Gaza children trade summer fun for survival duties as relief efforts continue.

In western Gaza City, Faten Nabhan rests inside a damaged building with her six school-age children. They recently spent the morning filling water containers from relief trucks visiting the camp. The thirty-five-year-old mother attempts to keep her kids engaged during summer break but feels lost for ideas.

This marks the third consecutive year since Israel launched its war in October 2023 that Gaza children face a holiday unlike any other. More than 73,000 people died, including thousands of children, while destruction swept through most buildings and displaced nearly everyone. Survival now defines daily life rather than leisure or learning.

Instead of summer camps or games, children perform essential survival tasks each day. They collect water from trucks, retrieve food from communal kitchens, and gather firewood for fires. Faten stated this routine consumes their entire existence. These activities replace the play that once defined childhood summers in Gaza.

The mother noted a severe lack of outlets for self-expression or psychological release. "No activities, no camps, no drawing, no colours, nothing at all," she declared. Her only option is to have them memorize parts of the Quran. She explained that resources simply do not exist for toys, notebooks, crayons, paper, or pens.

Faten must occupy her children alone because her husband Raafat died in an Israeli airstrike on their home in Jabalia last October. She barely manages to feed them and provide basic needs. Consequently, the children carry burdens far too heavy for their age. They take turns fetching water and gathering wood to help their mother.

"I feel deep sorrow that they're spending their childhood this way," Faten said. "This is a time for play, not a time for responsibility." Yet no alternatives exist. She confirmed there are no community or institutional initiatives offering psychological support during the school summer break.

"Our children live in a forgotten corner of the world," she concluded. Every day she reads deep loss and sorrow in their eyes as they face this harsh reality without hope of relief.

Even play, the simplest of their needs, is missing." This sentiment reflects a broader crisis affecting children in Gaza, as documented by international welfare organizations. An assessment released by UNICEF in May highlighted that young children in the region lack "safe and stimulating environments essential for early development." Meanwhile, older children face "prolonged learning disruptions with limited prospects for recovery without targeted intervention," leading to a significant decline in their social and psychological growth opportunities.

Jonathan Crickx, UNICEF's chief of communications in Palestine, emphasized the critical nature of recreation during a February address. He stated that play is vital for Gaza's youth and "not a luxury." According to Crickx, "Play is how children reclaim what war stole from them," underscoring its role as a fundamental mechanism for psychological recovery rather than an optional amenity.

Asmaa Saleh, a 41-year-old mother living in displacement with her five children aged between eight and 17, exemplifies the struggle to maintain normalcy amidst instability. Having traveled repeatedly to find safety throughout the conflict, she has made a concerted effort to keep her children's education on track during the summer holidays. She ensures all her children memorize Quranic verses and secured weekly spots for two of them at a local charity-run summer camp. Despite the rarity of these visits, the occasion generates immense excitement; Asmaa noted that on camp days, the children wake up early, shower, style their hair, and dress meticulously, sometimes skipping breakfast due to their eagerness. In contrast, the remaining six days are characterized by monotony, a routine involving waking, eating, and assisting with daily chores inside tents, such as washing, cooking, kneading dough, and fetching water.

Asmaa, who previously served as a case manager for UNICEF, observes that structured group activities during vacations foster intelligence, emotional development, cooperation, and bonding. Conversely, she warns that "prolonged confinement in the tent, with no outlet, builds up tension that sometimes turns into aggression and fighting among the siblings themselves." She cited her third daughter, who does not attend the camp, as evidence of this dynamic; the younger child often displays friction with her sisters, whereas the older daughters return from their weekly camp days appearing "fresh and happy."

For Asmaa, these observations reinforce the fact that play and education are fundamental rights protected by international conventions. She remarked, "Today, our children in Gaza are deprived of these very rights, at the exact time they're supposed to be exercising them in their simplest forms." Determined to provide alternatives for all her children, including those unable to attend camp, she recently received a box of crayons and drawing paper from a charitable organization. She now spends midday sessions with her family drawing and coloring, noting that "I keep going, because I can feel the psychological shift that even one hour of organised play and drawing with them creates.