Policy briefing for the sOverseas Development
Institute written by Shoroq Hamad, Eman Abu Hamra, Riyad
Diab, Bassam Abu Hamad, Nicola Jones and Agnieszka
Małachowska
Even before Gaza reported its first cases of covid-19 on 22
March, there were serious concerns about how to tackle the
virus in one of the most vulnerable and densely populated areas
on the globe, where social distancing is hard to implement, the
economy is already precarious, and in a context that has
suffered from the negative repercussions of 14 years of a
strict international blockade and deliberate de-development.
With the declaration of a ‘state of emergency’ in the
Palestinian territories on 5 March after the first reported
cases of covid-19 in the West Bank, Palestinian authorities
decided to close schools and education facilities, restaurants,
cafes, hotels, markets, wedding halls and religious places. For
decades, the majority of families in Gaza have been living
hand-to-mouth with unemployment and food insecurity affecting
more than 50% of the population.2 With the lockdown and the
closure of small businesses, people who depended on a daily
income lost any means of providing for their families. Despite
the political rift between Gaza and Ramallah, the Palestinian
Authority and Gaza’s de facto authorities have been
coordinating and cooperating to address the crisis, although
this is not without some friction and competition among the two
bodies.
In response to growing calls to ensure that national and
international responses to the covid-19 situation are inclusive
of all social groups, including refugee communities, and
context-tailored, this policy brief draws on virtual
qualitative interviews with vulnerable young people in Gaza to
better understand the compounded effects of the pandemic and
the pre-existing economic and political crisis facing the
country. It is part of a cross-country series designed to share
emerging findings in real time from qualitative interviews with
adolescents in the context of covid-19. The young people
involved are part of the Gender and Adolescence: Global
Evidence (GAGE) programme’s longitudinal research in the Middle
East, East Africa and South Asia. More specifically, this brief
draws on data from 48 telephone conversations with vulnerable
11–19-year-old Palestinian adolescent boys and girls, including
married girls and adolescents with disabilities, held in April
and May 2020.
Download: https://www.gage.odi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Exploring-the-impacts-of-covid-19-on-adolescents-in-the-Gaza-Strip.pdf
