STORY: In conflict-ridden Gaza, refugee children find peace, fun in UN-sponsored summer camps
DATELINE: July 10, 2023
LENGTH: 00:03:28
LOCATION: GAZA, Palestine
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of summer games in a local school of UN agency in Gaza
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): THOMAS WHITE, Director of UNRWA operations in Gaza
3. various of summer games in a local school of UN agency in Gaza
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): ISSAM AL-SHALFOUH, Director of Summer Fun Weeks
5. various of summer games in a local school of UN agency in Gaza

STORYLINE:

Some 130,000 Palestinian children in Gaza went back to school on Sunday to enroll in the summer camps run by the UN relief agency in the Palestinian enclave.

Children aged between six and 14 years are eligible to participate in these camps set up in 91 local schools sponsored by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA).

The camps offer outdoor activities like trampolines, playhouses, football, and more sedate ones such as painting and handicrafts, according to Issam al-Shalfouh, the director of the initiative.

The agency runs such camps for refugee kids in the besieged Palestinian enclave nearly every year, even though there had been hiatuses following immediate conflicts between Israel and armed Palestinian armed factions.

The UNRWA launched the camps once again this season to offer an outlet for students troubled by the instability and harsh living conditions in Gaza, Thomas White, UNRWA operative director in Gaza, told Xinhua during a launching ceremony in a school in the Jabalia refugee camp.
 
Sports and cultural activities are required to be held weekly for children in the Gaza Strip, as it is one of the areas that suffer the most due to the political and economic instability, according to Iyad Zaqout, head of the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Unit at UNRWA in Gaza.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): THOMAS WHITE, Director of UNRWA operations in Gaza
"So the UNRWA this year once again is running summer fun weeks. 130,000 children can join in activities such as you see behind now. It's really very important, because it gives them an opportunity to have fun, and let them just be children despite the circumstances. Of course, here we have a very high rate of poverty because of the economic blockade. But also, the ongoing conflict is taking an enormous toll on the psychological situation of children. About 38 percent of children at schools are experiencing significant trauma. It's affecting their ability to live a normal life. And these camps are our opportunity to help children understand and cope with the psychological impact of the conflict. We continue to put funding towards summer fun weeks because we see it is so important."

At least 35 percent of Palestinian students suffer from psychological problems related to trauma, mainly following each Israeli-Palestinian military tension in the besieged coastal enclave, according to a study conducted by the UN agency in August 2022.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): ISSAM AL-SHALFOUH, Director of Summer Fun Weeks
"Summer Fun Weeks target 130,000 children, as we have started registration since the end of the second semester. The large number of children attending these camps means that children need entertainment programs that help them get rid of the psychological problems from which they suffer due to the difficult political and economic conditions they live through in the Strip."

The summer camps also provide 2,750 temporary job opportunities for adults in the field of psychological support and health education, said al-Shalfouh.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Gaza, Palestine.
(XHTV)