Suicide Rate in Gaza Spikes Under Hamas’ Rule

By: Baruch Yedid

Residents in the Gaza Strip, including many young people, have ended their lives because of the difficulties of living in the Strip, TPS has learned.

Ahmed Khalidi, a local young man, was taken to the Indonesian hospital in the Gaza Strip on Sunday after trying to commit suicide by swallowing pills. Urgent medical treatment saved his life. Khalidi was saved, however, many young people in the Gaza Strip have put an end to their lives in recent months due to the dreadful living conditions in the Gaza Strip, under the Hamas regime.

This weekend, 23-year-old Sleiman Ajuri committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. Ajuri was one of the activists of the “Want to Live” protest movement, which came out against Hamas about a year and a half ago and its people were strongly oppressed.

Ibrahim Yassin, 21, also died of his wounds after burning himself a few days ago. Like them, Ayman Al-Ghul, a 24-year-old from Shati camp, also ended his life by jumping off a building.

Hours before Al-Ghul put an end to his life, a 30-year-old woman attempted to commit suicide as a result of a family dispute. She is in critical condition. The young woman is the wife of the leader of the extreme Beit Al-Makdis Salafist group and she had previously tried to end her life by hanging, following her husband’s marriage to another woman.

Another 35-year-old woman committed suicide a few days ago, also due to family issues.

The list of residents of the Gaza Strip who were registered as dying “in unclear circumstances” include a teacher, a 65-year-old woman and a 90-year-old elderly woman who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

Many young people, including teenagers, have committed suicide by jumping from rooftops or self-emollition.

Some of the suicides occurred in Hamas prisons and interrogation facilities and a source in the Gaza Strip told TPS that at least three people had committed suicide in the torture cells.

The Gaza Strip has recorded a very alarming increase in suicide rates in recent months, and most of it is due to emotional stress, the poor socio-economic situation and poverty.

The Human Rights Center in the Gaza Strip claims that there has been a noticeable rise in suicides in recent months and that too many cases are defined as “death in unnatural circumstances,” far beyond local statistics.

In April this year, eight such cases occurred, in March 35 cases occurred and in February, 11 additional cases occurred.

Clerics in the Gaza Strip have recently addressed their sermons to the youth and have come out against the phenomenon of suicide, which is forbidden according to Sharia Law in Islam.

One of the clerics in Gaza said that “Palestinians should not be surprised at the phenomenon, since a Palestinian boy, before he commits suicide, is slaughtered a thousand times during his life due to the difficult circumstances.”

Sources in the Strip say that the most common causes of suicide are mainly unemployment, poverty and depression and emotional stress, as well as family conflicts.

Various elements, including the Human Rights Center, complain that both the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas are responsible for the alarming phenomenon, and with regard to data in the Gaza Strip, they state that Hamas hides the information in the absence of professional treatment of the phenomenon.

Over the weekend, the Democratic Front or the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) released messages expressing grave concern over the increase in suicide rates and attributed the responsibility for the suicides to the Hamas government and the PA.

The DFLP stated that the heavy taxes, the delay in salaries, as well as poverty, hunger and unemployment and the closure of the Gaza Strip and military events, are all the main causes of the severe phenomenon.

An official in the Gaza Strip told TPS that life in the Gaza Strip has led to a steep rise in suicides and immigration from the Strip.

(TPS)