Sahar Abu Zeid was perhaps an unlikely member of the Gaza City branch of the Palestinian Scout Association. She first got involved in 2017, aged 25, shortly after finishing an accounting degree, and quickly fell in love with the outdoor lifestyle and sense of community the organisation provided.
Before the new war between Hamas and Israel, scouting was one of the only affordable and accessible recreational outlets in the isolated Palestinian territory, she said. Now, the practical and teamwork skills Abu Zeid learned are being put to use in previously unimaginable circumstances.
“Fire-starting, outdoor cooking, setting up tents, knotwork, improvisation using basic materials … these are all skills we are practising and teaching now in Gaza’s displaced communities,” she said in a phone call from Rafah, to where more than half of the strip’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced.
The Palestinian Scout Association is one of several youth-oriented organisations that have stepped up to help Gaza’s desperate population cope with life in makeshift shelters in winter conditions, the collapse of the healthcare system and a lack of food and clean water. One in four people are now experiencing extreme hunger.
Amid ongoing fighting across the 140 square mile strip and slow progress on ceasefire talks, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees has reported that Israel has allowed an average of 98 aid trucks a day to reach Gaza so far in February, far below the UN target of 500, which was the daily amount before the war. Cogat, the Israeli army’s civilian administrative wing, said there was “no limit” on the amount of aid that could enter the blockaded territory.
In Rafah, a town on the Egyptian border that is now the last place of relative safety in Gaza, and Deir al-Balah, in the centre, about 150 scout volunteers aged 18 to 40 are bulk-cooking and distributing the food that is available and helping to make tents warmer, more waterproof and more windproof, according to Ahmed Sarhan, the association’s assistant secretary general. The scouts are also teaching basic first aid and safety measures, such as dealing with unexploded ordnance.
The bombs continue to fall. Nearly 30,000 people have been killed and a further 70,000 injured, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Offering psychological support for traumatised children and adults has also become a vital part of volunteers’ work.
The Sharek Youth Forum, a non-governmental organisation operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, has spearheaded the “Support Your People” campaign, organising individual and group activities for children and supporting parents in how to recognise and manage children’s trauma symptoms.
“The situation is very difficult. The shelters are unhygienic, the bombing is continuous, there is fear of death at every moment. Because communications are cut off, sometimes we don’t know what is happening to loved ones elsewhere,” said Mai al-Afifi, 23, a volunteer herself displaced from Gaza City to Deir al-Balah.
“We do see the games and singing make a difference though … for just a little while, the children can relieve their psychological stress.”
Much of the Sharek Youth Forum’s work both before and during the war has been made possible by funding from the UN’s population fund (UNFPA) and Qatar’s Education Above All foundation.
Education Above All also founded Gaza’s Al-Fakhoora House, a scholarship-based institution focusing on civil engagement and giving back to the community. Used as a shelter earlier in the war, it was hit by two airstrikes in November, killing 15 people in the first attack and 50 in the second. While the building now lies in ruins, students and graduates are carrying on the Fakhoora ethos, working with the Sharek Youth Forum and figuring out how to build makeshift bread ovens from clay.
The war, sparked by Hamas’s attack on Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and another 250 abducted, is now in its fifth month and shows no signs of slowing or stopping. A long-threatened Israeli ground offensive on Rafah looms large, and even if a ceasefire is implemented ahead of Ramadan next month, with more than half of the strip’s infrastructure destroyed, there is little to return home to for displaced civilians.
Planning even a few days ahead is immensely challenging given the ongoing fighting and aid shortages. Nader al-Raqab, the Palestinian Scout Association’s leader in the southern town of Khan Younis, was arrested by Israeli forces a few weeks ago and has not been heard from since.
Reinstating basic language and maths lessons is the next step for Gaza’s volunteer youth groups. But when the war is over, said Hani Shehada, Education Above All’s Gaza director, the world’s understanding of the situation in Gaza needs to change.
“We have had enough of this prism where Gaza is viewed as a security issue for Israel, and a humanitarian crisis for Palestinians,” he said. “Bomb, rebuild, bomb rebuild … It is the same thing but getting worse and worse since 2008,” he said, referring to the first of the five major wars between Hamas and Israel since the militant group took over the strip in 2007.
“The problems in Gaza are a structural issue,” Shehada added. “We must respond, but the issues we are seeing on the ground now must be linked to the wider situation of the occupation. We cannot go back to the previous status quo.”
For now, the young people helping out across Gaza’s vast displacement camps are focused on getting through each day at a time. The volunteer experience before the war is helping with a sense of purpose now, said Abu Zeid, the scout leader displaced to Rafah.
“The scouts helped me grow as a person and honed my leadership abilities. I am personally going through so much right now … helping others is challenging, but I am committed to it.”
