Yemeni Child Recruits Undergoing Rehab Visit Marib’s Historic Dam

Child soldiers with Houthi fighters hold weapons during a demonstration in Sanaa on March 13, 2015. PHOTO: Reuters
Child soldiers with Houthi fighters hold weapons during a demonstration in Sanaa on March 13, 2015. PHOTO: Reuters
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Yemeni Child Recruits Undergoing Rehab Visit Marib’s Historic Dam

Child soldiers with Houthi fighters hold weapons during a demonstration in Sanaa on March 13, 2015. PHOTO: Reuters
Child soldiers with Houthi fighters hold weapons during a demonstration in Sanaa on March 13, 2015. PHOTO: Reuters

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center organized on Monday a recreational trip for children undergoing rehabilitation in Yemen’s Amran governorate.

The children were inhumanely recruited by Houthi militias to fight on battlefronts. KSRelief had previously committed to a program to rehabilitate child soldiers recruited during Yemen’s war.

The trip included a visit to the Great Marib Dam and waterfalls in Ubaida Valley in Marib and the practice of diverse games, entertainment, and cultural competitions, reported the Saudi state-owned news agency SPA.

In the first phase of the program, at least 40 children from the provinces of Marib and Al-Jawf have been rehabilitated.

Child Psychologist Dr. Mahioub Al-Mekhlafi explained that the recreational trip "is one of the most important forms of psychological support for children qualifying for the second phase of rehabilitation.”

Mekhlafi said that the excursion provided the children with an atmosphere away from the hostility and difficulties they had experienced.

On that note, KSrelief has distributed 2,500 food baskets in Al-Hamli area in Mozea Directorate of Taiz governorate as part of the emergency relief project carried out by the center in liberated areas of the West Coast for the relief of citizens and displaced people.

Center representative Abdulaziz Bawazeer said that aid being offered to displaced people in Al-Hamli and adjacent areas comes within the context of the center’s relief program of liberated areas on the west coast—an area which has not been reached by anyone yet.

Bawazeer pointed out the center has laid out a plan of emergency humanitarian relief response to help west coast residents and will benefit a large number of citizens and displaced people.

A number of citizens have expressed happiness and gratitude over the arrival of much needed humanitarian assistance. Yemenis delivered their thanks to King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and the Saudi people.

The Center is the first international organization to reach Al-Hamli after Houthi militias were driven out.

This coincided with the Adra American organization distributing dry food to displaced people in Taiz and Aden governorate.

“The Adra organization began distributing dry food to 775 displaced families from in areas close to clashes in Taiz governorate and Aden. The displaced person is given a voucher of 27,000 riyals and receives from the supermarket selected needs," said Dr. Yassin Abdel-Alim al-Qabati.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.