Feda’a says. “My heart is broken and my eyes are full of tears.”
According to the latest figures by health officials in Gaza on November 8, at least 4,324 children have been killed in the Israeli bombardment since October 7. Thousands more are missing or have been injured. At least 28 children were killed by Hamas in their attack on Israeli civilians.
About half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are children. Since October 7, they have lived under constant bombardment, with many packed into temporary shelters in UN-run schools after fleeing their homes with little access to food, clean water or medical supplies.
In Gaza, a child aged 15 has experienced five periods of intense bombardment in their life: 2008-9, 2012, 2014, 2021 and now 2023.
“When the war started, Habiba’s little body was shaking all the time because of the sounds of the bombings and rockets,” Feda’a says.
“On the day she died, she had collected her colours and brushes and she was drawing the television telling the news of the war and the flag of Palestine. An hour later, Habiba was killed in a brutal attack against her home, without any fault.”
“Habiba was in third class and she was so clever. She wanted to be a doctor when she grew up. They killed her dreams and they deprived me from enjoying the light of my beautiful moon.”
Feda’a, who worked for Trócaire partner the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, calls on the international community to demand an end to the war on Gaza.
“Please stop all of this. The piece of my heart Habiba has gone and I don’t want more mothers to go through what I am going through,” Feda’a says. “Please stop these massacres against the children of Gaza.”
On October 19, Viola (26) an aid worker with Trócaire partner agency Caritas Jerusalem, and her infant daughter and husband were killed in an Israeli airstrike attack on the St. Porphyrios Church in Gaza.
Viola (26) an aid worker with Trócaire partner agency Caritas Jerusalem, and her infant daughter and husband were killed in an Israeli airstrike attack on the St. Porphyrios Church in Gaza. Photo: Caritas Jerusalem/Trócaire
Viola’s sister and her two children were also killed. The church provided refuge for more than 400 people including Caritas staff and their families. At least 17 people lost their lives and others are still under the rubble.
Father-of-three Mohammad, who works as a field researcher with Trócaire partner Al Haq in Gaza, echoes Feda’a’s plea for the war to end, saying that his children are traumatised.
While documenting Israel’s bombing of the Jabalya refugee camp, where at least 40 Palestinians were killed, Mohammad received a phone call from his wife who was in a state of panic and informed him that their neighbourhood was being bombed.
“I rushed home and state of terror had spread in our building,” Mohammad says. “I led my wife and children out of our home in a state of panic, with screams and pushing among the neighbours.”
“When we reached the street at the building’s front door, we witnessed the bombing of the building directly behind us. My seven-year-old son was holding his mother’s hand, and during the moment of the bombing, he didn’t know where to go due to fear, so he fled inside the building. I immediately followed him inside while the residents were still evacuating and tripping over each other. I found him screaming in terror in the elevator. I quickly carried him out of the building as the residents had already evacuated.”
“Minutes after we left, the entire neighbourhood was bombed. My children are still in a state of panic and shock. What happened to us has happened to thousands of Palestinians in the past few days.”
Trócaire consultant, Hala, who is in Gaza with her three children, was also forced to evacuate from her home to Southern Gaza when the war broke out.
Trócaire consultants Reema (L) and Hala (R) are sheltering with their families in Gaza. Photo: Trócaire
“We haven’t electricity, internet or water. Please do something for us. Put pressure on your government and the whole world to do something.”
“As a mother I am praying for two things as I know death is getting very close. To me, my wishes is to die before my kids so I don’t see them die in front of my eyes and can’t protect them. The second wish is to die quickly without pain without being under the rubble suffering before death.”
“I have six sisters and three brothers, all married with children. Right now, we have split everyone up. My 80-year-old mother is with me and she is crying all the time. Please do what you can to help us.”
Trócaire has been working with Palestinian and Israeli civil society and Church partners in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel since 2002. Through local partners on the ground, Trócaire is ready to provide humanitarian support to the people of Gaza and other areas affected by this crisis. This includes medical supplies, food, water, hygiene and medical supplies, blankets and shelter.
