The school holidays have just begun in many parts of the UK, and school holidays in some regions will begin in the coming weeks. Mention ‘summer holiday camps’ in Britain or any other Western countries and many people will imagine occasions full of adventure, excitement and making memories. But in Gaza, summer holiday camps are devasting for young people, and the world is largely silent.
Over 100,000 Palestinian children in Gaza will attend Hamas-run holiday camps this summer, where they will be trained in terror combat. Young people, almost exclusively boys, will receive weapons training, taught military tactics and often seen crawling under barbed wire and jumping over fire.
Last month, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which runs fewer camps than Hamas, held a two week camp called the “Revenge of the Free”. The PIJ promotional video, children are seen armed with guns as they march through the training area, holding flags of the terror group, pictures of terrorists and walking over the flags of Israel and America.
Thankfully, these are not the only summer camps in Gaza. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) also hosts camps in Gaza where around 130,000 children will attend. They will be provided with a much more acceptable programme with activities in education, sports, arts and craft, etc. We should still pray for these camps, bearing in mind that UNRWA-run schools have been found to use materials that teach Palestinian children anti-Israel propaganda and dozens of UNRWA employees have been caught spreading antisemitic hatred, which they undoubtably have passed on to Palestinian children.
- Pray for the Palestinian young people. May they be a generation that turns their backs on the evil propaganda being imposed upon them. May they turn to the God of the Bible and seek after Truth. May they turn away from the lies and evil actions against Israel perpetrated by their forefathers, and instead be hungry for peace with Israel.
Pray that the Hamas and PIJ camps will be poorly attended and that the 100,000 expected attendance will not be fulfilled. Pray for the UNRWA summer camps. May they be a safe environment and an enriching experience for the Palestinian young people. Pray that propaganda against Israel will not fester, even in a subtle way.
Pray that global bodies like the United Nations will not be silent towards this large-scale indoctrination of the children of Gaza. The Hamas and PIJ summer camps that aim to train child terrorists are contravention of international law and are examples of human rights abuses. How can this continue without drawing worldwide condemnation? Pray that the United Kingdom and other nations will apply greater scrutiny to its support for the Palestinian territories, including when sending funds, and will not cower at speaking out against these atrocities.
The Bible mandates Christians to have compassion towards these misled Palestinian children. Their leaders will be held to account and judged by Almighty God. But the sombre reality is that the innocent children at these camps will be tomorrow’s terror-supporting haters of Israel, or even terrorists themselves, if the enemy of God has his way. That is why we must pray fervently for this situation. In doing so, we are supporting Palestinian young people AND supporting Israel. We must pray recognising that this is a spiritual battle. Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Let us pray with conviction that Satan will take ‘his hands’ off these little ones and will not have his way.
Thank you for praying with us in this matter and sharing God’s heart for the next generation of Palestinian young people and for the future of Israel.
This year, we want to do more to bless Israel and the Jewish people.
We know that as we bless Israel this year, God will bless us, just as He promised in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Now is the time to bless Israel and the Jewish people.
