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Gaza children suffering from

Post-traumatic stress after war
'This leads to

Negative psychological feelings, radicalism, violence'





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GAZA CITY: A UN human rights mission on Monday listened to testimony about the suffering of children in the Gaza Strip as it continued its probe into alleged Israeli war crimes in the enclave. Around 20 percent of children in Gaza suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome brought on by witnessing violent acts, child psychologist Dr. Iyad Sarraj told the panel.

"The amount of killing and blood that they have seen or that their relatives have suffered from ... it's a huge amount, and this leads to negative psychological feelings, to radicalism and a cycle of violence," he said.

More than half of Gaza's population of 1.5 million is under 18 years of age.

The public hearings are part of the UN Human Rights Council's investigation of the 22-day Israeli offensive launched in late December that killed about 1,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers.

The Red Cross meanwhile highlighted in a new report that six months after the devastating Gaza offensive, Palestinians in the impoverished coastal territory are "unable to rebuild their lives and are sliding ever deeper into despair."

Israeli and Egyptian sanctions imposed on Gaza after Hamas was victorious in the 2006 parliamentary elections, and were tightened after Hamas seized Gaza by force in 2007, have crippled reconstruction efforts and caused widespread misery, according to the study by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

"The poorest residents in particular have exhausted their coping mechanisms and often have to sell off their belongings to be able to buy enough to eat," said Antoine Grand, head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Gaza.

"Worst affected are the children, who make up more than half of Gaza's population," Grand added.


The UN mission in Gaza is headed by Richard Goldstone, a South African judge who previously served as chief prosecutor for international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

On Sunday, the mission heard a wheelchair-bound man describe how an Israeli shell slammed into his home, killing 11 of his relatives and cutting off his legs. Another man described a strike on a mosque that killed 17 people.

The group was expected to look into several allegations of human-rights violations that emerged in the aftermath of the assault, which Israel said was aimed at stemming Palestinian rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled enclave.

Israeli authorities have so far refused to allow the investigators into the country and have accused the mission of bias against Israel.

The 47-member council voted by a large majority in January to investigate accusations of "grave" human-rights violations by Israel, but the team was later given a broader mandate to deal with "all violations" during the war.

Israel has insisted that it made every effort to spare civilians, including dropping thousands of fliers warning residents to flee ahead of strikes.

It has also said that Palestinian fighters and rocket launchers operated in crowded residential areas, a charge also lodged by rights groups against the Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza.

The group plans to hold similar hearings in Geneva in which they will interview witnesses and experts on alleged violations in Israel and the Occupied West Bank, and to issue a final report by September 12.

The international community has pledged billions of dollars in aid to rebuild the territory, but reconstruction efforts remain paralyzed by the closures, which prevent the import of virtually all building materials.




The Daily Star. All rights reserved.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=103617





Red Cross: Israel trapping 1.5m Gazans in despair


By Haaretz Service



Gazan children standing in the ruins of their house last week.
(AP)




|

29/06/2009


The Red Cross released a damning report Monday on the effects of the Israel-led blockade on the Gaza Strip, describing the 2-year-old measure as having trapped the coastal territory's 1.5 million residents "in despair."

The international humanitarian organization lamented the fact that the blockade, imposed after Hamas seized control of Gaza two years ago, was impeding reconstruction efforts after Israel's offensive in the Strip at the beginning of the year.

"Gaza neighborhoods particularly hard hit by the Israeli strikes will continue to look like the epicenter of a massive earthquake unless vast quantities of cement, steel and other building materials are allowed into the territory for reconstruction," the report said.



According to the Red Cross, Gaza's poverty is directly linked to the blockade that is "strangling" the local economy.

The organization lamented Israel's halting of Red Cross-supported visits by about 900 Gaza families to relatives detained in Israel.

But no mention was made of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is widely believed to be held in Gaza by the Islamist Hamas. Shalit's parents and the Red Cross have been denied access to the soldier.

In addition, the Red Cross lamented the shortage of basic medicines in Gaza. It noted that the territory's hospitals and health clinics depend for supplies on the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Health, which is based in the West Bank, but the supply chain often breaks down due to poor cooperation.

"Complex and lengthy Israeli import procedures also hamper the reliable supply of even the most basic items such as painkillers and X-ray film developers," the report said.


© Copyright 2009 Haaretz. All rights reserved






Israel Blamed Over Drone Attacks During Gaza War




At least 1,400 Palestinians were killed in
The Gaza offensive [EPA]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has alleged that Israeli operators failed to verify targets of drone aircraft at least six times during the Gaza war, firing missiles that killed at least 29 Palestinians.
In a 39-page report released on Tuesday, the New York-based group said that despite having advanced surveillance equipment, drone operators failed to exercise proper caution "as required by the laws of war" in verifying their targets.
Israel has a fleet of spy drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), but does not discuss whether some of these aircraft also carry weapons.
The Israeli army issued a statement casting doubt on reseach methods of HRW, asserting that all Israeli forces' combat actions "conform to international law, as do the weapons and munitions used".

Israel said it launched its December-January offensive to counter rocket fire from Hamas-ruled Gaza.
It has since weathered foreign censure over the killing of some 1,400 Palestinians, many of them civilians, during the fighting.

HRW based its findings primarily on debris from Israeli-made Spike missiles, which it said are fired from drones.

Palestinian witnesses

But Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd, Spike's state-controlled manufacturer, said the missile, which has been sold widely abroad, can be fired by helicopters, infantry units and naval craft.

Marc Garlasco, HRW's senior military analyst, said they were able to establish that drones fired the missiles after gathering evidence from Palestinian witnesses who said they had seen or heard the unmanned aircraft.

But he conceded that two of the incidents cited took place in the evening or night, ruling out the possibility of anyone seeing the small and often high-flying aircraft.

Asked about the possibility of an armed drone being spotted solely from the distinctive buzz of its propellers, an Israeli defence industry official noted that surveillance drones had regularly patrolled Gaza during the war.

"How could you tell what exactly you were hearing?" the official asked.

The Spike has a range of 8km, Rafael says.
Source: Agencies



http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/2009630111454929270.html

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