Gaza expresses solidarity with Syria’s Yarmouk camp
Palestinians in Gaza have organized rallies and donation campaigns for the Palestinians in Syria's Yarmouk refugee camp, which has suffered a months-long siege.
GAZA CITY, Gaza — A multitude of slogans and symbols have emerged in the Gaza Strip to express support for the Palestinian refugees trapped in the Yarmouk camp in Syria. These symbols include empty pots and loaves of bread, along with the lighting of candles and carrying of coffins, to show solidarity with camp residents, who are suffering from the harshest of humanitarian crises.
Yarmouk is home to the largest concentration of Palestinian refugees in Syria. Established in 1957 over an area of 2.1 square km (1.3 miles), Yarmouk houses 144,000 registered refugees, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
Rami Abdo, the director of the Euro-Mediterranean Observer for Human Rights, told Al-Monitor that nearly 1,900 Palestinian refugees have died in Syria since the onset of the current conflict, among them 790 in Yarmouk alone. Meanwhile, press reports from the camp indicate that 53 Palestinians have died of hunger since the warring factions imposed a siege on it in July 2013.
Dozens of solidarity vigils have been organized in the Gaza Strip this month in support of Yarmouk. They were distinguished by the broad participation of children, who carried signs that read, “I am with them” and “From the children of Gaza to the children of Yarmouk” as well as “From house to house in support of the Yarmouk camp.”
