Gaza children left 'severely traumatized' amid ongoing Israeli bombing
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The psychological impact includes "convulsions, bed-wetting, fear, aggressive behavior, nervousness, and not leaving their parents’ sides.”
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Palestinian children injured in an Israeli airstrike await treatment at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, on October 17, 2023 (AFP)
According to a Palestinian psychiatrist, Palestinian children living in Gaza are experiencing serious trauma, in addition to their increased chances of injuries or death.
Fadel Abu Heen reported that the psychological impact of war on the children has begun to develop in the shape of "convulsions, bed-wetting, fear, aggressive behavior, nervousness, and not leaving their parents’ sides.”
The psychiatrist emphasized that a sense of horror has impacted the entire population, children in particular, detailing how some children do not express their fears, therefore harboring the trauma within them.
Read more: At least 400 sick children in Gaza risk death under Israeli siege
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry on Saturday, the Israeli occupation committed 550 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the martyrdom of 3,353 members of these families since the beginning of the aggression.
The Israeli occupation has continued its brutal aggression on the Gaza Strip for about two weeks now, targeting homes, residential towers, UN schools, bakeries, ambulances, and hospitals.
"Israel" claims it directly targets Hamas, yet children make up a majority of the over 4,700 Palestinians killed in Gaza.
A 15-year-old in Gaza has been through five periods of intensive bombardment: 2008-9, 2012, 2014, 2021, and now 2023.
Shivering with fear, bombed every day, found under the rubbles of their homes, losing their parents, drenched with blood, what have #Palestinian children done to deserve this?#PalestineGenocide #GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/sR91cnjzsD
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 22, 2023
Majority of children in Gaza have PTSD
According to studies performed following previous wars, the majority of children in Gaza display symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
UNICEF, the UN children's organization, discovered that 82% of children were either continually or usually afraid of death in 2012.
UNICEF found that over 91% of children experienced sleep issues, 85% reported appetite changes, 97% felt insecure, and 76% reported itching or feeling sick.
Following the 2008-09 Israeli war on Gaza, a study by the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) found that 75% of children over the age of six suffered from PTSD symptoms.
Hasan Zeyada, a psychologist with the GCMHP, told The Guardian that a majority of children suffer social and psychological consequences like anxiousness, sleep deprivation, night terrors, regressive behaviors, and ample more.
Experts also noticed an increase in psychosomatic symptoms, such as a high temperature for no apparent cause or a rash all over the body.
According to a Save the Children assessment last year, the impact of 15 years of siege and multiple hostilities on the mental health of children in Gaza has "declined dramatically to alarming levels."
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres previously called the lives of children in Gaza “hell on earth."
