GAZA/JERUSALEM — Rakyat Palestin di Gaza mahu Donald Trump, yang memenangi pilihan raya AS, menamatkan perang antara Israel dan Hamas yang telah memusnahkan wilayah mereka.

“Kami dipindahkan, dibunuh … tiada apa yang tinggal untuk kami, kami mahukan keamanan,” kata Mamdouh Al-Jadba, yang dipindahkan ke Kota Gaza dari Jabalia.

“Saya harap Trump menemui penyelesaian, kami memerlukan seseorang yang kuat seperti Trump untuk menamatkan perang dan menyelamatkan kami, cukuplah, Tuhan, ini sudah memadai,” kata lelaki berusia 60 tahun itu. “Saya telah berpindah tiga kali, rumah saya musnah, anak-anak saya kehilangan tempat tinggal di selatan … Tiada apa-apa lagi, Gaza sudah habis.”

Umm Ahmed Harb, dari kawasan Al-Shaaf di timur Kota Gaza, juga mengharapkan Trump untuk “berdiri di sisi kami” dan menamatkan penderitaan wilayah itu.

“In-sya-Allah perang akan berakhir, bukan demi kita tetapi demi anak-anak kita yang tidak bersalah, mereka syahid dan mati kelaparan,” katanya.

“Kami tidak boleh membeli apa-apa dengan harga tinggi (makanan). Kami di sini dalam ketakutan, ketakutan dan kematian.”

Bagi rakyat Palestin di Tebing Barat yang diduduki, di mana keganasan juga meningkat sejak Oktober tahun lalu, kemenangan Trump adalah sebab untuk takut masa depan.

“Trump tegas dalam beberapa keputusan, tetapi keputusan ini boleh melayani kepentingan Israel dari segi politik lebih daripada mereka melayani untuk Palestin,” kata Samir Abu Jundi, 60 tahun di bandar Ramallah.

Seorang lagi lelaki yang memperkenalkan dirinya hanya dengan nama samarannya, Abu Mohammed, berkata dia juga tidak melihat sebab untuk mempercayai kemenangan Trump akan memihak kepada rakyat Palestin, berkata “tiada apa yang akan berubah kecuali lebih banyak penurunan.”

Imad Fakhida, seorang pengetua sekolah di bandar utama Ramallah, Tebing Barat, berkata “kembalinya Trump ke tampuk kuasa … akan membawa kita ke neraka dan akan ada peningkatan yang lebih besar dan lebih sukar.”

Dia menambah: “Dia terkenal dengan sokongan penuh dan terbesarnya untuk Israel.”

Semasa kempennya untuk kembali ke Rumah Putih, Trump berkata Gaza, yang terletak di timur Mediterranean, mungkin “lebih baik daripada Monaco.”

Dia juga berkata dia akan bertindak balas dengan cara yang sama seperti yang dilakukan Israel selepas serangan 7 Oktober, sambil menggesa sekutu AS itu untuk “menyelesaikan tugas” kerana ia “kehilangan banyak sokongan.”

Secara lebih luas, dia telah berjanji untuk menamatkan krisis antarabangsa yang meruncing, malah mengatakan dia boleh “menghentikan peperangan dengan panggilan telefon.”

Di Gaza, kenyataan sebegitu memberi alasan untuk harapan. “Kami menjangkakan keamanan akan datang dan perang akan berakhir dengan Trump kerana dalam kempen pilihan rayanya dia berkata bahawa dia mahukan keamanan dan menyeru untuk menghentikan peperangan di Gaza dan Timur Tengah,” kata Ibrahim Alian, 33, dari Kota Gaza.

Seperti kebanyakan penduduk wilayah itu, Alian telah beberapa kali dipindahkan oleh pertempuran. Dia berkata dia juga kehilangan bapanya kerana perang.

“In-sya-Allah perang di Semenanjung Gaza akan berakhir dan keadaan akan berubah,” katanya.

Sementara itu, pekerja perbandaran merobohkan tujuh rumah di kejiranan Silwan Baitulmaqdis Timur yang diduduki pada Selasa, penduduk Palestin dan majlis perbandaran berkata, selepas mahkamah Israel menyatakan pembinaan mereka tidak sah.

AN-AFP

BEIRUT — Hezbollah’s chief said Wednesday his group had tens of thousands of combatants ready to fight, adding that nowhere in Israel was off-limits to attacks.

“We have tens of thousands of trained resistance combatants” ready to fight, Naim Qassem said in a speech marking 40 days since his predecessor was killed.

He also said nowhere in Israel would be “off-limits” to the group’s attacks.

He said the results of the US presidential election will have no impact on any possible ceasefire deal.

“We don’t base our expectations for a halt of the aggression on political developments… Whether (Kamala) Harris wins or (Donald) Trump wins, it means nothing to us,” he said in a pre-recorded speech before Trump’s win was announced.

“What will stop this… war is the battlefield” he said, citing fighting in south Lebanon and Hezbollah attacks on Israel.

The speech was Qassem’s second since he was named Hezbollah secretary-general last week.

He replaced the group’s decades-long chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a massive Israeli strike on the group’s south Beirut bastion.

AN-AFP

ZURICH — Larangan Swiss yang kontroversi terhadap penutup muka di kawasan awam dikenali sebagai “larangan burqa” akan berkuat kuasa pada 1 Januari, kata kerajaan pada Rabu.

Diluluskan secara sempit dalam referendum 2021 di Switzerland yang neutral, dan dikecam oleh persatuan Islam, langkah itu dilancarkan oleh kumpulan sama yang menganjurkan larangan 2009 ke atas menara baharu.

Majlis Persekutuan yang memerintah berkata dalam satu kenyataan ia telah menetapkan permulaan larangan itu, dan sesiapa yang melanggarnya secara tidak sah berdepan denda sehingga 1,000 Swiss franc ($1,144).

Larangan itu tidak terpakai kepada pesawat atau di premis diplomatik dan konsular, dan muka juga mungkin ditutup di tempat ibadat dan tapak suci lain, kata kerajaan.

Penutup muka akan kekal dibenarkan atas sebab berkaitan kesihatan dan keselamatan, untuk adat asli atau disebabkan keadaan cuaca, katanya. Mereka juga akan dibenarkan atas alasan artistik dan hiburan dan untuk pengiklanan, tambahnya.

Jika perlindungan sedemikian diperlukan untuk perlindungan peribadi dalam melaksanakan kebebasan bersuara dan berhimpun, ia harus dibenarkan dengan syarat pihak berkuasa yang bertanggungjawab telah meluluskannya dan ketenteraman awam tidak terjejas, katanya.

AN-REUTERS

CAIRO — Mohammad Atteya has been separated from his family in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya for two weeks since being evacuated to hospital with a head wound.

Now he is torn by regret for leaving them in the epicentre of a massive Israeli military assault.

“They speak to me about their nights of horror, they tell me how every night they pray for their safety and they bid one another farewell. Hell is boiling there, I feel it inside my chest. I wish I hadn’t left,” he said.

While he waits in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, only a few kilometres from home but unable to return, 23 members of his extended family are sheltering in one house with barely enough to eat.

“They are eating what is left of some canned food, no fresh vegetables or fruit, no meat or chicken and no clean water,” he said.

In the month since Israel launched a renewed campaign in the border town of Beit Lahiya, one of the first targets of last year’s ground assault, multiple strikes have killed hundreds of Palestinians.

A hit on a residential building on Oct. 29 killed at least 93 people, health officials said. Israel’s military said it was targeting a spotter on the roof.

Thousands of Palestinians have been evacuated from Beit Lahiya and the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia as the Israeli military roots out bands of Hamas fighters still operating from amongst the rubble.

The area has been cut off from Gaza City to the south, communication has been patchy, supplies of food dwindling and prices of whatever is available reaching exorbitant levels.

It is unclear how many civilians remain in northern Gaza. The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service estimated 100,000 people remain in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, about half of those there at the start of the new Israeli campaign on Oct. 5.

The repeated bombardments have destroyed shelters and those remaining are huddled together in whatever structures still stand. “That is why every Israeli hit on a house leads to dozens of casualties,” said Atteya.

The Israeli military has disputed some of the casualty figures reported by Palestinian officials. Top United Nations officials say the situation in northern Gaza is “apocalyptic” with the entire population at imminent risk of death.

AMBUSHES AND GUNBATTLES

More than a year into the war in Gaza, the Israeli military believes that Hamas, whose fighters rampaged through communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, has been depleted but not yet extinguished.

“We expect this campaign to last an additional few weeks at least. There is a lot of work to do there in order to dismantle Hamas’ capabilities in this region,” an Israeli military official said last week.

The army says it has killed or captured hundreds of Hamas fighters during the northern Gaza operation, and at least 17 Israeli soldiers have been killed in gunbattles and ambushes in the wrecked streets or bombed-out buildings.

On Tuesday, Hamas’ armed wing said fighters in Jabalia had killed five Israeli soldiers at point blank range a day earlier, in one of several such announcements the group has made in past weeks. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.

Access for reporters is restricted and communications are erratic making independent verification of what is happening on the ground difficult.

Israel accuses Hamas fighters of hiding among civilians. In a night-time raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few health facilities struggling to operate in the north, an Israeli military official said around 100 Hamas fighters were captured, some posing as medical staff, along with weapons and ammunition.

Hamas rejected the accusations. Eid Sabbah, the hospital’s director of nursing, described a terrifying raid in a voice note to Reuters. “The terrorising of civilians, the injured and children began as they (the Israeli army) started opening fire on the hospital,” he said.

In advance of attacks, the Israeli military sends out evacuation orders to civilians in leaflet drops and targeted telephone calls.

“Evacuation is the worst feeling ever,” Atteya said. “You are told to run for your life, you try to ask the voice (Israeli caller), how much time do I have, he says ‘run’. What can you take with you when you go running?”

A public servant, Atteya had dreams for his children, aged between 15 and 2, in Hamas-run Gaza before the war, which health officials in Gaza say has killed more than 43,300 Palestinians.

“I don’t say the Hamas government was ideal. They couldn’t improve economic conditions,” he said. “We had a life, a good one, not good enough but we didn’t have the (Israeli) occupation’s killing machine tearing us up everyday.”

The future is hard for Atteya to envisage. Many Palestinians believe the Israeli campaign is aimed at preparing the way for a return of Israeli settlers to post-war Gaza.

“They are making buffer zones, that’s why they are demolishing and bombing residential districts, and some of their fanatics want to return settlers in Gaza. This is how bad the situation is,” he said.

The Israeli military denies such plans and says the evacuation orders are meant to keep civilians out of harm’s way.

REUTERS

TEHRAN — The autopsy of Yahya Al-Sinwar, the martyred leader of the Hamas resistance movement, who was assassinated by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, showed that he had spent three days without any food before his martyrdom.

After the autopsy, Israeli doctors came to the conclusion that he suffered from hunger and had not eaten for three days before his assassination, according to an IRNA Monday report from Samaa news agency.

On Oct 18, 2024, Hamas officially confirmed the martyrdom of Yahya Sinwar in Gaza.

IRNA

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — After over a year of war in Gaza, Palestinian fishermen gather along the coastline, desperately casting their nets in hopes of catching enough for their families amid widespread hunger.

Since Israel began a military onslaught in Gaza after Hamas’ October 2023 attack, Israeli restrictions in the waters off the enclave have made life almost impossible for fishermen, who no longer sail out to sea and instead must stay by the shore.

In Khan Younis, Ibrahim Ghurab, 71, and Waseem Al Masry, 24, fish for sardines from the shoreline in front of a encampment of tents and makeshift shelters for those displaced by the war.

“Life is difficult,” Ghurab said. “One tries to secure food. There is no aid, we don’t receive anything anymore. In the beginning there was some (humanitarian) aid, very little, but now there is no more.”

Fishermen like Ghurab and Al Masry struggle daily to bring in even a modest catch to feed their families. There is rarely any fish left over from a daily haul to be sold to others.

Fishing was an important part of daily life in Gaza before the war, helping people eke out a living by selling their daily hauls in the market and feed the population.

But scant aid is reaching Gaza amid Israeli restrictions and frequent fighting, and many people have no income. The price of simple goods are largely out of reach for most.

“We have to come here and risk our lives,” Al Masry said, describing shootings by the Israeli military from the sea that he accused of targeting fisherman on the beach in Khan Younis.

Ghurab similarly said that Israeli military boats had fired upon fisherman at Khan Younis.

The Israeli military did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the claims the military had shot at fishermen.

Israel’s retaliatory war against Hamas for the Islamist militant group’s deadly, cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023 has devastated densely populated Gaza and displaced most of the 2.3 million population.

REUTERS

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s health ministry said five people were killed in Israeli strikes Wednesday on the municipality of the southern city of Nabatiyeh, after an official said the mayor was among the dead.

“The Israeli enemy raid… on two buildings, that of the Nabatiyeh municipality and the union of municipalities, killed five people in a preliminary toll,” the ministry said in a statement, adding rescuers were searching for survivors under the rubble.

The mayor of Nabatiyeh was among those killed, authorities said.

“The mayor of Nabatiyeh, among others… was martyred. It’s a massacre,” Nabatiyeh governor Howaida Turk said, adding he had been in the municipality building.

Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers also said several people were killed in the strike on the municipality building including mayor Ahmad Kahil.

The Israeli military launched strikes in southern Beirut on Wednesday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon, saying it would leave Hezbollah forces near his country’s border.

An AFP journalist saw black smoke rising from Beirut’s Haret Hreik area after two strikes, which followed an Israeli military warning for residents to evacuate.

One of the strikes targeted weapons “stockpiled by Hezbollah in an underground storage facility,” the military said.

AN-AFP

BEIRUT — Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general Sheikh Naim Qassem, who said on Tuesday that the armed group supported efforts to reach a ceasefire for Lebanon, has been a senior figure in the Iran-backed movement for more than 30 years.

Speaking in front of curtains from an undisclosed location, Qassem said the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel was a war about who cries first, and Hezbollah would not cry first. The group’s capabilities were intact despite “painful blows” from Israel.

But he added the group supported the efforts of parliament speaker Nabih Berri – a Hezbollah ally – to secure a ceasefire, for the first time omitting any mention of a Gaza truce deal, opens new tab as a pre-condition for halting the group’s fire on Israel.

His 30-minute televised address comes just days after senior Hezbollah figure Hashem Safieddine is thought to have been the target of an Israeli strike and 11 days after the killing of Hezbollah’s secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Qassem was appointed deputy chief in 1991 by the armed group’s then-secretary general Abbas al-Musawi, who was killed by an Israeli helicopter attack the following year.

Qassem remained in his role when Nasrallah became leader, and has long been one of Hezbollah’s leading spokesmen, conducting interviews with foreign media including as cross-border hostilities with Israel raged over the last year.
Qassem’s televised address on Tuesday was his second since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah intensified in September.

He was the first member of Hezbollah’s top leadership to make televised remarks after Nasrallah’s killing in an Israeli air attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 27.

Speaking on Sept. 30, Qassem said Hezbollah would choose a successor to its slain secretary general “at the earliest opportunity” and would continue to fight Israel in solidarity with Palestinians.

“What we are doing is the bare minimum… We know that the battle may be long,” he said in a 19-minute speech.

Born in 1953 in Beirut to a family from Lebanon’s south, Qassem’s political activism began with the Lebanese Shi’ite Amal Movement.
He left the group in 1979 in the wake of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, which shaped the political thinking of many young Lebanese Shi’ite activists.

Qassem took part in meetings that led to the formation of Hezbollah, established with the backing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

He has been the general coordinator of Hezbollah’s parliamentary election campaigns since the group first contested them in 1992.

In 2005, he wrote a history of Hezbollah seen as a rare “insider’s look” into the organisation. Qassem wears a white turban unlike Nasrallah and Safieddine, whose black turbans denoted their status as descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.

REUTERS

RIYADH — Two new imams have been appointed at the Grand Mosque in Makkah and another two at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, Saudi Press Agency reported on Thursday.

Sheikh Badr bin Muhammad Al-Turki and Sheikh Al-Waleed bin Khalid Al-Shamsan were appointed to the prestigious position at the Grand Mosque while Sheikh Muhammad bin Ahmed Barhaji and Sheikh Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Qarafi were appointed at the Prophet’s Mosque.

The appointments were made by royal decree, SPA said.

AN-OCT 3, 2024

Food supplies to Gaza have fallen sharply in recent weeks because Israeli authorities have introduced a new customs rule on some humanitarian aid and are separately scaling down deliveries organized by businesses, people involved in getting goods to the war-torn territory told Reuters.

The new customs rule applies to truck convoys chartered by the United Nations to take aid from Jordan to Gaza via Israel, seven people familiar with the matter said. Under the rule, individuals from relief organizations sending aid must complete a form providing passport details, and accept liability for any false information on a shipment, the people said.

They said relief agencies are disputing that requirement, which was announced mid-August, because they fear signing the form could expose staff to legal problems if aid fell into the hands of Hamas or other enemies of Israel.

As a result, shipments have not been getting through the Jordan route — a key channel in Gaza supplies — for two weeks. The dispute has not affected shipments via Cyprus and Egypt, the sources said.

In a parallel move, Israeli authorities have restricted commercial food shipments to Gaza amid concerns that Hamas was benefiting from that trade, the people familiar with the matter and industry sources said.

U.N. and Israeli government data show that in September, deliveries of food and aid sank to their lowest in seven months.
Israeli’s military humanitarian unit, Cogat, which oversees aid and commercial shipments to Gaza, confirmed that no U.N.-chartered convoy has moved from Jordan to Gaza since Sept. 19, but a spokesperson said Israel was not blocking goods.

The spokesperson referred questions about the form dispute to Israel’s Ministry of Economy. A ministry spokesperson did not answer Reuters’ questions. A spokesperson for the U.N.’s emergency-response arm, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), declined to comment. Cogat did not address specific questions about commercial shipments.

The twin restrictions, which have not been previously reported, have reignited concerns among aid workers that pervasive food insecurity will worsen for the 2.3 million Gazans trapped in the occupied Palestinian territory.

“Lack of food is some of the worst it’s been during the war, these past weeks especially,” Nour al-Amassi, a doctor who works in southern Gaza, told Reuters by phone.

“We thought we’d been able to get a hold on it but it’s got worse. My clinic treats 50 children a day for various issues, injuries and illness. On average 15 of those are malnourished.”

The number of trucks carrying food and other goods to Gaza fell to around 130 per day on average in September, according to Cogat statistics. That is below about 150 recorded since the beginning of the war, and far off the 600 trucks a day that the U.S. Agency for International Development says are required to address the threat of famine in wartime.

Food insecurity has been one of most fraught issues of the war that began after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year. In May, International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors asked the court to issue an arrest warrant against Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying they suspected Israeli authorities had used “the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.”

Israeli authorities have denied this, saying they facilitate food deliveries to Gaza despite challenging conditions. In September, they filed two official challenges to the ICC, contesting the legality of the prosecutor’s request and contesting the court’s jurisdiction.

CHAOTIC ROUTES

During the war, aid to Gaza has been delivered through several different routes that have come in and out of operation, according to U.N. and Israeli officials.

The main route before the war was to southern Gaza via Egypt, after a detour for Israeli scans. Since Israel launched a military assault on the town of Rafah in May, U.N. aid coming that way has slumped because insecurity made it increasingly difficult to organize, U.N. relief agencies have said.

In May, a U.S.-led effort launched a pier to deliver humanitarian aid by boat, but the jetty was damaged by storms and abandoned in July. Some shipments that were earmarked for the pier at the time have yet to reach Gaza even after they were re-routed through the Israeli port of Ashdod, aid workers said.

Israel opened the Jordan route in December, allowing trucks to move directly from the Hashemite Kingdom to Gaza. U.N. and NGO aid workers say the Jordan corridor became the most reliable until the recent suspension.

Transportation via the route was helped after Israeli authorities agreed with Jordan to simplify customs procedures for humanitarian aid transported by U.N. agencies.

But in mid-August, Cogat informed U.N. relief agencies that this fast track had been revoked, the people familiar with the matter said. That generates additional costs and delays.

The new customs form is an extra headache, the sources said, adding the U.N. side had proposed an alternative and was hopeful Israel would accept it.

FALL IN COMMERCIAL IMPORTS

Compounding concerns about hunger in Gaza, the sources pointed to a recent drop in commercial supplies.

Commercial imports by Gaza-based traders made up the majority of the 500 trucks that entered the territory daily before the war.

Israel halted most of these supplies when war broke out, but allowed food imports to resume from Israeli-controlled territory in May, helping to augment the supply of fresh, nutritious products not contained in aid shipments, four Gazan traders and four U.N. officials said.

But commercial shipments have fallen from a daily average of 140 trucks in July to 80 in September, according to Cogat statistics. In the last two weeks of September, Gaza-based traders said the daily average fell even further, to a low of 45 trucks.

Israeli authorities actively promoted commercial supply since May, saying in June it was a more efficient alternative to U.N. aid.

But they changed tack after realizing that Hamas managed to levy taxes on some commercial shipments and seize some of the food, people familiar with the matter said.

REUTERS, Oct 2, 2024

KABUL — Dengan undang-undang baharu Taliban yang melarang wanita daripada meninggikan suara di khalayak ramai, aktivis wanita di Afghanistan mendakwa mereka juga didiamkan di Barat, di mana perwakilan mereka semakin ditolak.

Peraturan yang dikeluarkan bulan lalu oleh Kementerian Penyebaran Kebajikan dan Pencegahan Maksiat memperkenalkan kod pakaian lebih ketat untuk semua warga Afghanistan, tetapi sekatan itu menetapkan wanita bukan sahaja menutup diri sepenuhnya, termasuk muka, tetapi juga menyembunyikan suara mereka di khalayak ramai.

“Kerajaan secara praktikal telah mengabaikan suara wanita dan sedang berusaha untuk menghapuskan sebanyak mungkin peranan wanita dalam masyarakat,” kata Haida Akbari, seorang aktivis hak wanita di Kabul, kepada Arab News (AN).

“Larangan terhadap suara wanita adalah salah satu langkah ke arah penghapusan peranan sosial wanita – bukan yang pertama mahupun yang terakhir.”

Hak wanita Afghanistan telah disekat sejak Taliban menguasai Afghanistan pada 2021, apabila tentera pimpinan AS (Amerika Syarikat) berundur selepas dua dekad perang berikutan pencerobohan ke atas negara itu.

Wanita dan kanak-kanak perempuan secara beransur-ansur dilarang daripada menghadiri sekolah menengah dan universiti, menjalankan kebanyakan bentuk pekerjaan bergaji, dan menghadiri ruang awam seperti taman awam atau gim.

Setiap sekatan telah mendorong kecaman dan mencetuskan perdebatan di Barat. Tetapi sementara ini bertujuan untuk mempertahankan hak wanita, mereka jarang menyertakan suara mereka yang menghadapi realiti kehidupan di Afghanistan.

Dalam perbincangan baru-baru ini mengenai kesan undang-undang “maksiat dan kebajikan” baharu, penyiar Kanada meminta komen daripada bekas menteri Afghanistan, bekas ahli parlimen dan bekas pegawai kerajaan — semuanya tinggal dalam buangan.

Satu lagi saluran media antarabangsa menumpukan liputannya pada komen seorang aktivis lelaki, dan sementara ia juga menjemput tiga wanita Afghanistan untuk mengulas, tidak seorang pun tinggal di Afghanistan.

Bagi Haida dan aktivis wanita lain, amalan sebegitu semakin menghakis perwakilan dan perjuangan mereka untuk memperkasakan.

“Tidak dinafikan bahawa seorang wanita yang tinggal di dalam Afghanistan yang ingin meneruskan kehidupannya di dalam negara sangat berbeza daripada seseorang yang berada di luar negara,” kata Haida.

“Wanita di dalam negara mahu masalah itu diselesaikan, tetapi itu tidak bermakna mengalu-alukan satu lagi peperangan di negara ini… Isu-isu ini tidak disiarkan dalam media.”

Adina Ranjber, pengarah organisasi OTUF diterajui wanita, yang menyediakan pembangunan kemahiran dan peluang pekerjaan untuk wanita di Afghanistan, berkata adalah penting forum antarabangsa menawarkan suara kepada wanita Afghanistan, terutama apabila mereka disenyapkan di rumah.

“Pandangan dan tuntutan wanita di negara ini sering diabaikan dan ditindas. Nampaknya masih jauh perjalanan untuk pandangan wanita Afghanistan didengar dan dipertimbangkan. Terdapat keperluan untuk sokongan berterusan daripada masyarakat antarabangsa dan media,” katanya kepada Arab News.

“Perwakilan wanita dari Afghanistan dalam perbincangan hak asasi manusia menunjukkan penghormatan terhadap hak asasi manusia dan kesaksamaan jantina. Ini boleh membantu mewujudkan masyarakat yang lebih adil dan sama rata untuk wanita dan lelaki.”

Adina berkata bukan sahaja Barat yang menyumbang kepada suara wanita Afghanistan diketepikan di platform antarabangsa.

“Salah satu faktor paling penting dalam pengabaian wanita di Afghanistan ialah kesunyian negara Islam dan kesatuan ulama Islam dunia mengenai isu wanita di Afghanistan,” katanya.

“Ini juga memberi media Barat alasan untuk mengabaikan wanita Afghanistan dan menambah masalah dan bukannya menyelesaikan apa-apa.”

AN

English

Banned by Taliban, Afghan women’s voices increasingly dismissed abroad

KABUL — With a new Taliban law banning women from raising their voice in public, female activists in Afghanistan claim they are also being silenced in the West, where their representation is increasingly dismissed.

Regulations issued last month by the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice introduced stricter dress codes for all Afghans, but the restrictions stipulated that women not only cover themselves completely, including the face, but also conceal their voices in public.

“The government has practically ignored the voice of women and is seeking to eliminate as much of the role of women in society as possible,” Haida Akbari, a women rights activist in Kabul, told Arab News.

“The ban on women’s voices is one of the steps toward the elimination of women’s social role — neither the first nor the last.”

The rights of Afghan women have been curtailed since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, when US-led forces withdrew after two decades of war following the invasion of the country.

Women and girls have been gradually barred from attending secondary school and university, undertaking most forms of paid employment, and attending public spaces such as public parks or gyms.

Each of the restrictions has spurred condemnation and sparked debate in the West. But while these are aimed at defending the rights of women, they rarely include the voices of those facing the reality of life inside Afghanistan.

In recent discussions on the impact of the new “vice and virtue” law, a Canadian broadcaster sought a comment from a former Afghan minister, a former member of parliament, and a former government official — all living in exile.

Another international media outlet focused its coverage on comments by a male activist, and while it also invited three Afghan women to comment, not one was living in Afghanistan.

For Akbari and other female activists, such practices further erode their representation and struggle for empowerment.

“There is no doubt that a woman living inside Afghanistan who wants to continue her life inside the country is very different from someone who is outside the country,” Akbari said.

“Women inside the country want the problem to be solved, but that does not mean welcoming another war in the country … These issues are not covered in the media.”

Adina Ranjber, director of a women-led organization OTUF, which provides skill development and employment opportunities for women in Afghanistan, said it was important that international forums offer a voice to Afghan women, especially when they were being silenced at home.

“Women’s views and demands in the country are often ignored and suppressed. It seems that there is still a long way to go for Afghan women’s views to be heard and considered. There’s a need for continued support from the international community and the media,” she told Arab News.

“Representation of women from Afghanistan in human rights discussions demonstrates respect for human rights and gender equality. This can help create a more just and equal society for both women and men.”

Ranjber said that it is not only the West that is contributing to the voices of Afghan women being sidelined on international platforms.

“One of the most important factors in the neglect of women in Afghanistan is the silence of Islamic countries and the world Muslim scholars’ unions about the issues of women in Afghanistan,” she said.

“This also gives the Western media an excuse to ignore Afghan women and add to the problem instead of solving anything.”

AN

DUBAI — In a Dubai recording studio, hijab-clad Ghaliaa Chaker tunes her guitar and belts out original songs as she builds a career that is turning heads for more than just her music.

The 26-year-old Syrian, raised in the UAE, has become a social media sensation, with 437,000 followers on Instagram and millions of views on her YouTube channel.

She offers not only a unique sound but also an unusual look in a region where artists who wear the hijab, the head covering characteristic of Muslim women, are few and far between.

“I hope that I have paved the way for other” hijabi singers, Chaker said at the studio.

“It is a very beautiful thing to know that you have … given a push to a girl who has many dreams and is unable to achieve them because she has never seen another girl do the same thing.”

Chaker, a keen motorbike rider who is part of an all-hijabi biker squad in Dubai, began composing and writing lyrics at 16.

She drew inspiration from Nedaa Shrara, a veiled Jordanian singer who won “The Voice,” the Arabic version of the popular TV talent show, in 2015.

Shrara had stirred controversy among Arab fans who were not accustomed to seeing a singer wearing the head covering.

But for Chaker, who says she often receives criticism online, Shrara was a symbol of “self-confidence.”

After seeing her, “I said to myself that I can do it too,” Chaker said.

Chaker’s first song, composed in English, was picked up by Dubai radio stations in 2018, marking the start of her musical career.

She now sings mainly in Arabic, at a time when the regional music scene is witnessing the rise of young talents with innovative sounds.

The green-eyed singer said the headscarf has never been an obstacle. “There is nothing I have wanted to do and not done because I wear the veil,” Chaker said.

However, the issue of women singing has always been controversial in conservative Islamic societies.

Although the Qur’an does not explicitly prohibit singing, or ban women from performing music, some religious scholars frown upon the idea, viewing it as immodest.

Chaker said her immediate family has always supported her, but relatives in Syria were “very surprised at first,” mainly because they feared how people would react.

She said she receives a lot of “negative comments” on social media, including from family and friends.

“It bothers me of course, but I try to remember the positive comments and how much people love my music,” she said.

Chaker traces her artistic influences to her early upbringing in Al-Ain, a former desert oasis and now a city in Abu Dhabi, one of the UAE’s seven sheikhdoms.

At home, her father blasted Arab singers such as Fairouz, an iconic Lebanese singer, and Egyptian diva Umm Kalthoum. Chaker’s mother preferred Western music, including Elvis Presley.

“The music mixture in the house was always rich,” she said, influencing her sound, which she describes as a mix of R&B, hip-hop, electro-pop, indie and jazz.

A multi-instrumentalist, Chaker credits her father with her love of the drums, guitar, and piano, all of which she plays.

She said that instead of gifting her toys as a child, he would buy her new instruments.

The Middle Eastern darbuka drum is “the closest to my heart because I often played it with my father, who loves it very much, and it is the basis of oriental rhythm,” she said.

In addition to Arabic and English, Chaker sometimes sings in Turkish, Armenian, and Persian.

The singer, who performed in the Lebanese capital Beirut in August, said she wants to take her music beyond the Middle East.

“It is vital to me that my music is heard in Europe, in America, in Australia, in the whole world, maybe even in Latin America,” she said, adding that she aspires to “collaborate with many artists from different countries.”

“It is time for the Western world to know how beautiful our music is.”

AN-AFP, Sept. 07, 2024

GAZA — Menahan ancaman serangan udara dan pengeboman yang berterusan, Youssef Saad, 15 tahun, pemain oud Gaza, menunggang basikalnya melalui jalan-jalan yang dilanda perang di kem pelarian Jabalia di utara Gaza, alatnya diikat pada belakangnya.

Youssef menyanyi untuk kanak-kanak yang mengalami kengerian setiap hari dalam konflik selama 11 bulan, cuba memberikan mereka sedikit kegembiraan atau gangguan.

“Kediaman di bandar saya dahulunya penuh dengan impian,” kata Youssef sambil merenung runtuhan kem pelarian bandar yang berusia beberapa dekad, yang sebelum perang dibina dan padat penduduk.

“Sekarang, ia sudah tiada,” katanya.

Youssef sedang belajar di Konservatori Muzik Kebangsaan Edward Said di Bandar Gaza berhampiran sebelum ia menjadi runtuhan dalam perang yang telah memusnahkan sebahagian besar kawasan itu.

Kini, tinggal bersama saudara-mara selepas rumahnya sendiri musnah, dia adalah salah seorang daripada lima beradik yang masa depannya telah berubah.

Bapanya, kakitangan kerajaan dengan Pihak Berkuasa Palestin, sentiasa menyokong impian Youssef untuk menjadi seorang pemuzik.

Tetapi kini, tumpuan Youssef telah beralih. Dia menghabiskan hari-harinya di pusat kegiatan Jabalia, bermain oud dan menyanyi untuk kanak-kanak yang trauma akibat peperangan.

Pertumpahan darah terbaru dalam konflik Israel-Palestin yang sudah berdekad lamanya tercetus pada 7 Oktober apabila kumpulan Islam Palestin Hamas menyerang Israel, membunuh 1,200 dan mengambil kira-kira 250 tebusan, menurut pengiraan Israel.

Serangan Israel berikutnya ke atas Gaza yang ditadbir Hamas telah membunuh lebih 40,800 rakyat Palestin, menurut kementerian kesihatan yang dikendalikan Hamas, menyebabkan hampir keseluruhan penduduk dipindahkan dan menghancurkan kawasan yang terkepung itu.

“Setiap rumah ada tragedi,” kata Youssef.

“Ada yang kehilangan ibu mereka, yang lain bapa mereka, jiran mereka, atau kawan mereka.”

Walaupun dalam bahaya, Youssef bertekad untuk meneruskan misinya.

“Kami cuba membantu meningkatkan kesihatan mental mereka, walaupun ia bermakna meletakkan diri saya dalam risiko,” katanya.
“Ini adalah tangungjawab saya kepada kanak-kanak.”

Dan dia enggan menyerah pada impiannya untuk masa depan: “Kami, anak-anak Palestin, berusaha untuk terus berdaya tahan, walaupun dalam menghadapi genosid (pembunuhan beramai-ramai).”

Youssef berkata dia hidup dengan pepatah yang membawanya melalui hari-hari paling gelap: “Jika anda hidup, hidup bebas, atau mati berdiri seperti pokok.”

REUTERS

Hanya beberapa hari selepas pemerintah Taliban yang tegar Afghanistan memperkenalkan undang-undang yang membungkam suara mereka, wanita Afghanistan berkumpul secara rahsia untuk menunjukkan penentangan mereka melalui puisi dan lagu yang dirakam dan dikongsi dalam talian.

Antaranya ialah Adilah, bekas pelajar undang-undang di Kabul yang menganjurkan protes itu bersama aktivis wanita lain, ramai daripada mereka yang ditemuinya pada hari-hari selepas Taliban menyerbu ibu negara dan merampas kuasa pada Ogos 2021.

Sejak itu, Taliban telah mengenakan sekatan ketat ke atas wanita melalui dekri berturut-turut, termasuk larangan pendidikan tinggi, mengambil pekerjaan, tampil di khalayak ramai tanpa penutup seluruh badan, atau niqab, dan bepergian tanpa mahram – penjaga lelaki. Undang-undang baharu, yang dikeluarkan pada 21 Ogos, mengkodifikasikan sekatan ini dan menambah beberapa sekatan baharu, seperti melarang wanita daripada bercakap dengan kuat atau menyanyi di khalayak ramai.

“Kami telah mengetahui untuk sementara waktu bahawa mereka akan melakukan ini; kami telah memberi amaran kepada dunia bahawa Taliban tidak boleh dipercayai. Tetapi apabila saya mula-mula mendengarnya, ia sangat menyakitkan,” kata Adilah, yang pendidikannya terhenti apabila Taliban merampas kuasa.

Tidak seperti pada zaman awal pemerintahan Taliban, bantahan terhadap undang-undang perlu dilakukan secara rahsia. Kumpulan itu bertindak keras terhadap bantahan awam terhadap sekatan mereka, memaksa beberapa wanita meninggalkan negara itu dan yang lain bersembunyi di Afghanistan.

“Kami memutuskan untuk mengadakan pertemuan, program membaca puisi,” jelas Adilah, yang berkumpul bersama lapan wanita lain di sebuah rumah di Kabul. “Tetapi memandangkan kami semua berada di tempat yang berbeza, sesetengah daripada kami bertemu di Kabul di tempat rakan, beberapa yang lain berkumpul di Pakistan dan beberapa yang lain menyertai dalam talian.”

Sebuah syair dijalin dari rangkap pantun yang dibawa oleh setiap wanita. “Ada yang membawa puisi yang mereka suka, yang lain menulis pantun mereka sendiri yang bergema dengan keadaan kami,” kata Adilah kepada The National.

Dia membacakan beberapa ayat dalam bahasa Parsi, salah satu bahasa kebangsaan Afghanistan, di mana dia mendapat kekuatan, sambil menambah bahawa dia memilih puisi yang bercakap tentang penentangan dan kebebasan bersuara dan memberi amaran kepada dunia bahawa wanita “akan melawan”.

“Saya seorang wanita, saya adalah dunia. Saya suka kebebasan saya … Jika but berada di kerongkong saya, penumbuk di mulut saya, saya bersumpah demi cahaya hati saya, saya tidak akan kekal dalam ketakutan ini.”

Mereka yang tidak dapat menyertai secara peribadi merakamkan diri mereka menyanyikan ayat-ayat dan menghantar klip ini ke kumpulan protes WhatsApp. Ini kemudiannya digabungkan menjadi satu klip dan dimuat naik ke media sosial dan diedarkan dalam kalangan kumpulan sembang lain.

Sejak undang-undang itu diperkenalkan, “menyanyi adalah penentangan kami”, tegas Adilah. “Melalui puisi, kami memberitahu mereka bahawa kami tidak takut kepada Taliban.”

Bantahan yang sama telah berlaku di seluruh dunia. Di Perancis, atlet Afghanistan Marzieh Hamidi memulakan kempen di media sosial, di bawah hashtag #LetUsExist, meminta wanita Afghanistan dan penyokong mereka bersuara menentang percubaan Taliban untuk memadamkan identiti wanita.

“Wanita menyertai media sosial, terutamanya dari Afghanistan, kerana tindakan menyanyi menjadi satu cara protes apabila Taliban memutuskan untuk mengharamkan suara wanita,” kata Marzieh.

“Melalui lagu kami, kami memberitahu mereka bahawa mereka tidak boleh begitu sahaja menghalang kami daripada masyarakat; kami adalah manusia dan kami akan wujud.”

Dia menjelaskan hashtag itu bukan sahaja ditujukan kepada Taliban tetapi juga kepada kerajaan yang “berurusan dengan Taliban, atau malah dengan berdiam diri terhadap kekejaman mereka”, “menyokong negara apartheid mereka”.

BANTAHAN JALANAN PERTAMA

Walaupun kerajaan Taliban tidak diiktiraf di peringkat antarabangsa, beberapa negara telah mengadakan rundingan dengan kumpulan itu mengenai isu kemanusiaan, perdagangan dan keselamatan.

Kempen dalam talian menentang undang-undang Taliban berlaku dengan pantas, dengan ramai wanita menyiarkan video di platform media sosial bersama dengan hashtag protes. Walaupun sesetengahnya, seperti Adilah dan pasukannya, terpaksa menyembunyikan identiti mereka dengan menyanyi dari sebalik tudung atau topeng muka, yang lain tidak.

“Saya tidak lemah seperti willow yang bertiup dengan setiap angin,” Taiba Sulaimani, seorang aktivis pelajar, menyanyi dalam bahasa Parsi dalam video dirinya memakai tudung.

“Saya dari Afghanistan dan saya perlu menderita, tetapi suatu hari nanti saya akan memecahkan sangkar ini, meninggalkan penghinaan ini, dan menyanyi dengan gembira.”

Taiba berkata dia memilih lagu itu kerana ia “melawan, tetapi juga lebih berharap”.

“Ia menyampaikan bantahan saya, tetapi juga harapan saya untuk kebebasan.”

Dia adalah antara wanita pertama yang turun ke jalanan sebagai protes selepas Taliban merampas kuasa.

“Apabila Taliban mengambil alih, saya takut, tetapi kemudian saya memikirkan tentang impian saya, rancangan saya untuk masa depan, semua hak yang kami perjuangkan sebelum Taliban, dan ia membuatkan saya sangat marah dan memberi saya kekuatan untuk menyertai demonstrasi di Kabul,” tambah Taiba.

Tetapi ia menjadikannya seorang wanita yang bertanda. Hanya beberapa hari selepas Taliban menumpaskan bantahan wanita, mereka mula mengenal pasti dan menganiaya penunjuk perasaan. Beberapa rakannya telah ditahan dan dia terpaksa meninggalkan Afghanistan.

“Taliban menangkap dua abang saya dan memasukkan mereka ke dalam penjara, selama lebih dua bulan, kerana aktivisme saya,” kata Taiba, sambil menambah bahawa abang-abangnya telah diberitahu untuk “mendiamkan adik kamu”, yang membuatkan undang-undang baharu menentang suara wanita semuanya lebih peribadi kepadanya.

Dia kini bimbang jika tidak ditentang, undang-undang itu akan menjadi cara hidup untuk generasi akan datang.

“Ia adalah undang-undang yang tidak adil sekarang tetapi ia akan menjadi sebahagian daripada budaya untuk generasi akan datang, yang mungkin mengikutinya tanpa mempersoalkan atau memahami bagaimana ia memberi kesan kepada wanita,” katanya.

Adilah memberi amaran, selain bersifat menindas, undang-undang baharu itu juga memberi banyak kuasa kepada lelaki. “Wanita tidak boleh keluar rumah dengan seorang lelaki yang menjaganya, seolah-olah dia adalah harta.”

Terdapat peningkatan dalam kes keganasan rumah tangga, katanya.

“Selain itu, lelaki manakah yang mempunyai masa untuk mengikut isteri atau kakaknya sepanjang hari sambil melakukan tugas asas seperti membawa anak ke sekolah, atau temu janji doktor, atau menemani mereka bekerja jika ada wanita yang masih bekerja?”

Adilah berkata, hukumnya lebih berat bagi wanita yang tidak mempunyai mahram, atau saudara lelaki terdekat.

“Bagaimana pula dengan wanita yang kehilangan suami dan anak lelaki mereka akibat serangan berani mati Taliban atau yang terbunuh dalam tentera? Bagaimana mereka akan bertahan?

“Ada yang mengatakan ia seperti kematian secara beransur-ansur, tetapi orang mati pun nampaknya mempunyai lebih banyak hak di Afghanistan berbanding wanita.”

THE NATIONAL, 03/09/2024

Dalam runtuhan rumah Gaza yang sebahagiannya musnah akibat tembakan Israel, tangisan seorang bayi kedengaran.

Farah yang berusia setahun tahu perkataan “mummy” tetapi tidak berjaya – air matanya tidak dapat ditenangkan oleh ibu bapanya.

Dia adalah salah seorang daripada kira-kira 19,000 kanak-kanak yang telah terpisah daripada ibu bapa mereka atau tidak ditemani di Semenanjung Gaza, menurut angka UNICEF.

Ramai ibu bapa seperti ibu bapa Farah telah terbunuh dalam serangan Israel di Semenanjung Gaza, yang telah membunuh lebih 40,500 orang sejak Oktober (tahun lalu).

Ada yang terbiar hidup sendiri, ada yang diambil oleh ahli keluarga muda dan tua.

Farah dan dua adik-beradiknya, Suhail, 9, dan Warda, 4, adalah satu-satunya ahli keluarga terdekat mereka yang tinggal selepas pengeboman di rumah mereka di utara Beit Lahia, Gaza. Ibu bapa mereka dan dua adik-beradik mereka terbunuh dalam serangan itu pada November.

Bapa saudara muda kanak-kanak itu kini menjaga mereka selepas mereka cedera parah dalam serangan itu.

“Sejak itu, anak-anak telah banyak bergelut, menangis dan sentiasa bertanya tentang ibu dan bapa mereka,” kata Hashim Masoud, 22, kepada The National.

“Selalunya sukar untuk menghiburkan mereka, terutama Farah, yang sentiasa menangis dan memanggil ibunya.”

Di tengah-tengah arahan pemindahan yang diberikan oleh tentera Israel dengan notis hanya beberapa jam, kempen pengeboman yang kerap dan perjalanan jauh untuk mencari makanan dan air, kanak-kanak menjadi yatim piatu pada kadar yang membimbangkan, serta terpisah daripada keluarga mereka.

Ramai kanak-kanak yang terselamat daripada serangan tidak dituntut di hospital dan kem, pekerja kesihatan memberitahu The National.

UNICEF ​​mengumumkan pada Rabu bahawa ia cuba membantu keluarga menjejaki kanak-kanak di zon konflik dengan mengedarkan 450,000 gelang identiti. Di bawah skim itu, kanak-kanak di bawah enam tahun, yang mungkin sukar mengingati nama atau nombor telefon ibu bapa, akan diberi gelang gaya hospital untuk dipakai sekiranya berlaku perpisahan.

Ramai anak muda yang belum mendirikan rumahtangga sendiri kini bertanggungjawab terhadap anak-anak arwah orang tersayang.

Maha Hamad, 25, kini menjadi penjaga utama kepada anak saudaranya Mahmoud yang berusia 10 bulan, selepas kakaknya meninggal dunia ketika dia baru berusia tiga bulan.

Mahmoud dilahirkan oleh ibunya Tarnim di utara Gaza pada 29 Oktober pada awal perang, dengan bapanya berusaha untuk memastikan ibunya dipelihara supaya dia dapat menyusukan anak mereka.

Pada Januari, beberapa hari selepas meninggalkan rumah mereka di kem pelarian Jabalia di tengah-tengah tembakan Israel, rumah berdekatan yang mereka tinggal telah dibom. Mahmoud berada di dalam bilik yang berbeza dengan ibu bapanya dan ajaib terselamat daripada serangan itu.

Sejak kematian mereka, Maha telah mengambil tanggungjawab untuk menjaga Mahmoud, cuba menebus kehilangan ibu bapanya.

“Tetapi malangnya, tidak kira betapa keras saya mencuba, saya tidak dapat memberikannya apa yang ibunya akan berikan kepadanya,” katanya.

“Apabila dia bangun menangis pada waktu malam, kadang-kadang kami tidak dapat menenangkannya, walaupun ibu cuba membantu saya. Tetapi kanak-kanak merasakan kehadiran ibu mereka dan tenang bersamanya; ia adalah fakta yang diketahui umum.”

Kanak-kanak lebih tua yang ibu bapa terkorban oleh kempen pengeboman Israel mempunyai lebih banyak cara untuk meluahkan rasa sakit dan kekeliruan mereka, dan dengan sesetengahnya dijaga oleh ahli keluarga yang lebih tua, komunikasi boleh menjadi penuh.

Di sebuah sekolah yang berfungsi sebagai tempat perlindungan bagi orang yang kehilangan tempat tinggal di kejiranan Sheikh Radwan di bandar Gaza, anak tunggal Zeina, 12, merindui ibunya.

“Kadangkala Zeina bertanya kepada saya soalan yang saya tidak dapat mencari jawapannya,” kata neneknya Tahani Abu Ouda, yang berasal dari Beit Hanoun, kepada The National.

“Dia terus berkata: ‘mengapa saya tidak boleh pergi kepada ibu saya’, dan berharap untuk jumpa dia seminit untuk peluk dia dan jangan pernah lepaskan dia.

“Tidak kira betapa anak saya Mohammed, bapanya, mencuba, dia tidak akan dapat menggantikan kasih sayang dan penjagaan yang diberikan ibunya kepadanya.”

Ibu Zeina telah terbunuh pada Mac oleh tembakan Israel semasa dia mahu membeli hadiah untuknya. Dia menangis setiap hari dalam kesedihan.

“Tidak kira betapa sukarnya saya cuba untuk menghiburkannya, saya berjuang setiap hari, berharap saya dapat melakukan lebih banyak untuknya, tapi hanya sedikit boleh saya lakukan,” kata Tahani.

THE NATIONAL

Original in English

‘She calls for her mother’: The tragic tale of Gaza’s orphaned children

In the rubble of a Gaza home partially destroyed by Israeli shelling, the cry of a baby rings out. One-year-old Farah knows the word “mummy” but to no avail – her tears won’t be soothed by her parents.

She is one of an estimated 19,000 children who have been separated from their parents or are unaccompanied in the Gaza Strip, according to Unicef figures.

Many parents like Farah’s have been killed in the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 40,500 people since October. Some are left to fend for themselves, others are taken in by family members young and old.

Farah and her two siblings, Suhail, 9, and Warda, 4, were the only members of their immediate family left after a bombing on their home in Gaza’s northern Beit Lahia. Their parents and two of their siblings were killed in the attack in November.

The children’s young paternal uncle now looks after them after they were seriously injured in the attack.

“Since then, the kids have been struggling a lot, crying and constantly asking about their mother and father,” Hashim Masoud, 22, told The National. “It’s often hard to console them, especially Farah, who always cries and calls for her mum.”

Amid displacement orders given by the Israeli army with only hours’ notice, frequent bombing campaigns and long journeys to find food and water, children are becoming orphans at an alarming rate, as well as being separated from their families.

Many children who survive attacks go unclaimed in hospitals and camps, health workers have told The National.

Unicef announced on Wednesday it is attempting to help families keep track of children in the conflict zone by distributing 450,000 identity bracelets. Under the scheme, children under six, who may struggle to remember parents’ names or phone numbers, will be given hospital-style bracelets to wear in case of separation.

Many young people who have not started their own families have now become responsible for the children of deceased loved ones.

Maha Hamad, 25, is now the main carer for her 10-month-old nephew Mahmoud, after her sister died when he was only three months old.

Mahmoud was born to his mother Tarnim in northern Gaza on October 29 in the infancy of the war, with his father striving to keep the mother nourished so she could breastfeed their son.

In January, days after fleeing their home in the Jabalia refugee camp amid Israeli shelling, the nearby house they were staying in was bombed. Mahmoud was in a different room to his parents and miraculously survived the strike.

Since their death, Ms Hamad has taken it upon herself to care for Mahmoud, trying to make up for the loss of his parents.

“But unfortunately, no matter how hard I try, I can never provide him with what his mother would have given him,” she said.

“When he wakes up crying at night, sometimes we just can’t calm him down, even though my mother tries to help me. But children sense their mother’s presence and calm down with her; it’s a well-known fact.”

Older children robbed of a parent by Israel’s bombing campaign have more ways to express their hurt and confusion, and with some being cared for by older family members, communication can be fraught.

In a school serving as a shelter for displaced people in Gaza city’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, only child Zeina, 12, misses her mother.

“Sometimes Zeina asked me questions I can’t find answers for,” her grandmother Tahani Abu Ouda, originally from Beit Hanoun, told The National. “She keeps saying: ‘why I can’t go to my mother’, and hoping to see her for one minute to hug her and never let her go.

“No matter how much my son Mohammed, her father, tries, he can never replace the love and care her mother gave her.”

Zeina’s mother was killed in March by Israeli shelling while she was going to buy presents for her. She cries every day in mourning.

“No matter how hard I try to comfort her, I struggle every day, wishing I could do more for her, but there’s only so much I can do,” Ms Abu Ouda said.

THE NATIONAL