PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS
“Dehumanisation is the First Article of War”
As the October War enters its eighteenth month, there are 59 hostages remaining in captivity in the Gaza Strip. 58 were abducted on 7 October 2023 and the other hostage captured earlier. Based on intelligence at least 34 of the remaining hostages are dead.
And for non-combatant Gazans the endless misery of destruction and deprivation continues without end. Gazans have lost everything. Right now water supplies and electricity have been cut off by Israel – adversely affecting medical care, communications, food storage and childcare.
As ceasefire talks in Doha collapse, Israel launched a military strike across Gaza (17 March 2025) with a death toll around 400 people, many of them children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Some 3,500 Palestinians have so far crossed into Egypt from the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing. This includes more than 2,000 people needing medical treatment, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday 11 March.
The European Union restarted its civilian mission on 31 January to monitor the border crossing, a key entry and exit point for the Palestinian territory. It had been shut to human traffic since May.
The loss of power in Gaza has made it difficult to contact our teams.
Richard Martin FRSA, President and Founder.
“Blind hatred leads only to a much darker place.”
NEWS – MARCH 2025
PAUL HAINES 2025
Children of Peace MEGA-SUPPORTER Paul Haines is about to start another walk. This time it’s from Berlin to Budapest.
I set off 25 April and return 20 June. I will be staying roughly a week in each of the five cities, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, while researching for my website.
And I will be walking a lot of the time between each city. It will be somewhere in the region of 300 miles. I will also be ‘Walking for Peace’ within each city, particularly as four of them have established Peace Trails. I have no idea what the total distance I will walk, but will be able to see once the trip is completed.
It should be another very interesting trip, and I again will raise more funds for Children of Peace.
Paul Haines
CITIES FOR PEACE TOUR
2019 – 2025
London – Brussels – Amsterdam – Hamburg – Copenhagen – Oslo – Stockholm – Telinn – Riga – Vilnius – Warsaw
Paul has his own Children of Peace pages covering earlier walks.
See also… linkstopeace.org, contact: linkstopeace@gmail.com
A UNICEF REPORT FROM GAZA
We welcome this first-hand account of events facing Gazans.
Dr Jane Courtney, Education Manager for UNICEF in Gaza Strip, chronicles how this gruelling war impacts the lives of all the communities and the children.
Learning amid Devastation: Education in Gaza
17 March 2025, Deir Al Balah
Over the last 10 months I have worked with my colleagues from UNICEF in the Gaza Strip. This has been an exhausting and emotionally demanding experience. There have been highs when I have seen thousands of children returning to learning and lows when I was finally able to assess the situation of education in North Gaza and see the level of damage and the situation of the people. I can only describe it by saying when you encounter each new location, the level of destruction and devastation remains overwhelming, every single time.
Families in Gaza have had to maintain their resilience and their sense of survival when confronted with the death and war injuries sustained by their children, the constant weariness of evacuation and loss of basic commodities and the indescribable devastation that surrounds their daily existence. Yet despite this, their demand for education and the energy they have found within themselves is truly inspiring. Over 1000 community learning centers were set up all over the Gaza Strip in whatever spaces could be found on a stretch of sand or in an overcrowded shelter, with children squeezed inside. They sit on floors with teachers who were lucky if they had a black board and chalk for teaching.
Although eventually some educational supplies (stationary, blackboards, toys) have entered into Gaza, those have not been nearly enough for teachers and children. At the start of the ceasefire, hopes were raised and the Palestinian Ministry of Education activated the school system to create as many places as possible for children to return to learning. Since beginning of March, aid is halted again from coming in, a situation that will quickly lead to devastating consequences for children and families across Gaza who are struggling to survive.
Most schools operate in shifts and rotations to maximize reach, with children receiving nine instructional hours per week. Out of the 310 public schools only 120 are for now partially useable. Schools urgently require repairs, furniture and equipment. The environment needs to be made safe for children including the clearing or rubble and unexploded ordnance. Teachers need care and psycho-social support themselves to ensure that they can work with deeply traumatized children. Children need academic learning, routine and security. They need access to a range of services including water and sanitation facilities, health screening, nutrition and mental health specialists.
To make all this happen there is a desperate need for the ceasefire to last, to pave the way for a sustainable solution in accordance with international law. The entire education system is on its knees in Gaza and it needs to be rebuilt to give what children perhaps need the most – hope. A commitment from donors and communities around the world to fund essential repairs, school supplies, services will be equally critical.
ESTIMATED COST TO REFURBISH ONE SCHOOL WITH 10 CLASSROOMS FOR 2,400 CHILDREN
- Refurbishment of classrooms…
20,000 x 10 = US$200,000- Repairs to fencing and playground… US$15,000
- Wash facilities – cubicles…
500 x 10 = US$5,000- School Furniture…
8,000 x 10 = US$80,000- School Supplies…
25 x 2,400 = US$60,000- Mental health services…
50 x 600 = US$30,000- Safety and security…
5,000 x 2 = US$10,000TOTAL COST = US$400,000
Dr Jane Courtney, UNICEF
Schools in rubble don’t hold back dedicated Gaza teachers, parents and pupils. They need our support, after one year and a half of a school year has been lost.
Voices from Israel
Our Israeli correspondent Rolene Marks focuses on the growing rapport between the Druze and Israel in the face of threats to minorities in the post Assad Syria.
Since the fall of Assad, leaders of the Druze community have been communicating with Israel. Many of them have family that live in Israel who are extremely concerned for their safety.
The Middle East is an unpredictable neighbourhood that it quite literally a tinderbox. Events can erupt at any moment and when they do, they invariably spread around the region and sometimes spill onto the streets of major cities around the world. Few could have predicted that the brutal dictator, Bashar Al Assad and his regime would be toppled by the Syrian rebels.
Israel responded swiftly, setting up a buffer zone to prevent hostile entities encroaching on our border – and attacked the Assad regime’s military assets. Ensuring that deadly weapons that include those that can start chemical warfare, did not end up in the custody of these groups that include ISIS and other terrorists.
Assad was brutal to minorities – and hostile entities in Syria have launched deadly attacks against communities that include Christian, Alawites, Kurds, Druze and others.
While Druze speak Arabic, they are not Muslim, their religion is Druze and they are extremely loyal to the countries they live in.
In Israel, the Druze are considered our brothers and sisters, bound to us by a sacred covenant of blood. Since the founding of the modern state, Israeli Druze have fought alongside us, died alongside us, celebrated alongside us and mourned with us.
In July 2024, 12 children from the Druze village of Majdal Shams were killed by a Hezbollah rocket while playing football on a Saturday afternoon. Israelis were plunged into mourning. This was very, very personal to all of us. The world was silent.
Many Israeli Druze have family living in Syria.
Since the fall of Assad, the Druze community of Syria have come under attack from government forces. In an unprecedented move, Israel’s Prime Minister, Netanyahu instructed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to protect the community in the village of Jaramana.
Israeli leaders said in a joint statement,
“We will not allow the terrorist regime of radical Islam in Syria to harm the Druze. We have instructed the IDF to prepare and deliver a harsh and clear warning: If the regime harms the Druze, it will be harmed by us.
We are committed to our Druze brothers in Israel to do everything to prevent harm to their Druze brothers in Syria, and we will take all necessary measures to ensure their safety.”
Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz also announced that Syrian Druze would be allocated work permits that would allow them to enter Israel for employment. Syria is considered hostile to Israel.
In addition, the government has committed several billion shekels to strengthen the Druze and Circassian communities.
We have a strong covenant with our Druze brothers and sisters. We have all been weighed in the balance in these past 18 months, and we have come out closer and more committed to each other than ever before.
OUR COALITION OF PEACE
… is a unique peace network with affiliates on every continent, and especially in Gaza, Israel, Jordan, the West Bank, Turkey, Egypt and Morocco.
CHILDREN OF PEACE SCHOOL, RAFAH, GAZA
SCHOOL BUILDING, SUMMER 2023
SCHOOL BUILDING, NOVEMBER 2024
The designated Children of Peace School in Rafah, Gaza is for children with special needs.
It was founded by our Regional Liaison Ola Shalayel and her husband Dr Mohamed Fougou, and is still standing and is a place of shelter for many displaced Gazans. We have provided water tanks to ensure they could access fresh water.
A small part of the building on the first and third floors was destroyed because the adjacent building was completely devastated by the bombing. All the doors, windows, and tiles were destroyed as a result of the bombing of the adjacent building.
Rebuilding Lives
The violence against Israelis and Palestinians hurts children in both communities – with an increase in post-traumatic stress, morbidity, nightmares. Children of Peace carries out urgent work with our partners – protecting and supporting children. Please support our work and help the #childrenofconflict.
Photo credit: Lyle Hastie - Unsplash
FOOTNOTES
In her latest news update, Professor Sarah Brown reviews key events in the region.
Gaza’s agony continues
A recent report in the UK Guardian newspaper described how a handful of restaurants were managing to survive – and even thrive – in Gaza, testifying to the resilience of its people. The al-Sawafiri restaurant in Khan Younis, for example, provided a beacon of hope in the midst of rubble. Owner Raed al-Sawafiri, aged just 23, initially opened his restaurant in Rafah earlier this year, but was forced to flee to Khan Younis and start again. He said,
“Sometimes, I had to walk long distances to fetch water, and at times, I would search in areas like Deir al-Balah and Rafah and buy the necessary equipment at any cost, and it was hard to find skilled chefs and quality spices, but I did not give up,”
But a recent brief period of relative calm in Gaza is now giving way to fresh uncertainty as the ceasefire deal stalls. The Israeli blockade has led to soaring prices, and there are fears full-scale hostilities may resume.
And in Israel, the agony continues for the relatives of the 24 men who are still being kept hostage by Hamas, and of those, like the Bibas family, who were killed in captivity.
Schools reopen in the north of Israel.
Thousands of students and teachers who were evacuated during the conflict with Hezbollah are now beginning to return to the classroom. Although a ceasefire has been in place since November, widespread destruction has made it difficult to resume a normal life.
When attacks on Israel first began in October 2023, the government first evacuated communities near the border, and then the city of Kiryat-Shmona. Over the course of the conflict around 90,000 Israelis were displaced, and over a million and a half people living in Lebanon.
A cautious response to legal victory for Israeli women
A recent ruling by Israel’s supreme court confirmed that the government must do more to ensure women are represented in senior civil service positions. Recent appointments by the government have overwhelmingly favoured men, thus flouting previous warnings that women must be properly represented. The court has ordered the government to ensure active efforts are made to identify and recruit suitable female candidates, and requires that the issue is considered as a factor by those bodies responsible for approving ministers’ recommendation.
However, in the current climate, there are fears that Israel may seek to overturn or ignore the court’s ruling, and follow in President Trump’s footsteps by abolishing or weakening EDI initiatives.
You can read more.
Photo credits.
UNICEF images property of UNICEF.
Rolene’s and footnotes images from Wikicommons.
Other images were supplied by the subjects.