Gaza: One year on
A year ago, Israel began its offensive in Gaza. One year on, we returned to find out what challenges young people are facing.
Gaza was already at breaking point, with 80% of Gazans dependent on food aid and the border virtually sealed when Israel launched Operation Cast Lead on December 27, 2008.
By January 18, when a cessation of violence was declared, 1,393 Palestinians — 347 of them children — and thirteen Israelis, had been killed.
One year on from the conflict, the 750,000 children living in Gaza face huge challenges in rebuilding their lives.
- Thousands are living with their families in cramped, makeshift shelters or in the homes of relatives. They have lost their belongings, such as clothes, toys and books.
- Many have not seen a doctor or nurse during the past year.
- More than half the families have no regular access to clean water.
Gaza one year on in film
Mohammed's story
One year ago today, Save the Children met a Palestinian boy named Mohammed. He was living in a shelter school after his house was damaged by the Israeli shelling of Gaza.
A year later he describes why his family have moved back to their ruined house and how they still live in fear of further attacks.
Watch our films made by a group of seven young people from Gaza during a two-week video workshop. They live in Beit Hanoun, an agricultural town in the north of Gaza very close to the border with Israel. It came under heavy shelling during the conflict, and is still affected by the blockade.
The indiscrimate nature of the violence is shown through the experiences of Samar, 16, who presents one of the films below. Her brother was killed at an outdoor barbeque in 2008 by an Israeli rocket.
Watch our playlist of Gaza films
Watch the other videos in our playlist to find out how young people are trying to recover from the trauma caused by war. Mamoud, 15, talks about life on his family farm and what happened to it during the conflict. Safad, 16, talks about the effect of the blockade on young people in Gaza and Samar helps us to understand what life is like in Gaza for young people.
Stuart Bamforth, who ran the video workshop and helped the young people make their films, said: "I was struck by two things: how amazingly welcoming and warm and enthusiastic they were to take part and to tell their stories, but also by how truly terrible some of their experiences have been."
Find out more
Look at the photostory of Gaza produced by Paolo Pellegrin, world-renowned Magnum photographer, for Save the Children.
