Published : 08-02-2022
Palestinian refugees in/from Syria and in the diaspora have expressed deep grief over the death of five-year-old boy Rayan Oram, who fell down a well in Morocco, and the abduction of Fawaz Qetaifan, a six-year-old Syrian boy who was kidnapped on his way to school in Deraa three months ago.
Rayan was trapped in the hole for several days as rescue crews attempted to dig deep into difficult terrain. The incident prompted large-scale but ultimately unsuccessful rescue efforts.
Messages of support, concern and grief for the boy and his family poured in from around the world, including from Palestinian refugees camps across the Syrian territories, as the news of Rayan’s death spread late on Saturday.
The abduction of Fawaz Qetaifan, a six-year-old Syrian boy who was kidnapped on his way to school in Deraa three months ago, also captured refugees’ attention in recent days after graphic video footage surfaced on social media showing the boy, stripped to his underwear, being savagely beaten by his kidnappers.
In the shocking images, the boy can be heard crying: “For Allah’s sake stop hitting me.”
His cries for mercy touched a nerve with Palestinian refugees in Syria and beyond. Several such abductions have ended in tragedy in the war-torn country.
“Even if Fawaz is returned safely to his family, the payment of the ransom and the failure of the Syrian authorities to track down the kidnappers means many more children, including Palestinian refugees, could be at risk of similar ordeals”, a refugee told AGPS.
Even in a war-torn country so inured to cruelty and lawlessness in recent years, scenes of a young child begging for his life as his adult captors ruthlessly beat him have stirred a collective pushback against the country’s seemingly never-ending social decay.
Syria has become one of the most lawless places on earth. Extortion, kidnapping, blood feuds and revenge killings are rampant — and often occur with impunity.
AGPS has recorded the death of 252 Palestinian refugee children in war-torn Syria from the start of the conflict, in 2011, until February 07, 2022.
Sworn affidavits by ex-detainees confirmed the presence of toddlers swung in their moms’ arms in Syrian prisons and whose fates have remained shrouded in mystery.
The warfare in Syria has had traumatic fallouts on Palestinian refugee children in and outside Syria. Post-traumatic stress disorders, mental psychosis, sleeplessness and nightmares, eating disorders, and intense fear have all been reported among Palestinian children from Syria.
AGPS renews its calls to the international community, human rights institutions, UNICEF, UNRWA, and all concerned bodies to work on protecting Palestinian children in embattled zones.
Palestinian refugees in/from Syria and in the diaspora have expressed deep grief over the death of five-year-old boy Rayan Oram, who fell down a well in Morocco, and the abduction of Fawaz Qetaifan, a six-year-old Syrian boy who was kidnapped on his way to school in Deraa three months ago.
Rayan was trapped in the hole for several days as rescue crews attempted to dig deep into difficult terrain. The incident prompted large-scale but ultimately unsuccessful rescue efforts.
Messages of support, concern and grief for the boy and his family poured in from around the world, including from Palestinian refugees camps across the Syrian territories, as the news of Rayan’s death spread late on Saturday.
The abduction of Fawaz Qetaifan, a six-year-old Syrian boy who was kidnapped on his way to school in Deraa three months ago, also captured refugees’ attention in recent days after graphic video footage surfaced on social media showing the boy, stripped to his underwear, being savagely beaten by his kidnappers.
In the shocking images, the boy can be heard crying: “For Allah’s sake stop hitting me.”
His cries for mercy touched a nerve with Palestinian refugees in Syria and beyond. Several such abductions have ended in tragedy in the war-torn country.
“Even if Fawaz is returned safely to his family, the payment of the ransom and the failure of the Syrian authorities to track down the kidnappers means many more children, including Palestinian refugees, could be at risk of similar ordeals”, a refugee told AGPS.
Even in a war-torn country so inured to cruelty and lawlessness in recent years, scenes of a young child begging for his life as his adult captors ruthlessly beat him have stirred a collective pushback against the country’s seemingly never-ending social decay.
Syria has become one of the most lawless places on earth. Extortion, kidnapping, blood feuds and revenge killings are rampant — and often occur with impunity.
AGPS has recorded the death of 252 Palestinian refugee children in war-torn Syria from the start of the conflict, in 2011, until February 07, 2022.
Sworn affidavits by ex-detainees confirmed the presence of toddlers swung in their moms’ arms in Syrian prisons and whose fates have remained shrouded in mystery.
The warfare in Syria has had traumatic fallouts on Palestinian refugee children in and outside Syria. Post-traumatic stress disorders, mental psychosis, sleeplessness and nightmares, eating disorders, and intense fear have all been reported among Palestinian children from Syria.
AGPS renews its calls to the international community, human rights institutions, UNICEF, UNRWA, and all concerned bodies to work on protecting Palestinian children in embattled zones.
