And maintenance of our infrastructure. So from the pipes to waste Water Treatment works to pump stations. Not enough money was being spent on the maintenance supplies, the old erotic, and poor and neighborhoods in. So its a township one area kind of what while else we, its dry people without war to us. Neighbors for help, we have to the best route to put a tuesday wants to watch and go to school. We have to pull for them, and they have to fight. So this is the last 4 or 5 and our customer just have to read nothing about us. And the packets we have my laptop with a general election due in may frustration and anger. Overstating Public Services is a big issue for voters. The some and the say the governing African National congress could lead this parliamentary majority for the 1st time since a potted ended in 1994 business is also struggling with a water crisis. This is a restaurant in the community, and thats the own over there. She says she con, operates yukon, was because there is no war to the taps in the area has been dry for about 2 weeks. And people in the area say they dont know when theyll get worse. Or again, politicians say Climate Change and the recent detroit autoplay for the latest crisis. For many families struggling to get a live essential, thats not what they want to have had with us. Ill just say john has been well thats it for me, diamond jordan, for now. More information. Of course in our website ill just come there it is. The news continues up to the stream, especially next. Im watching the the hot shit and they see it and theyll of course, a and a half dozen and a smack isnt in mail or some other way. And they look wondering what had the i was on there and how would i live in size . That was 11 year old doreen as parents from on 72 family members, skilled in an is rarely or strikes. Thats thinking for a moment. Today we focus on the most vulnerable victims, the children stuck in this war. And these forces, and this is the street the and a here to discuss the situation of thousands of children who survived their families that are now alone in the world of violence and destruction. Are my guess today for geo, hindi, to mandatory on worker from gauze in the palestine country, director of tall, one, a welfare and development association. Dr. How son, i will see to a british palestinian surgeon who has been volunteering and gauze a for years and entered the strip when the current war started. And steve was supposed to be the co founder of hill palestine, and joe dedicated to helping children in the occupied territories. Before we start our conversation today though, here is more of the reading story in her own words. And matter what they love. Yeah, i mean mother jason and alaska will add the visiting most philosophy visited visiting as a level of so let me put to the last one hand study i a n, as in a lovely shelving i really that being said, sir, no one to me in a bed some i tell them no 10 minutes and let me get a line to move them on and they can help out any upcoming chat. If the machine does not get on my mama and ask for anybody in the college and if the money in the land. So i was looking black and john. Sure and, but they dont go in. And so a lot of the normally to them of the game to let in hyundai dont either masculine, ad there has kind of tires in the head of why, who now of a lemon law mom ill if with the banana diamond spleen for them in the him the love and that sort of book we and this had a long i you standing in the the content and then and then they add that on the list as ive seen the fall. I know for you and then local and have a well i just have the amount of time at that its good enough at that. Its in me at that as well. Yeah. I feel a cool. Yeah. I collected in may, it was a movie and it had a 7 thats not a problem such as a lie the lemme. And me had to fly the and put it on for them to shut off. And my little issue of the how, oh my little issue, a new one ahead bullet, im man. How do i had an air and equipment . So how about taking my by you this and then the 11th shy. You and, and the, my yeah, thats what i had on the, in the and there and its fun fun. Any difficulty making . Im yeah im, she will look at that hate. Now lets do the on the then that will apply. Im to us to do a lot when a very difficult words there for the you are from gaza and you only recently left the strip. Um, have you match many children with stories similar to during well, actually one of the one doing said there is nothing else to add over that. But just you can see the building is almost 100 silver children in guys who have lost all of the family members and are left without extending. Somebody took a look for on financial them. Yeah, for me i can look on all the time and put in my so how scene even numerous cases similar to that when i saw so many of those as well as similar to this case. Unfortunately, steve, you founded the palestine, children for the font, youve been working with policy and children for some 30 years. What are you hearing from your teams on the ground in terms of the situation in particular with orphan children . I think the whole orphan situation is a larger reflection of whats happened to the entire causes society to complete destruction of the Family Structure of all institutions of the entire gaza strip, of course. And what were seeing with the destruction of the families is that i think that number of 17000 is probably pretty conservative and not really the true number of the orphans that exist in gaza. But the bigger, the bigger question that we all face is whats next for these kids. There is no institutions locally and gaza, they can operate to support them. And theyre obviously in a survival mode right now with the ongoing effort to start and, you know, push the guise of people out of the guys a strip. Theres literally thousands of orphans there who are just living without any support on the streets who dont have, who are living under food insecurity, but dont have access to health care and have no Family Structured health care for them are teams on the ground are finding them and trying to get them a shelter, trying to get them some kind of structured in which theyre getting support that they need. I was in egypt just last week and visiting injured kids in the hospitals. I found several children there were orphans who had suffered significant injuries, were evacuated in very critical condition, and now are in hospitals without any family Members Around them. Theyre completely without any support at all. Im recovering from their injuries. What happens to those kids . Whats happening in 5 years to these orphans or 10 years, the trauma, the lack of Institutional Support. This is a huge question that organizations like ours have to face and were ready to take on this challenge. But the challenge is growing every single day with the ongoing of killing of, of Palestinian Civilians and the continuing them increase the number of orphans every single day in gaza. Indeed, were gonna go into these issues that you bring a little bit further throughout the show. But dr. Sonya i wanted to hear from you cuz you entered garza on the 9th of october last year and i wanted to hear if you have a, a story that has stuck with you in terms of these children unaccompanied children that you might have help treat so it was really from the beginning of the war that we started seeing this phenomenal of the wounded children with no surviving families. And, and the reason is that the way it goes and society is oregon, is that extended families or plan, or what we call in an hour because have hulu live in neighborhood. And these really strategy of wiping out whole neighbor meant that there were children, the who, not only that, the immediate Nuclear Family was, was killed. But actually the whole extended family cousins and grandparents and uncles and aunts. And by the time uh, ship, a hospital had been completely surrounded. There were a 120 of these children just and ship a hospital. And whats even more devastating is that some of these kids were so young that we didnt even know their 1st name. And when i have to move to the hospital, when im cheerful, was surrounded. I remember a 3 year old boy who was name, we didnt know who i had to do. Im conditions on his upper lin and lower live and he was one of many kids that you would see taken out of the rubble with no one left. Am of the surrounding families. An an a steve pointed out, this is a serious phenomenon. Not just the palestinian children inside that as but now that hundreds of these children are now being sent abroad for treatment. In the absence of a supervising one fair body, a palestinian body that oversees the childs protection issues of these children, ensure that theyre getting the right treatment ensures that their welfare is being protected. Absolutely, the, the amount of danger and risk that they face Going Forward is, is a norm is and were going to get to that. But you just mentioned there the term a new term that was going to in any conflict, children tend to bear a very heavy brunt. But this being the most destructive military campaign of this generation. It has been particularly devastating for children as weve been hearing here. So much so that this new term has been coined take a look using the heating in the i, c, j by the south african team. The irish attorney shed light on that w. C, n s f, which is an acronym that is only used in because which means when the child know surviving family, this term is only used in regards to specifically to kids who are injured and lost their immediate family. A saudi, steve mentioned this before, but i wanted to hear from you. Do you know if theres any kind of infrastructure Still Standing to respond to the needs of these children . I dont know. Are there safe houses where people can house them or are there orphanages . Well, before the escalation deal with, for us manages or placing guzman with a cup of tea around the 2800 shy. But unfortunately, you know, it is 10 locally thing. Im frustrated right now as either being the 30 or a bunch of the distorted so that none of the authentic is sent to right now. Hopefully its and unfortunately in the meantime activity there is no safe place, but its not on the for the also as well. Sure. Um, steve, what are your teams able to do at this stage up on the ground . Are they able, as you said, to at least reach these children, feed them, identify them, come up with. I dont know, at least official figures. Yeah, thats a great question. And actually our team on the ground right now is in that process of identifying especially the most at risk kids who have absolutely no families at all that dr. Cosign mentioned. These are the kids who need immediate attention even during this acute phase of ongoing bombings and the you know, starvation that the kids and the population and causes undergoing right now. Our teams on the ground are in the process of identifying these most at risk kids and trying to put together and institutional response. Were looking for properties that we can bring into under our control and start providing shelter, food, and other basic humanitarian support to help these kids survive, get them off the streets and ship, give them some kind of holistic approach of cutting love and compassion. And to help them survive this phase until were onto the next phase of rebuilding. God is a god willing of course, all that in the mid stall on bergmans and, and killings. It is unbelievable while researching for the show. And thats why i wanted to address this a little later while researching for the show, we came across a number of campaigns to adopt children from casa. Heres the take of melissa and adoption educator on the dangers that such initiatives can post take them to some kids from a literal place that is experiencing genocide. Were thousands and thousands of people and children are being auto want is, are you coming to save the day . It is you further causing harm to people experiencing unmentionable pain and trauma. Because i guarantee you the 10. 00 to 20. 00 or even 30000. 00, that sometimes International Adoptions costs that you would spend to save 1. 00 child. It would do much better. Good, if it went to those children to help get them resources to find their family or extended family and friends or people in their culture in their country. Doctor, her son, you mentioned this briefly before. What is your take here in terms of the danger, the dangers these children are facing even when they do get out of gauze and are able to find medical treatment for example, they still face very serious risks. These are the most vulnerable of the fundable group. So when we hear of the palestinian moon, the children being sent to holland, or italy, or switzerland or any manner of, of, of countries. And this is going to be much more once the a ceasefire whenever it happens is announced. Because we know that half of all of the wounded in guns are actually so once these children are then send, there are 2 main issues. One is the straightforward child protection. These pay these children dont have a goal that are legal guardians to look after their welfare. These children cannot make their own decisions. There are certain dangerous and difficult decisions that needs to be taken with regards to um, patients with regards to the surgeries that are going to be made on behalf of these children were unable to make these decisions. And then theres the clinical governance, what we call clinical government, some of the quality of care, a lot of well meaning hospitals or take children who are not equipped to be treating children. And thats the risk that we, that we are also running. And thats why it is critical at that a palestinian supervision or a governing body or welfare body is setup to ensure that we dont lose track of these kids as they are being sent across the globe for treatments, uninsured, that they are getting the right treat. Steve, that is precisely a very difficult point, isnt it . Because uh who are the will sort is the, are going to be able to now step up and be responsible for some kind of Institutional Support to these children. Yeah, i think doctor kasan raises an amazing point now, which is that kids going outside for treatment and many of them are or friends or have separate some kind of significant loss of family members are in many cases going without family members and having these very critical decisions being made for them by people that may not be qualified and they may be going to places that as he mentioned that are not qualified to treat them. There definitely needs to be a centralized governing process to ensure that these kids are well taken care of. There isnt one in place. Ive took the 1st injured child that have gone to the back in 1991. During the 1st intifada, a triple amputee, and have taken over hundreds of kids for free medical care. We always return them to their families. The point is that they go and get medical care and all of this is an absolute consent with their families, whether theyre traveling with them or not. But i think in many cases were in a very difficult situation. So for example, just 2 weeks ago we transferred a 16 Year Old Girl who had been burned on 60 percent of her body and a life threatening situation. I mean, she was dying and she was in the hospital. Kyra, we air flight if we flew her by the air ambulance to United States where shes in an intensive care unit and recovering right now with her older sister who was legally responsible for the Decision Making because her family was not able to get out of guys that were not able to travel with her. Those are tough decisions and its responsibility, the organization that sponsoring these kids for medical care to ensure that the families are where every step of the way whats being done. That they have the decision and they have the control of that and that these kids dont just disappear. Thats actually the biggest risk that were facing right now. All of these kids that have traveled to Foreign Countries whos monitoring the, whos responsible for them . Are they getting the care that they deserve . And if so, how is that being documented . And are they going to return and where theyre going to return to . These are huge questions. Theres no Central Government thats in place that can monitor this right now. And that theres no centralized organized body thats ensuring that these kids are being properly cared for. And i think this is a very serious issue. Not only for the orphans and the kids that dont have parents to make these critical decisions for them when it comes to their medical treatment. Many of them suffering is dr. Cosigned mentioned permanent injuries, but also over the long term. Like whats going to happen to the kids as they needs treatment in the future. Whos going to make these decisions for them . Whos gonna support them and whos going to make sure they get the best care possible . Were ready to step in and help in this process with our experience of over 30 years doing so. But we also this should be a palestinian lead process as dr. Design mentioned. And unfortunately, right now, its very chaotic. Theres people coming in and want to help good intention, but maybe not making the best decisions or not having the experience to make the best decisions. And that can be do more harm than good. One more point i want to mention on the issue of adoption. Adopting kids if you dont mind because i get asked that question every single day or multiple times people can adopt. And i understand that they mean well and many of them are posted in families. Eric families where the culture and where the religion would stay saying there wouldnt be any kind of effort to um, change things for them. But the issue here is that there is no government on the ground in gaza that can facilitate this even if it was possible. And theres a lot of religious and political issues that come into play when you talk about adopting kids. Know, we all want these children to have lives to get, to not be institutionalized and to have the love and compassion that children need to grow old. And to get through this very difficult process, the healing process of losing their family members. But there needs to be an organized structure in place. If this is going to take place, we want people to who want to help to do it in the right way. And as we, as was mentioned before, not to do more damage than good. There are 17000 orphans in gaza, but as dr. Kasan mentioned, there is a Family Structure in place. In most cases where these kids can get support in groups like town who finally represent have a very organized orphan program that matures. These kids