2007 Roundup

This Monitor focuses on the situation of children in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) in 2007, and reveals further erosion of their rights. The most notable protection trend characterising the year 2007 was the significant increase in child deaths and injuries stemming from Palestinian factional violence. At its peak in June, there were recorded instances of children killed on their way to school, schools were entered by factions and the UN was reporting serious attacks on medical institutions in Gaza.

As in previous years, Israeli military and settler activities in 2007 continued to cause death, injury and reduced access to education and health care for Palestinian children. Children's education was disrupted repeatedly due to military attacks and curfews, both in the West Bank and Gaza. In addition, 2007 saw a significant tightening on the restrictions of movement in both areas, most notably Gaza with the increasingly restrictive blockade imposed in June 2006 (OCHA). With over 52 per cent of oPt’s overall population under the age of 18, children are severely affected by any deterioration in living standards and the provision of basic services.

Killing and maiming

A total of 93 children were killed by both parties to the conflict in 2007, compared to 154 in 2006, with a notable increase however in the number of children killed in Palestinian factional violence (from 13 in 2006 to 38 in 2007).

In 2007, 31 per cent of Palestinian child deaths were attributable to Israeli military activities in Gaza, 23 per cent to Palestinian factional violence in the Gaza Strip, 15 per cent to Israeli military activities in the West Bank, and 7 per cent to the handling of unexploded Israeli military ordnance in the Gaza Strip.

At least 345 Palestinian children were injured in the conflict during 2007, fewer than in 2006 but twice as many as in 2005. About 70 per cent of these injuries were attributable to the Israeli military, 14 per cent to Palestinian factions, 8 per cent to Israeli settlers and 7 per cent to UXO (unexploded ordnance).

Three Israeli children were injured by Qassam rockets (one in July and two in December). No Israeli child was killed in 2007. (All data, OCHA)

Child detainees

During 2007, the Israeli military arrested and detained approximately 700 Palestinian children. At any given time, there were between 310 and 430 Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons or detention/interrogation centres, around 30 of whom were held at some stage in administrative detention without charge. (DCI/PS)

Defence for Children International represents about 50 per cent of Palestinian children appearing before military courts, one of whom is 17-year-old Obaidah A, who was arrested, physically abused, and who according to the Israeli military judge should have been released on bail for lack of evidence. His administrative detention order was nonetheless just renewed. (Read more about Obaidah's story here)

Recruitment

Assessing the extent of the use of Palestinian children by parties to the conflict is a difficult task, as the phenomenon is under-reported and most children involved in military attacks against Israel are self motivated. Nevertheless, there were at least six incidents of children being forcibly recruited in 2007 – 4 cases by the Israeli military and 2 cases by Palestinian factions. This included two instances where children were used as human shields by the Israeli army. At least one child was pressured to collaborate with Israel and a Palestinian faction recruited a boy to wear an explosives belt. (B'Tselem, DCI/PS and OCHA)

Cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment

Nearly all child detention cases documented by DCI/PS have revealed cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. In 2007 DCI/PS reported kicking, slapping and punching of children under arrest, prolonged interrogation periods (up to 20 days), prolonged deprivation of food (up to 12 hours), prolonged deprivation of sleep and use of sanitation facilities, exposure to cold, stress positions, verbal abuse, physical and psychological threats against the child or his/her family, solitary confinement, and denied access to medical treatment (see report by DCI/PS).

Serious physical assault and humiliating treatment of Palestinian children by the Israeli military, not followed by charge, arrest and detention, also occured. One such case was that of a 12 year old girl from Safa, Ramallah who was taken from outside her school, handcuffed, blindfolded, gagged and had a gun pointed at her for fifteen minutes before being released without charge (DCI/PS).

Education

"School attendance [has] been seriously disrupted due to inter-factional fighting, repeated military raids and unprecedented poverty, where children come to school hungry and unable to concentrate." John Ging, UNRWA Director, Gaza, September 2007.

In 2007, Palestinian students took their final year exams according to a unified national curriculum for the first time. However, 24,000 children took their end of year matriculation exam (Tawjihi) under curfew as factional fighting shut down schools in Gaza in June.

Israeli military operations also caused disruptions in the West Bank. There were at least seven incidents documented by OCHA in 2007 where soldiers entered educational facilities. This included school premises used as detention and interrogation centres (Nablus, February), the school doors of two kindergartens being welded shut, affecting up to 340 children (Bethlehem, March), and tear gas being launched into elementary school classrooms causing suffocation and injuries among children (Idhna - Hebron, March). In 2007, there were also four recorded incidents of attacks on schools and assaults on students by Israeli settlers. At least one of the attacks occurred in the presence of Israeli police and Israeli military (OCHA).

The Israeli blockade of Gaza in September meant one third of UNRWA students started the new school year without their textbooks (OCHA).

Forced displacement

Although displacement remains an under-reported phenomenon, approximately 97 inhabited structures were demolished in 2007. This resulted in the displacement of over 720 people, among them at least 240 children. On average eight inhabited homes were demolished each month across the oPt in 2007 (OCHA).

Most at risk are communities in Area C (under Israeli civil and military jurisdiction), East Jerusalem, those living close to the route of the Separation Wall, and residents near the so called 'buffer zone' in Gaza. Bedouin make up a considerable proportion of Palestinian IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons). In August and October 300 Bedouin, from Qassa in Southern Hebron and Al Hadidiya in the Jordan Valley, were forcibly evicted by the Israeli military (OCHA).

Movement and access

In May 2007, the World Bank observed that, “freedom of movement and access for Palestinians within the West Bank is the exception rather than the norm.” The number of physical obstacles to movement, including checkpoints, increased from 528 to 563 between January and September 2007 and the situation was compounded by an estimated 560 flying checkpoints and a monthly average of 73 hours of curfew in the West Bank (an increase from 40 hours in 2006). The restrictions have severe consequences for children who often have to pass through checkpoints to access schools. In East Jerusalem alone, access to education for 6,000 pupils and 650 teachers was hampered in 2007 because of the continuing presence of the Separation Wall and its related infrastructure (World Bank and OCHA).

Freedom of movement for residents of the Gaza Strip was severely hindered and denied during 2007. Since the Israeli blockade began in June, Gazans have also been unable to export goods, and supplies into Gaza have been greatly restricted, including humanitarian aid. This has had a devastating impact on private industry and has increased poverty rates. It has also prevented children from accessing much needed services - see below (OCHA).

Health

Access

DCI/PS recorded six cases of child detainees who were denied medical treatment during 2007 (read the DCI/PS report).

Reported cases of ambulance access delays almost tripled between 2006 and 2007 (from 10 to 28), and the number of reported cases of ambulance access denials at checkpoints has more than doubled (from nine to 23). In October the World Health Organisation (WHO) started monitoring the number of people who die as a result of border crossing delays or denials of access to health care referrals from Gaza to Israel (details below). In the West Bank, at least two babies were born at checkpoints in December 2007 as pregnant women continue to be delayed or denied passage (B'Tselem, UNFPA and OCHA).

Attacks

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported 36 cases of ambulances and medical teams being subject to Israeli gunfire or physical abuse, 13 cases of Emergency Medical Team personnel sustaining injuries, and 16 ambulances being damaged in 2007 (PRCS).

In Gaza, shooting took place around and inside several hospitals during the June 2007 Palestinian factional fighting. Four patients were killed and ten wounded in Beit Hanoun hospital which resulted in its closure. The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported two instances in which PRCS ambulances were hijacked by militants while Primary Health Centres were only partially operational and seven of UNRWA’s 18 health clinics closed (OCHA).

Following her visit in April 2007, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, described the impact of the separation wall on children as 'unconscionable' and spoke out against Israel's treatment of child detainees. She urged Israel to hold settler populations accountable for acts of violence and harassment against Palestinian children and pressed the Palestinian Authority to do more to prevent the mobilization of children for political violence (SRSG-CAAC).

Despite the November Annapolis Conference, the security and humanitarian situation in Gaza has continued to deteriorate. December saw a heightened number of rocket attacks by armed Palestinians into southern Israel causing injury and high levels of insecurity among the civilian population. Israel’s military retaliations and restrictive blockade of Gaza have had a devastating impact on the life of its residents, particularly children. The EU, United Nations and international NGOs’ condemnations of Israel’s sanctions as illegal collective punishment measures have failed to provoke a change of policy. In January, the Israeli government implemented reductions in fuel and electricity supplies to Gaza. (Read more here about the international condemnation of the blockade)

Approximately 80 per cent of Gaza's residents are dependent on food aid, and many of them are dependent on fuel and water supplies that enter from Israel. The impact of the blockade, added to the lack of funding and the lack of coordination between Palestinian bodies, has resulted in critical shortages in food, drugs, spare parts for essential infrastructure, and materials for humanitarian projects and industries. In addition, virtually no industrial and agricultural exports have been allowed out of the Gaza Strip since June 2007, and 95 per cent of industrial operations are suspended for lack of inputs and inability to export. In June 2005, there were 3,900 factories employing 35,000 people yet by December 2007 there were only 195 factories employing 1,750 people. Israel's blockade has therefore dramatically increased the poverty rate, unemployment and food insecurity (World Bank).

In late January, the Rafah border was blown open by militants, allowing tens of thousands of Gazans to cross into Egypt where they purchased essential supplies. This provided only temporary respite. In late January the Israeli High Court upheld the decision to cut power to Gaza. The impact of the crisis is most intense and most enduring on children, who constitute 56 per cent of the population of Gaza.

In the West Bank, severe restrictions on movement and access persist. By January 2008, there were 563 physical obstacles to movement in the West Bank. The Separation Wall restricts the movement of goods and people through thirteen crossing points. Given the fragility of the West Bank economy and that 95 per cent of its trade is with Israel the pattern of increasing restrictions poses severe economic pressures which are likely to have highly negative effects on children (OCHA).

Killing and maiming 

During the reporting period 17 Palestinian children were killed as a result of the conflict in the oPt: 14 of them were killed by the Israeli military and three by Palestinian armed groups. Most of them (14) were killed in Gaza and all of them were boys. The youngest child killed - Amir Y – was 7 years old and died in an extra-judicial killing. He was in a car with his father and uncle when an Israeli missile targeting a Hamas militant hit the vehicle (DCI/PS).

A slow decrease in the number of children killed by Israeli forces can be observed in the second half of the year 2007, with a sharp increase at the beginning of 2008 (ten deaths in January, 70 per cent of them in Gaza), attributable to the violent military operations launched against Gaza between 18-21 January. There were no settler related child fatalities over the reporting period though settler attacks targeting children continue (see below).

 At least 80 Palestinian children were injured during the reporting period, 65 of those in January alone. In Gaza, 26 children at a wedding party were injured by rubble falling from the building of the Palestinian Ministry of Interior, which was targeted by an Israeli military missile on 18 January. January 2008 witnessed the highest number of child injuries since January 2005 which represents an eleven fold increase in children injured compared to December 2007. The majority of January’s injuries (85 per cent) were attributed to the Israeli military.

Two Palestinian children were injured during internal conflict in Gaza, and two children were hurt due to the reckless handling of explosives attributed to Palestinian factions. Another three Palestinian children were accidentally injured by stones thrown by other Palestinians in clashes with the Israeli military during a military operation in the old city of Nablus.

During the same period, no Israeli child was killed but two Israeli children were injured (both in December 2007) by rockets fired from Gaza towards the Western Negev area in Israel.

Israeli settlers in the West Bank physically assaulted and injured five Palestinian children between November 2007 and January 2008 (OCHA).

Detention

At the end of January 2008, 327 Palestinian children were held in Israeli prisons and detention/interrogation centres compared to 324 at the end of November and 311 at the end of December; and 18 children were being detained in administrative detention – incarceration without charge or trial. These children were all from the West Bank (since the 2005 Israeli redeployment Gaza children have been taken to civil courts in Beer Sheva).

Breakdown of cases closed by DCI/PS

Charge	Number
Conspiracy to murder	9
Stone throwing	15
Throwing/possessing bombs	8
Making/throwing Molotov cocktails	5
Membership in Palestinian political organisation	2
Shooting (without killing)	3
Possession of weapon	3
Attempted murder	4
Other	2
Total	51

Between November and January, DCI/PS lawyers received 61 new cases, and closed 51 cases. Among the 61 new cases, 13 were refugees; the youngest child was 12 years old.

Among the cases closed, nine children were given prison sentences of three years or more; 14 received sentences of 12-36 months; five received sentences of 6-12 months, and 23 were given under-six months prison sentences.

Note: children often receive multiple charges; only one charge - the most serious charge - has been retained in the table for statistical purposes.

Cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment

DCI lawyers continue to investigate cases of cruel inhumane and degrading treatment. One such case was documented during the reporting period in December 2007 involving a 17 year old boy from the Nablus Region (DCI/PS).

Recruitment

Only one incident of recruitment by the Israeli military was reported following the arrest on 7 January of a 17 year old boy from Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya district). He was arrested by Israeli soldiers at a relative’s home, handcuffed and beaten, then detained and interrogated in a neighbouring house. Soldiers asked the boy for information on the whereabouts of a wanted person, and asked him to work for Israel by “providing information” on “everybody”. They tempted him with money, the prospect of a house and car, and a free life in Israel. When the boy refused, they beat him (Al Haq).

Forced displacement

Five residential structures were demolished in November, three in the West Bank and two in Gaza. Although in December only one home was demolished (in Gaza), January witnessed a sharp rise in the number of Palestinians forcibly displaced; 26 residential structures were demolished (25 of those in the West Bank) resulting in the forced displacement of 215 Palestinians. This represents a significant increase compared to previous months and the highest monthly total since February 2006. Most demolitions took place in Area C where it is almost impossible to obtain a building permit (OCHA).

Health

WHO reported the deaths of 20 patients, five of whom were children, in the period October-December 2007. These deaths resulted from the denial of permits or delays in the issuance of permits to obtain medical treatment in Israel. (WHO). Another child, a 10 year girl, died in January after she was denied a permit to cross into Israel (WHO).

On 24 January it was reported that out of five hospitals in Gaza, two were operating in a ‘state of emergency’ only undertaking intensive care and emergency interventions. Certain diagnostic and dental services were cut back to day-time provision only as a result of fuel shortages, while vaccines had to be transferred to avoid an interruption in the cold chain. UN and ICRC supplies were also delayed or denied delivery into Gaza. Furthermore, Ministry of Health mobility was greatly impeded by lack of fuel for the majority of cars, compromising delivery of monthly medications and food orders (WHO).

Reduced fuel supplies entail frequent power cuts of up to eight hours a day and 50 per cent of Gaza households have fresh drinking water for only four to six hours a day. The lack of heating, the shortages in drinking water and the non-functioning water-treatment systems have dramatically increased the likelihood of water-borne diseases and other health problems. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health and WHO, by early December, supplies of 91 out of 416 essential drugs and about a third of essential medical supplies had run out, including most children's antibiotics (OCHA and WHO).

The World Food Programme has also reported scarcities in basic food stuffs, including baby milk, while Save the Children workers in Gaza have noticed anxiety levels among children increasing as military attacks and incursions into Gaza continued (WFP and Save the Children UK). Read children’s testimonies about life under the blockade and a forthcoming DCI/PS report on child cancer patients (DCI/PS).

Education

Access

In November, 14 schools in Qalqiliya experienced complete disruption due to Israel military operations and imposition of curfews while another seven schools in Qalqiliya educational directorate were partially disrupted. In December, Israeli curfews resulted in complete disruption to six schools in the West Bank (three in Salfit and three in Ramallah). In January, access to education for 6,330 children in 16 schools was compromised as a result of Israeli military activities in the West Bank. This included 5,700 children in Nablus who were prevented from attending school for two days as a result of an Israeli military incursion and subsequent curfew (OCHA).

Attacks

The majority of attacks on schools over the reporting period were committed by settlers.

Cordoba school in Hebron was attacked twice in two days by settlers from Beit Hadassa who vandalized the newly renovated garden funded by ICRC on 25 November and damaged a water pipe leading to the school the following day. On 4 and 5 December students at Jit Secondary school in Qalqiliya governorate were attacked by settlers who reportedly attempted to run one student over and shot at others inside the school. On 16 January, Israeli soldiers and four Israeli settlers entered the Sawyeh al Liban Boys Secondary school in north Nablus where they tried to enter the examination halls after accusing the children of throwing stones.

The community school in Fasayel al Fouqa, in the Jericho governorate, received a stop work order from the Israeli military in November, and the Israeli military destroyed the gate of the Palestine Boys Basic School in Qalqiliya on 2 January. In Gaza, a series of Israeli air strikes in Beit Hanoun resulted in damage to an UNRWA school on 1 November. There were no reported attacks by Palestinian factions on schools during the reporting period (Source for all data OCHA).

Design by C. Seitz

The Child Rights Monitor, a bi-monthly report produced by Defence for Children International-Palestine (DCI/PS) and Save the Children UK (SCUK), provides up-to-date information on the rights of Palestinian children affected by armed conflict in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), indicates trends, and makes recommendations.

2007 at a glance  The total number of Palestinian children killed in 2007 is 93 (OCHA); The number of Palestinian children arrested by Israel in 2007 is approximately 700 (OCHA); In 2007, 97 inhabited residential structures were recorded demolished, forcibly displacing 720 people, including at least 240 children (OCHA); 80% of Gazans are dependant on food aid and humanitarian assistance, compared to 63% in 2006 (OCHA); The overall poverty rate among Palestinians has tripled since 1999 reaching 66% by 2007 (UNICEF); By August 2007, 47% of West Bank children aged 9-12 months were anaemic. In Gaza the corresponding figure was 69.2% rising to 77.5% by September 2007 (WFP); In November 2007, the ICRC reported settler attacks on Palestinians have more than tripled in the last five years, usually without police investigations and without charges drawn up against those responsible (ICRC); UNICEF reported a drop in primary school enrolment rates from 96.8% in 2000-2001 to 91.2% in 2006-07. An UNRWA survey in Gaza schools in 2007 also showed an alarming decline in academic achievement: in mathematics an average failure rate of nearly 80% in grades four to nine, and a corresponding figure of 40% for Arabic (UNRWA); In 2007 the average hours of curfew a month stood at 73 hours, a sharp increase from 40 hours in 2006. The average number of physical obstacles impeding access in the West Bank also increased from 472 in 2005, to 518 in 2006 to 552 in 2007 (OCHA); Unemployment in the West Bank has risen from 16.9 % in 2000 to 25.2% in 2007 while the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip increased from 26.4 % in the second quarter of 2007 to 32.9 % in the third quarter 2007 (OCHA and PCBS).

Gaza: deepening poverty, worsening impact  In December 2007, the WFP found that 71% of households they surveyed in the Gaza Strip reported decreased ability to produce or to purchase enough food to eat since June 2007 (FAO/WFP); 62% of household expenditure in Gaza is spent on food compared with 37% in 2004 (WFP); From September 2007 to 1 February 2008 an estimated 1,890 children in Gaza have been forced out of the classroom to look for a job and help provide financial support to their families while the Ministry of Education had to transfer 915 students from private schools to government schools in Gaza because parents can no longer afford school fees (MOEHE); In December 2007, the WFP reported anecdotal evidence of increased school absenteeism and children being less likely to receive pocket money for buying snacks during classes (WFP).