Fifteen-year-old Mohammed Ashour walks the ruined streets of Gaza City every day, carrying heavy thermoses and calling out to sell cups of coffee. His father was killed in Israel’s war. Now Mohammed is the family’s sole provider.
“This burden isn’t mine to carry,” he told Al Jazeera. “I’m exhausted, but I have to feed my siblings.”
Mohammed is one of tens of thousands of Gaza children forced into work after losing one or both parents. At least 39,000 children have been orphaned in the conflict.
From classrooms to rubbish heaps
Children as young as eight now scavenge through waste for scrap metal or firewood to sell. Others hawk coffee, cigarettes or sweets on street corners.
UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram said the agency is seeing a sharp rise in child labour as families adopt “negative coping mechanisms” to survive.
Save the Children’s Gaza humanitarian director Rachel Cummings added that the collapse of family structures has left children caring for younger siblings or elderly relatives.
660,000 children out of school
More than 660,000 Gaza children have no access to formal education. Schools are destroyed, damaged or turned into shelters. An estimated 132,000 children face acute malnutrition.
“The war has robbed them of their childhood,” said Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary from Gaza City. “They should be playing with friends, not working to keep their families alive.”
Mohammed’s mother, Atad knows her son belongs in school.
“He’s still a child,” she said, “but circumstances pushed us into this.”
As Mohammed passes a school on his way home after another 12-hour day, he pauses and sighs.
“If my father were alive, you would find me in class right now.”
Source: AlJazeera
Also read: Four killed, including three children, in California mass shooting
For more videos and updates, check our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@sigmaliveen.
