The story did not start Jan. 10 when R.B., a young Gazan, tried to jump off the roof of his house in Rafah city and threatened to kill himself if he was not allowed to meet with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to state his demands. The story began years earlier, as the youth living in the occupied Palestinian territories faced mounting frustrations. According to a 2013 a report by Sharek Youth Forum, youth make up 29.8% of residents of the Palestinian territories, while a quarter of them live in poverty and a third are unemployed.

With the successive crises, the youth found no other alternative than social media pages, which became emergency rooms to tackle them. Activists believe that the first solution should be to separate the Ministry of Youth from the Ministry of Sports, which are currently combined into a single ministry led by Minister Mohammed al-Madhoun, who is also the culture minister.

Young Mohammad Hasna was among the first people who demanded this separation, and some accused him of being after the position of youth minister. He asked Al-Monitor, “How can we take care of the youth when we have a weak budget divided over three ministries and only six employees charged with the duties of the Youth Ministry?”

Hasna demanded the establishment of a Higher Youth Council to replace the ministry, headed by a young person of most 35 years. He also called for establishing a bank that empowers the youth through providing local funding sources. For instance, the ministers and the members of parliament would donate an entire month’s salary to solve several youth problems regarding job opportunities, marriage expenses and houses.