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Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- General
- Al Jazeera
‘Forgotten by the world': Disability deepens sisters' struggle in Gaza
Shati refugee camp, Gaza – Inside a stifling tent in Shati, one of Gaza's overcrowded displacement camps, 30-year-old Raneem Abu Al-Eish cares for her sisters, Aseel, 51, and Afaf, 33. They sit close to Raneem, laughing at times and at others growing agitated when the cries of children playing outside get too loud. Aseel and Afaf suffer from celiac disease and intellectual disabilities that impair their speech, understanding, and behaviour – conditions that have only deepened under the strain of war and displacement. They struggle to express themselves, often overwhelmed by their environment, Raneem explains. While she doesn't know the medical term for their condition, the symptoms at times mirror Tourette syndrome. The cramped tent shelters seven family members: Raneem, her two sisters, their elderly parents, and another sister with her husband. Raneem's mother is frail, and her father is still recovering from an injury sustained in Israel's relentless war on Gaza, leaving Raneem to shoulder their care alone. The family used to live in Jabalia camp's Block 2, until Israel destroyed their home eight months ago. Since then, they have moved from relatives' homes to makeshift shelters, then to an overcrowded United Nations school. Now they are in this tent, which traps sweltering heat by midday and lets the bitter cold seep through its thin walls in the night. Privacy and dignity are nearly impossible in the crowded tent. 'When they need to change, we try to get the others to step out,' Raneem says. 'But it's not always possible.' Yet that is only part of the ordeal for Aseel and Afaf, who are bullied daily due to their conditions. 'People don't understand what my sisters go through,' Raneem says softly. 'They judge by appearances, assuming they're fine. But they aren't. They need care, patience, dignity.' Life in the camp overwhelms Aseel. 'She finds it hard to cope with noise or sudden changes,' Raneem explains. 'When that happens, she gets distressed – she shouts, cries, sometimes lashes out.' Afaf, meanwhile, struggles with involuntary movements and impulsive behaviours. 'A small argument or loud voice can trigger her,' Raneem adds. 'She doesn't know how to control it,' she says, which makes it all the more sad that Afaf is frequently targeted for mockery, especially by children. Using communal bathrooms brings repeated humiliation. 'Every bathroom visit becomes a spectacle. People laugh, make cruel remarks, and it devastates them,' Raneem says. The family's greatest blow came six months ago, when Mohammad, Raneem's 22-year-old brother, was taken by Israel. Mohammad had gone to Kamal Adwan Hospital for surgery after a hand injury. While he was there, Israel raided the hospital on October 25 and seized Mohammad. Since then, the family knows nothing about his whereabouts. Mohammad was the sibling most adept at navigating the outside world. 'He got their medicines, managed hospital visits, dealt with aid agencies,' Raneem explains. 'Without him, we're completely alone.' Since his detention, the sisters face worsening food shortages and a lack of medical care. 'He was their protector,' Raneem says, her voice breaking. 'Now we have no one.' Between March and May, intensified bombing again displaced 436,000 Palestinians, many for the second, third or fourth time since the October 2023 beginning of the war. For families like Raneem's – already in tents or shelters – each new wave of violence means starting over again, often without food or medicine. For Aseel and Afaf, even basic nutrition is rife with threats. Celiac sufferers cannot eat gluten, which damages their small intestines. In a starving Gaza where there is little to eat other than wheat-flour bread, which contains gluten, there is little chance that Raneem can find vegetables or meat for the sisters, especially with Mohammad detained. Without gluten-free flour, Aseel and Afaf risk severe malnutrition, and they have gotten a dismally small amount of the 80 tonnes of gluten-free flour that aid agencies have thus far delivered to Gaza. Much of it was blocked by closed borders, damaged roads, and broken distribution systems. 'The little that reaches us is too expensive or too late,' Raneem says. Before the war, Aseel and Afaf had routine medical care at Kamal Adwan Hospital. Their conditions required special diets, medication, and regular therapy, needs now nearly impossible to meet. Psychological specialist Dr Sara al-Wahidi says the war has sharply worsened the marginalisation of people with disabilities in Gaza. 'We've seen people with disabilities become separated from [their families in] displacement areas – some missing for long periods, sadly later found deceased,' she explains. A 2025 report estimates that at least 15 percent of Gaza's displaced population lives with a disability, and they have to navigate the makeshift shelters, whether in encampments, schools, or hospitals, that lack functioning ramps, adapted toilets and basic accessibility. Raneem also battles social stigma, and despite her efforts – talking with neighbours, seeking support from community elders – ignorance persists. 'People provoke them, mock them. All we ask is understanding,' she says. Some elders occasionally invite the sisters to their tents for a visit, brief moments of respite in a daily reality where they have no consistent medical or social support. 'We've been displaced again and again, from Jabalia to the west, then Gaza City,' Raneem recounts. 'Every new place, we have to start over, explaining their condition, begging for patience. 'These aren't just war victims,' she pleads. 'They're vulnerable people forgotten by the world.'
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pakistan Deports Afghans Awaiting U.S. Resettlement
As one war after another raged in Afghanistan, an estimated 3.5 million Afghans found relative safety living in Pakistan, including about 700,000 who fled across the border following the U.S. withdrawal in August 2021. In 2023, the Pakistani government announced its intention to deport 3 million Afghans in its Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan. More than 800,000 Afghans then returned to their homeland from October 2023 through January 2025. Deportations got underway in earnest in April of this year, with nearly 110,000 Afghan refugees deported to Afghanistan from April 3 to May 3. Thus far, the United Nations' International Organization for Migration (IOM) has provided support to about 48,000 Afghan returnees and is urgently requesting funds to "address the needs of between 600,000 and 1.5 million Afghan returnees" in the coming months. Also in place to provide assistance is the Aseel Foundation. During the tumultuous summer of 2021, Aseel expanded its mission of linking Afghan artisans to the international marketplace and began crowdfunding aid packages to support Afghans who were displaced, facing food insecurity, or affected by natural disasters. In April, Aseel began deploying personnel to the returnee area at Torkham to provide deported Afghans with food packages, clothing, and shelter. It has also begun to register Afghans for omid (the Persian word for "hope") identification cards, which allow holders to receive direct crowdfunded aid. Following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and the closure of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, some U.S. allies with Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applications and an estimated 20,000 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) applications fled to Pakistan. They weren't just hoping to escape Taliban reprisals: Their cases could be processed only through an active U.S. embassy. For three and a half years, an agreement between the U.S. and Pakistani governments was meant to offer Afghans security in Pakistan. But refugees in Pakistan cannot work or send their children to school, and they face elevated costs of living, threats of deportation, and extortionate visa costs. After President Donald Trump's January 20 executive orders suspended the USRAP and paused foreign funds, Afghans in the SIV and USRAP pipelines began facing the threat of deportation. One Afghan told me he had been returned to Afghanistan already, despite his USRAP case. "I showed the letter which was emailed to us by [the] State Department to exempt us from deportation, but all the Pakistani authorities, including police, was laughing," he said. I asked the Pakistani Embassy and the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs how long they assured the U.S. that its allies would remain safe within their borders, whether those Afghans face retribution on return to their homeland, and how many of America's Afghan allies have thus far been returned. I received no answer. A U.S. State Department spokesperson told me that the "Department does not comment on private diplomatic conversations." The spokesperson added that "all countries must be able to manage their borders and immigration processes in a manner that ensures the safety, security, and prosperity of their citizens." With the world deaf to their pleas for assistance, USRAP applicants (speaking under pseudonyms) told me they feel increasingly desperate. Farid tells me he has been waiting in Pakistan for USRAP processing since September 2021, facing "financial hardship, the constant threat of deportation, [and] lack of access to health care and education." In Pakistan, Farid's wife suffered a miscarriage and has developed severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. While taking her for medical treatment, Farid was detained by police and forced to pay a bribe to be released, exhausting the last of the funds he had made from selling his family's home and his wife's jewelry. Farid says he feels "utterly hopeless," and explained that a close friend, also a USRAP applicant, recently committed suicide. Haseena qualified for the USRAP through decades of work with the U.S. government and international NGOs. Her efforts, including helping a 14-year-old who had been forced to marry a senior Taliban member, earned her threats from the Taliban as well as from ISIS and other extremist groups. For her safety, Haseena was transferred to Pakistan a year ago with help from a former employer. The Taliban tortured her brother when they could not locate Haseena. Haseena's processing was nearly complete, and she had been contacted by IOM about scheduling travel in December before the USRAP suspension. "I cannot even imagine returning because doing so would mean certain death—for me and for my loved ones," Haseena told me. Nasib spent the last three years waiting for USRAP processing in Pakistan. "We had gone through many problems" before the USRAP suspension, Nasib noted. Now, he added, "the problems have increased." For Nasib, deportation "means death." It is unclear whether the applicants who shared their stories will benefit from a recent breakthrough in the International Refugee Assistance Project's Pacito v. Trump lawsuit, which was filed in February to challenge the USRAP suspension. Following U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead's February 25 preliminary injunction that forced the U.S. government to continue processing USRAP cases, the government argued it should have to process only 160 USRAP cases. On May 5, Whitehead issued a compliance order compelling the government to process 12,000 refugees who had conditional approval and confirmed travel scheduled prior to the executive order. Not all of these refugees are Afghan or based in Pakistan. An untold number of other refugees with no confirmable travel plans remain in limbo. Afghans who are set to be processed under the compliance order have not yet received notice, according to Shawn VanDiver, the founder and president of #AfghanEvac, a nonprofit organization supporting Afghans seeking relocation and resettlement. If the government complies with the timeline ordered, then all Afghans set to be processed will receive word of their inclusion by May 19. According to VanDiver, the government is attempting to file an appeal to have the order amended or overturned. The post Pakistan Deports Afghans Awaiting U.S. Resettlement appeared first on
Sharjah 24
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Sharjah 24
Children weave imagination and identity at SCRF 2025
Gemayel, the creative force behind Nomad Workshops, has tailored string art for a younger audience. 'Traditional string art uses real wood, nails, and hammers, which isn't ideal for kids,' he says. 'For this workshop, I've adapted it with foam boards, coloured pins, and mini wooden hammers to make it safe and fun.' The workshop, a hit with children from various schools, begins with a foam board shaped like the UAE map. Each child is given anchor points marked with boundary dots, ready to fill with pins in their choice of colours. Many chose the red, green, white, and black of the UAE flag, while others opted for more vibrant colours. 'It's about their imagination and how they want to create,' says Gemayel. 'No two pieces are ever the same.' Twelve-year-old Aseel embraced a colourful design, while her friend Zainab opted for the UAE flag colours. 'I like it colourful,' said Aseel as she carefully cut and tied threads. 'I'm using different threads to make it pretty.' Gemayel explains, 'Children decide whether to use one thread or more—it's all about their individual style.' The workshop fosters creativity, while also creating a personal connection to a national symbol. The final step of the craft involves using a wooden hammer to tap down the pins, adding the finishing touch to each piece. 'String art isn't complete without a hammer,' says Gemayel. 'Each child has the chance to complete their artwork and feel a sense of pride in their creation.' Open to children aged eight and above, Threads of Unity is just one of the four workshops Gemayel is leading at SCRF. In the festival's Comic Store section, kids can also create superhero emblems like Superman and Batman using the same innovative, child-friendly string art technique. Organised by the Sharjah Book Authority, the 12-day festival is free to attend and runs until May 4. For more information, visit
