As the suffering of the people in the Gaza Strip worsens, it is "doing terrible damage to children who are growing up in an atmosphere of hopelessness, pure hopelessness," said Geraldine Shawa, director of Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children, a Palestinian nonprofit organization in Gaza City.
Invited by the Japanese group Campaign for the Children of Palestine, Shawa arrived Friday in Tokyo and spoke the same evening to the press about the dire situation in Gaza.
According to Shawa, 1.5 million people, including 650,000 under age 14, "are being held hostage to a small group of militants who are sending missiles to Israel."