ActionAid Ireland has highlighted the incredible contributions of young humanitarians in Gaza who have been working amid hellish conditions and against the odds to support people over the last ten months.
Speaking on International Youth Day ActionAid Ireland CEO Karol Balfe said: “Young people supported by ActionAid and its partners in Gaza have been leading the humanitarian response in their communities, mobilising quickly and effectively to support displaced families and help medical staff and rescue teams, despite facing the very same danger from Israeli military attacks as the rest of the population and living in the same crowded, inhumane conditions.”
Walaa is a youth volunteer with the Humanitarian Youth Group Palestine (HYGP), a group that ActionAid supported in its establishment, provided with capacity building and incubated during its early development stages, which has members in both Gaza and the West Bank and trains young people in responding to emergencies.
The HYGP plays a crucial role in advocating for human rights and challenging the existing humanitarian architecture, particularly in Gaza, while also extending its influence to the West Bank, with members collaborating on advocacy initiatives and actively participating in decision-making bodies such as PNGO and the Education Cluster.
Each day, Walaa visits shelters to find out what displaced people need and works to raise funds so they can buy crucial items. She also organises recreational activities to bring joy to traumatised children and has worked as a medical educator with medical missions in Gaza.
Despite losing everything in this crisis, Walaa is determined to support others, telling ActionAid: “Life has changed since the beginning of the war, as [it has for] hundreds of thousands of [other] people in Gaza. We had been displaced multiple times. We were displaced from north to the south to seek refuge and find a safe place. I had lost my home, friends, work and everything. We pass through catastrophic conditions…but these conditions motivate me to continue my volunteerism and initiatives for supporting my people and draw the smile on the face of our children and elderly people with all possible means.”
“It is important to help and support each other and find hope amid this darkness, because people in Gaza who are not killed with bombing, they will die with starvation, coldness, fear.”
Khalid, a youth volunteer in Gaza who is also a member of the HYGP, has been supervising the distribution of hot meals and food to displaced people, and has helped coordinate the purchase of clothes and nappies for newborn babies in hospitals across southern Gaza. He has also designed activity sessions for children that provide psychological support and teach them about the dangers of approaching potential unexploded devices.
Khalid told ActionAid that the challenges of life in Gaza had only made him more motivated to help his fellow Palestinians. “These hard conditions and reality encourage me to continue my work to achieve my noble aim of serving my community,” he said.
He believes young people have a vital role to play in leading the humanitarian response in Gaza. Khalid said. “In all stages of humanitarian action, youth have much to contribute as we have good knowledge on social dynamics, geography, available resources and social and available networks, [and] can help our country to prepare for, respond to, and recover from crises…our firsthand experience of emergencies can bring nation-wide solutions for resilience, stability and peacebuilding.”
Fouad, an experienced young humanitarian and one of the founding members of the HYGP, had to support people remotely after finding himself stuck in Egypt following October 7. He travelled home after attending a youth conference in Jordan and was unable to return to Gaza.
He said: “I started to suffer when I was separated from my family. I worked under pressure and anxiety due to the presence of my family and friends under bombardment.”
Conditions in Gaza have made coordination with colleagues there extremely difficult. Fouad said: “[I] worked hard to coordinate with groups under disconnectivity and blackout communication most of the time and the constant displacement of youth groups. Some of the volunteers I work with were injured during the bombing, yet we did not stop fulfilling our duty.”
The crisis in Gaza has had a severe toll on young people, affecting the wellbeing of an entire generation. Thousands of children have become orphans, and almost every young person will have lost a relative, friend or neighbour over the last ten months. Many have been injured or disabled as a result of Israeli military attacks; an average of 10 children lose one or both of their legs each day. All 625,000 school children in Gaza have lost an entire academic year of education, according to the Ministry of Health, and there are no jobs. Many young people will likely face long-term health consequences as a result of prolonged hunger and a lack of nutrition. Yet despite this, dedicated young people have played a crucial role in addressing the humanitarian crisis and will be just as vital in rebuilding Gaza when the crisis ends.
Ms Balfe said: “From distributing fresh fruit and vegetables to starving families to providing comfort to traumatised children with games, painting and songs, young people are supporting their fellow Palestinians in Gaza in any way they can. With their ideas, energy and skills, their deep knowledge of their communities and their unwavering commitment, they have been able to provide truly valuable assistance to those in need, despite experiencing their own personal hardship and trauma.
“The message of young people in Gaza is crystal clear: they want a permanent ceasefire, now, to put an end to this horror and so that they can start to hope for the future, fulfil their potential and help rebuild Gaza.”For more information about our work, click here.
