STATEMENT
The exhibition “Gauze” centred on the martyrdom of 55 members of the Abuzour family, 23 of whom were children. The youngest was Anas Abdulla M Abuzour, who was just over one month old when he was killed.
Five of the children shown here are the sons and daughters of Hazem — Dr Saeed Abuzour’s cousin — who tells their story in the documentary film presented alongside this work: “Abuzour Family Martyrs”.
With “TOYBOX” I want to bring attention to the suffering of every child in Gaza, while giving particular focus to the Abuzour children.
According to the most recent UNICEF report, more than 21,289 children have been killed in Gaza by Israeli forces since October 7, 2023*. In addition 44,500 children have been reported injured.
*This figure does not include those who remain unidentified, missing, or still under the rubble like the Abuzour children
Testimonies from foreign medical professionals (most recently compiled in a September 2025 “Volkskrant” investigation and earlier in the October 9, 2024 “New York Times” feature) describe repeated cases of preteen children with single gunshot wounds to the head or chest, frequently attributed by witnesses to sniper or long-range fire.
Beyond the physical toll, more than 58,000 children have lost one or both parents. Over **4,000 children** have had at least one limb amputated since October 2023.Many now live with severe injuries, chronic pain, and deep emotional distress.
Arafat Abu Mashaikh, head of the Mental Health Department at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, highlighted the deep psychological wounds left by amputations and states:
“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.”
This destruction reaches even further — into the deliberate targeting of education itself. UN experts have named this process “scholasticide”: the systematic destruction of an entire people’s education through the killing of students and teachers, the detention of educators, and the widespread bombing of schools, universities, libraries and other learning spaces.
More than 90% of schools in Gaza have been damaged or completely destroyed. All universities have been made inoperable. For over a year, hundreds of thousands of children have had no access to formal education. An entire generation is being denied the chance to learn, to qualify, to imagine and build a future.
“TOYBOX” stands here as a quiet reminder: these were children who should have been in school, holding pencils, reading books— not buried under rubble, not shot by snipers.
They should have been asking questions in class, not asking whether a missing leg can grow back.
The suffering inflicted on the children of Gaza — their bodies, their minds, and their futures — is indefensible.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell has stated:
“Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children. Childhood is being killed every single day.”
Let this work hold space for that truth.
Christine Dawson
2026