2022 Humanitarian Response Plan for Gaza and West Bank
Across the opt, it is estimated that 3% of children aged 10 to 17 are engaged
in child labor. An estimated 7.6% of Palestinian children in Gaza aged 5-11
(12% boys) were involved in economic activities for at least an hour the
week of. And 11.9% aged 12-14 years were involved in economic activities
less than 14 hours a week. The percentage goes up to an average 16.9 for
children aged 15-17(28% boys) working 43 hours during the week of the
study.76 In households living in poverty, the pandemic has increased
pressure on boys to work and generate income, and exposed girls to
additional burdens associated with domestic work and caregiver duties. At
the same time, it is estimated that 15% of children aged 5-17 are working
including in hazardous labor with boys twice as likely as girls to be engaged
in child labor and six times as likely to be working in hazardous conditions.77
This not only exposes children to life and injury threats, but also to many
other child protection concerns including verbal and physical abuse, sexual
violence and neglect. Having said that, girls are more likely to be married off
earlier than boys in Gaza. Women aged 14-49 were surveyed in 2019, and
2.3% were married before the age of 15, while 24.4% were married before
the age of 18.
One of the most serious consequences of the recent conflict/ escalation has
been students dropping out of school. Children who were physically injured,
particularly those who developed a permanent disability, may opt to no
longer attend school owing to their injury. Other factors also play into the
decision to leave school.
In 2021 31% of households in Gaza interviewed as part of the 2021 Multi-
Sectoral Needs Assessment (MSNA) reported having difficulties meeting
essential education needs (such as tuition fees, books) due to financial
reasons, in the 30 days prior to the data collection. In 2022, these challenges
are compounded by longer term effects of escalations in violence and
effects of COVID-19.
76
77
Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey 2019-2020 (MICS), Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics, 2021
MICS 2021. 9.6% of boys across the OPT are estimated to be involved in child labour as defined in
the MICS, compared to 4.8% of girls. Meanwhile, 8.7% of boys are estimated to be working under
hazardous conditions, compared to 1.4% of girls
An estimated 558,250 school aged children (312,620 girls) across Palestine
will be in need of humanitarian assistance to access education in 2022. The
main drivers of education-related vulnerabilities include attacks on schools,
movement restrictions, insufficient and/ or inadequate school
infrastructure and poverty. These factors undermine the quality of
education, generate protection concerns and contribute to early school
dropout.
In conflict environments, good parenting, relationships with teachers, social
networks, and healthcare systems are also affected by trauma and toxic
stress and may become less protective or even harmful. Children also
become at higher risk of developing learning disabilities leading to higher
risks of school drop-out.78
About 25% of the households with school-aged children interviewed as part
of the 2021 MSNA reported that psychosocial support was not available at
the school for children. For the remaining households - which reported that
psychosocial support was available at schools, only 19.4% in Gaza said that
school staff were adequately trained in psychosocial support.
Risk 4.1: Operational context
The protracted protection crisis in the oPt and continued deterioration of
the humanitarian situation and significant gaps in funding Protection and
MHPSS programmes remains a major operational challenges. During
escalations, infrastructure damage alongside recurrent electricity cuts and
internet disconnection across Gaza is undermining outreach and remote
service modalities. There is also a lack of sustainable jobs, especially for
counselors and psychologists due to lack of long-term funding, placing
additional burden on child protection and MHPSS service providers.
78
Samara M, Hammuda S, Vostanis P, El-Khodary B, Al-Dewik N. Children's prolonged exposure to
the toxic stress of war trauma in the Middle East BMJ 2020; 371 :m3155 doi:10.1136/bmj.m3155
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