Israel’s war on Gaza, which has now lasted more than 100 days, is annihilating Palestinian civil society.
By January 17, 2024, it had taken the lives of more than 600 healthcare workers, at least 83 journalists and media workers, over 221 teachers and 4,000 of their students, and 136 members of UNRWA’s staff. Academics, writers and poets, artists and musicians and at least 10.000 children and babies are among the more than 24,200 residents whose lives have been obliterated, with 1,700 families experiencing multiple deaths. All seven of the universities have been destroyed, along with 7th century mosques and Byzantine era churches, and museums that housed rare artifacts. Seventy percent of Gaza’s homes and 90 percent of its schools – a total of 375 so far – have been damaged or destroyed. And 21 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are no longer operational.
Among those who have perished are staff members of our partner organizations, two of whom are pictured below. This page will be updated as information from our partners reaches us about other losses that have taken place.
Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP)
- Confirmed deaths of 3 counsellors
- Lost contact with 3 counsellors
- The parents, brothers, wives, and relatives of a project coordinator, including his children, were killed in a bombing
- The daughter of an administrative assistant was killed in a bombing
GCMHP has lost 3 champion mental health specialists during the current war, who were providing various psychological services to children, women, and patients, whether in community centers or in the community at kindergartens, schools, and mobile clinics. All of them were killed in Israeli air strikes that targeted their homes along with their entire family.
One of these heroes is Ms.Fatima Aweida, 32 years old, a psychologist who worked in the program for many years starting in 2014 within the psychological first aid teams, and then as a therapist at the mobile clinics and most recently she became part of the SH+ teams. She was lost early in the conflict. Fatima is also a mother of three kids (2 girls and 1 boy) whom she always cared for and sought to develop in their studies. She was killed in her home while preparing food for her small family, while her husband and children survived, who were seriously injured.
Ms. Nisreen Jarada was a psychologist who recently graduated with a Community Mental Health Diploma at the GCMHP. She joined the program’s family in 2022 and had worked as a member of the Psychological First Aid teams, before she served with her angelic voice as a telephone counselor at the Gaza Community Center. She has always had the will and ambition to improve her skills and knowledge, which directly contributed to developing her performance in the counseling service, and she always insisted on making an extra effort with the cases seeking help, especially the abused women and children. Nisreen was 28 years old when we lost her.
The third heartbreaking loss was Mrs. Hanan Ahmed, 31 years old, a psychologist who worked with GCMHP in which she provided psychotherapeutic sessions to victims of torture and human rights violations at the Khan Yunis Community Center. She was always one of the committed, generous, and proactive professionals in serving this target group. She always had that smiling face, which was always one of the factors of healing among the patients. Hanan has always dreamed of developing her academic education and becoming a distinguished person in the field of mental health. She joined the PHD program at university in 2023 and attended the first lecture a few days before the war.
Anera
The Aisha Association for Woman and Child Protection