STATEMENT
The exhibition “GAUZE” focuses on the martyrdom of 55 members of the Abuzour Family, 23 of whom were children, the youngest being Anas Abdulla M Abuzour who was just over one month old.
Five of the children depicted here are the sons and daughters of Hazem, Dr Saeed’s cousin, who narrates in the Docu-film – “Abuzour Family Martyrs”
With this installation my hope is to draw attention to the plight of every child in Gaza along with giving focus to the martyred Abuzour Children.
An Amnesty International report from December 2024 gives a conservative estimate of more than 13,300 children killed in Gaza by the Israeli military over the last 12 months. More recent figures (Gaza Health Authority – February’ 2025) have increased this to 17,500. This doesn’t include those unidentified, missing or entombed beneath rubble – such as the Abuzour children.
A study published in The Lancet (July 2024) estimated the true number of deaths in Gaza could be at least 186,000. This takes into consideration indirect deaths such as death through starvation or lack of health care.
A UN analysis of verified deaths from November 2024 highlights the heavy civilian toll of the conflict in which nearly 70% of civilians killed in the war in Gaza are women and children, 44% of those being children. Children aged five to nine represent the single biggest age category, followed by those aged 10-14, and then those aged up to and including four years old. UNICEF rates Gaza as “the most dangerous place in the world to be a child.”
It has been reported that children have been targeted by sniper attacks. According to Dr. Sidhwa, a trauma and general surgeon who worked at the European Hospital in Khan Younis:
“Nearly every day I was there, I saw a new young child who had been shot in the head or the chest virtually all of whom went on to die.”
He was not alone in witnessing this. He worked with Times Opinion to poll 65 health care workers about what they had seen in Gaza. 0f this group 44 doctors, nurses and paramedics indicated that they had seen multiple cases of preteen children who had been shot in the head or chest.
Dr Umaiyeh Khammash, director of Oxfam partner Juzoor states:
“Over 25,000 children have either lost a parent or become orphans, leaving them in deep emotional distress.”
She goes onto say that most children suffer from anxiety and severe physical injuries with many having lost limbs. More than 4,000 children in Gaza have lost at least one limb since last October.
Arafat Abu Mashaikh, head of the Mental Health Department at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, highlighted the deep psychological wounds left by amputations and states:
“Losing a limb, changing body appearance and the inability to perform daily activities causes immense psychological distress.”
He goes on to say:
“I often face the same heartbreaking question from children: ‘Will my leg grow back?’ And I can’t answer them because they don’t yet understand.”
The suffering inflicted on the children of Gaza at the hands of the Israeli Military is abhorrent. The hopes and dreams of every child have now been dashed and though I can’t name each one, or give their histories, I can give one a voice.
Fatema Saidam (9) along with 60 other children aged 9-15 from Gaza wrote a poem for a competition run by the British educational charity Hands Up Project. The poems were published in a book this year – Moon Tell me Truth.
Tragically, most students featured in the exhibition are now displaced and their schools damaged or destroyed.
Fatema was killed in an Israeli air strike in October 2023.
Fatema’s poem:
Eyes are for looking
And seeing sun
Tongues are for greeting
And saying fun
Legs are for walking slowly
And also run
Hands are for shaking with friends
Not for shooting gun
Christine Dawson