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spicebag
'They're just kids': The Irish-backed centre giving Gazan children a place to play
Irish artist Adam Doyle, aka Spicebag, says Ionad Hind Rajab is about giving displaced children “a break from the horror around them”.
LESS THAN A kilometre from where an Israeli strike hit a displacement camp earlier this month, each day dozens of children learn, play games and get to simply be children, for a few hours at least.
Ionad Hind Rajab, an Irish-Palestinian solidarity centre in Al Mawasi, Khan Younis, has become a rare place of routine amid the devastation of Gaza.
Founded by Irish artist Adam Doyle, better known as Spicebag, alongside the Palestinian organisation Dignity for Palestinians, the centre provides food, education, psychosocial support and recreational activities for children displaced by the war.
There are currently 93 children enrolled, with plans to expand to around 130.
“It functions as much as a school as it does a place where the kids can kind of hang out and [it takes] a bit of pressure off their parents,” Doyle told The Journal.
“We’re trying to bring them up to where they should be education-wise, and we’re also trying to help them with the obvious mental damage.”
Every morning, children arrive for lessons in literacy and numeracy before spending the rest of the day taking part in arts activities, games and sports.
They receive meals at the centre, easing some of the pressure on families living in nearby displacement camps, while staff also provide psychosocial support to help children cope with the trauma of Israel’s war on Gaza.
The centre operates throughout the year, offering ongoing support for students and caregivers, with summer camps and enrichment programmes continuing outside school terms to provide children with routine, learning and moments of normality.
The project grew out of a fundraising campaign Doyle began in October 2023.
His “An Phalaistín” scarf, which carries a message from the late Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, became a familiar sight across Ireland and initially raised around €10,000 for the Palestine Red Crescent.
As support continued to grow through the scarves and later a Palestine-inspired football jersey, Doyle decided he wanted to create something permanent.
Working with Gaza-based humanitarian group Dignity for Palestinians, the idea of Ionad Hind Rajab evolved.
The centre is named after five-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in January 2024 after spending hours trapped in a vehicle following an attack that killed members of her family.
Doyle says he sought the blessing of Hind’s surviving family before using her name.
“I thought it was fitting,” he said.
“She just serves as a focal point of innocent children having their lives taken by Israel.”
Built for survival
The original vision was for a permanent community building. Instead, the reality of Gaza meant planning for the possibility of airstrikes.
Rather than constructing a brick-and-mortar centre, Ionad Hind Rajab now operates from Unicef tents and temporary structures that can quickly be dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere if needed.
“If it gets bombed, it would have to be abandoned,” Doyle said.
“What we have at the moment can be quickly disassembled and reassembled.”
That reality came into sharp focus earlier this month when an Israeli strike landed just a few hundred metres from the centre.
None of the children enrolled there were killed, but Doyle admits he constantly fears the message telling him that one day they might be.
“I’m kind of waiting on the message,” he said.
“It’s an eerie kind of feeling.
“If you see any videos at the centre, they’re just kids having a ball, learning, playing with each other, not hurting anyone.”
Precautions the centre has to take extend to seemingly mundane decisions.
The team wanted to fly Irish and Palestinian flags outside the centre but were advised against it, as they were warned that anything visible from a distance could potentially attract Israeli sniper or artillery fire.
Children and aid workers continue to face significant protection risks in Gaza, while humanitarian agencies say needs continue to outstrip available resources.
At least 21,000 children have been confirmed killed by Israeli forces since October 2023, but the true number is likely to be much higher.
The number of displaced children exceeds 800,000, or about 80% of children in Gaza, with over 7,000 unaccompanied and separated from families, according to several international aid bodies.
Gaza’s 625,000 school-aged children have missed three years of formal education, and most of them have experienced disrupted schooling due to successive escalations.
Looking ahead
Despite the circumstances, Doyle says the ambition is to continue growing the project.
Volunteers in Ireland are helping develop lesson materials, while former Dublin footballer Michael Darragh MacAuley has been recording GAA coaching sessions for the children as the centre expands its sports programme.
The centre’s team is also hoping to introduce movie nights using a projector currently being sourced.
If funding becomes more stable, Doyle hopes more children can be accommodated and similar centres could eventually be opened elsewhere.
“If the support grows, we’ll grow with it and we’ll do as much as we possibly can,” he said.
For Doyle, the aim has remained the same since the centre first opened.
“We’re going to make the time they’re in the centre with us as fun and relaxing and educational as possible, and give them a break from the horror around them as much as we can.”
More information on Ionad Hind Rajab can be found here.
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