On the Threshold of a Dilapidated Tent: Gaza’s Children Bearing the Burden of Forced Displacement

At the doorway of a small, ramshackle tent within a camp housing hundreds of families exhausted by forced displacement from across Gaza, I saw him—young Ayman—clutching a bundle of firewood with his small hands, struggling to light it despite the painful wounds on his palms. I approached to ask if anyone helped him with this labor, and with a sigh heavy enough to extinguish the fire before him, he replied that he was alone here, in Deir al-Balah, the city the Israeli army claimed was “safe.” Ayman, ten years old, had come from Rafah under the threat of Israeli execution or forced displacement. Two years of his childhood had already been stolen by the aftermath of the October 7 war.

With a maturity beyond his years, he revealed that he is the sole provider for his family here, following the killing of his father and older brother during their flight from Rafah to settle in this makeshift camp in Deir al-Balah, living in a tent littered with remnants of Israeli strikes. With his rough hands contrasting with the softness of his childhood, he wipes sweat from his brow and tells me:
"If I don’t do this, who will take care of us? My mother and sister depend on me; they have no one else."

Lost Dreams

The prolonged months of escalating conflict in Gaza have turned the Strip into one of the most dangerous places in the world for children. Statistics indicate that around 1.7 million people have been internally displaced due to ongoing Israeli threats, with half of them being children. Families were forced to leave their homes for crowded areas lacking water, food, or safe environments, seeking protection that remains elusive. Consequently, thousands of children in Gaza suffer from malnutrition and disease.

Among these humanitarian tragedies is the story of Haya, a thirteen-year-old girl who cries alone outside a tent with a sign reading “Haircut: 15 Shekels.” She spent over three days at the tent, saving enough money to have her long hair—reaching her lower back and shining in sunlight like the dome of Al-Aqsa Mosque—cut, as her mother had lost both hands in the war and could no longer assist her. The camp’s unsanitary environment had led to severe lice infestations, leaving Haya with no choice but to part with her treasured hair. She tells me sadly before entering the tent:
"The occupation didn’t just kill my father and siblings; it stole my home, my hair, and my beauty. I’m not beautiful anymore."

The Sole Survivor

At the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, the emergency department—a gateway to hell—echoes with the cries of thousands of grieving children. Here, I witnessed the harshest face of the Gaza war: children left alone after losing entire families. I saw obstetric nurses performing emergency rescue operations on mothers in the late stages of pregnancy, deliberately targeted by Israeli airstrikes, resulting in the death of the mothers while their unborn children still carried life within them.

Amal, a nine-year-old girl, fights the hardships of orphanhood alone after her family was wiped out in Shujaiya, Gaza City. She cries in the arms of paramedics who brought her to the hospital, without hearing her parents’ cries, now one among seventeen thousand orphans deprived of their parents by the war of extermination.

Outside the hospital, a boy in a wheelchair touches the remnants of his body after both legs were amputated. He sits amid men, elders, and youths at the funeral of seventeen family members, the only survivor among them. He cries, loses consciousness, and upon waking asks:
"Why didn’t God take me with my family and leave me alone?"

Helpless Childhood

In Gaza, children have embraced helplessness. Death no longer terrifies them; incendiary bombs no longer frighten them. Games and dreams have faded; the daily struggle for survival has become their only play.

At a soup kitchen for displaced families, Tawleen, ten years old, returns with an empty box, dirty clothes, and no shoes, crying over her lost childhood. She laments:
"We are no longer children. The only difference between us and the elders is grey hair."

Meanwhile, Amir, eight, sits among the rubble of a destroyed home, tears in his eyes, unable to feed his mother and siblings. When asked about his father, he replies:
"My father is imprisoned by the Jews."

Hala, fourteen, wanders through the camp, questioning the lessons she learned in school about rights and safety. She murmurs while selling pieces of candy:
"What’s happening is cruel; I want the war to end. The Jews tortured us too much."

Forced Disappearance

At the Nitsarim checkpoint separating northern and southern Wadi Gaza, one of the Israeli army’s most concentrated positions, thousands of stories of forced disappearance are reported.

T.D., a young woman, recounts how she and her nine-year-old brother Mazen were waiting for humanitarian aid trucks at Nablusi Roundabout in Gaza City when the Israeli forces arrested many people. Mazen was held for 25 days in Deir al-Balah under harsh conditions, reportedly tortured, and released with the condition that he stay away from northern Gaza for three months.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor notes that there are no precise statistics on the number of Palestinians currently detained in Gaza due to arbitrary arrests and forced disappearances. Preliminary estimates indicate over 3,000 arrests, including at least 200 women and children, with no official information on their detention locations or the charges against them.

Absence of International Protection

Bakr Al-Turkmani, coordinator of investigations and complaints at the Independent Human Rights Commission, told the Palestinian Displacement Observatory that thousands of displaced children in Gaza are classified as internally displaced under the UN’s 1998 guidelines. Most were forced from their homes due to Israel’s war of extermination, violating the principles of distinction and proportionality.

This displacement constitutes a clear violation of the right to protection from forced displacement under Article 22 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which safeguards children during conflict, and Article 38, obliging states to protect children affected by armed conflicts. These violations also breach international humanitarian law, particularly Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibiting forced transfers of civilians except for urgent security or military reasons—which do not apply to most Gaza displacements.

Al-Turkmani emphasized that violations are systematic and targeted at children, evident in the destruction of residential areas, schools, and health centers, without regard for international standards. Local authorities and international organizations’ responses remain partial and limited, due to scarce resources, collapsed infrastructure, and ongoing siege.

Statistics & Reports

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics:

• Since October 7, 2023, approximately 18,000 children were killed in Gaza, including 274 infants, 876 children under one year, 17 children who died from cold in displacement tents, and 52 children from starvation and malnutrition.
• 113,274 were injured, 69% of whom were children and women.
• Over 11,200 remain missing, 70% of them children and women.
• In the West Bank, 188 children were killed and 660 injured since the start of the Israeli aggression.

UNICEF described these violations as a true shock, highlighting killing, maiming, abductions, attacks on hospitals and schools, and denial of humanitarian aid as serious violations of children’s rights.

Children’s long-term futures are at grave risk: chronic psychological disorders, stunted social and cognitive development due to unsafe learning environments, constant fear, repeated displacement weakening family and community networks, and disruption of social protection systems.

UNRWA estimates that Gaza children spend 6–8 hours daily fetching water and food, often carrying heavy loads over long distances. UNICEF estimates over 17,000 children in Gaza are orphans. Prior to the war, 500,000 children in Gaza required mental health and psychosocial support; now, over one million children need urgent support due to halted daily routines, lost education, and lack of basic rights.

These violations are not new; targeting children has been part of Israel’s ongoing campaign of war crimes and crimes against humanity since the 1948 Nakba. This pattern continues today, during the ongoing war of extermination in Gaza, with soldiers killing children, women, and elders for over 600 days.