Children play during a summer camp at Jabalia refugee camp in the north Gaza Strip on July 9, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
GAZA, July 9 (Xinhua) -- 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.
"I am so happy to spend more time with classmates in the school and play with them without having lessons," said Samar Abu al-Khair, a 13-year-old girl, told Xinhua after playing basketball in the camp.
"The summer fun weeks give me an opportunity to play, have fun, meet new friends and relax," she said. "The atmosphere inside the summer camps is wonderful."
"Here in the camp, I can freely show my painting talent and share my experience with younger students, and we can help each other to create beautiful paintings on our school walls," said Rawan al-Hadad, 11.
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.
Zaqout believed that UNRWA's primary responsibility is to provide a safe environment for students in order to help them engage in the community through games and have more fun.
"The summer camps are a way to reintegrate children into society after a long year of study," he said, adding that schools are also a safer place for those children who are constantly exposed to the danger of war.
He stressed that it is very important for refugee children to enjoy their basic rights to live, educate and play in a safe and stimulating environment like all the other children.
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.
Those summer camps also provide 2,750 temporary job opportunities for adults in the field of psychological support and health education, said al-Shalfouh. ■
Children play during a summer camp at Jabalia refugee camp in the north Gaza Strip on July 9, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
Children play during a summer camp at Jabalia refugee camp in the north Gaza Strip on July 9, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
