Ali is smiling as he cuts another young man’s hair. He looks sharp in his streetwear as he confidently cuts and trims. Yet the journey Ali has been on to get to this point has been fraught and at times the idea of a future and a career have felt out of reach.

When airstrikes began to hit Lebanon, young Tarek and his mum, who was just days from giving birth to her second son, had to escape quickly from their home.

“When I left my house at 3am…I had to leave the most precious things I have, my livelihood and everything. In a moment I left everything I had and came here, hoping my family would be safe.” Amir is one of the tens of thousands of people in Lebanon who have been displaced by the recent conflict.

Badly injured in an Israeli airstrike moments after giving birth, Aisha was separated from her new baby. For months she feared he had been killed.

My name is Mousa and I work with children with disabilities at the Princess Basma satellite unit in Gaza City. This year has been so very hard for us…

The war in Gaza has caused unimaginable devastation in the Gaza strip, but has also had a huge impacts on the West Bank - including soaring unemployment. This year, we’ve been supporting an Emergency Employment Project in Bethlehem, and we’re delighted to share this video update.

When Tuqa’s father realised his daughter needed extra support to overcome the additional challenges she faced, he was determined to do all he could to help her. But accessing disability care in the West Bank, particularly because of the severe travel restrictions, is extremely difficult. It was only through the Outreach Programme run by Embrace partner the Princess Basma Centre that they were able to get the specialist assessment and interventions Tuqa needed.

Navid was fast asleep when the Israeli soldiers came for him. It was late at night and the 17-year-old high school student was in his bedroom when the soldiers burst into his home, beat him, and didn’t allow his family to say goodbye when they arrested him and took him out into the night. 

The day that 14-year-old Amir was arrested started out like any other. He was spending time at the local playground with one of his close friends, next to the football pitch where they both loved to kick a ball around.