RAMALLAH, Nov 13 — Relentless Israeli bombardment on densely populated civilian areas in Gaza Strip is exacerbating the already critical mental health crisis for Gaza’s children, with far-reaching consequences, as coping strategies and safe spaces are ripped away and mental health services and assistance are cut off, said non-profit organisation Save the Children.
It warned that children’s mental health in Gaza has been pushed beyond breaking point.
“With Israeli airstrikes over the last month hitting thousands of civilian spaces in Gaza including schools and hospitals sheltering families, the violence, fear, grief and uncertainty is causing serious mental harm for children with no safe place to go,” it said in a statement on its website.
Over the past month, 4,008 children have been killed in Gaza, with a further 1,270 children missing, presumed buried under the rubble, it said.
According to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), civilian infrastructure hit by Israeli airstrikes since Oct 7 include at least 253 education facilities, 101 health facilities, 58 places of worship, three refugee camps and more than 40,000 housing units.
The Health Ministry in Gaza reported that 444 families have lost two to five members to the violence in the last four weeks, including 192 families who have lost 10 or more members, leaving many children without family support – a critical coping mechanism for children experiencing trauma.
Medical professionals in Gaza including Médecins Sans Frontiers/Doctors without Borders have shared that the number of children without surviving family members arriving for medical care is so high that a new acronym has been coined to identify them – “WCNSF” (Wounded Child No Surviving Family) – the statement added.
Save the Children’s mental health experts warn that the current conduct of hostilities in Gaza is exposing children to extremely traumatic episodes while stripping away options to help them cope.
“There is no safe place, no sense of security and no routine, with thousands displaced from their homes.
“Under current conditions in Gaza, children are experiencing a whole host of signs and symptoms of trauma including anxiety, fear, worry about their safety and that of their loved ones, nightmares and disturbing memories, insomnia, bottling up emotions and withdrawing from loved ones,” it read.
The trauma giving rise to these symptoms is ongoing, relentless and compounding day by day.
Since the land, air and sea blockade was imposed in 2007, the lives of children in Gaza have been mired by severe deprivation, cycles of violence and restrictions on their freedom. A report published by Save the Children in June 2022 showed that children’s mental health was already at breaking point.
Eighty per cent of children reported feeling in a perpetual state of fear, worry, sadness and grief. Three quarters of children were bedwetting in fear, and a growing number were exhibiting reactive mutism.
More than 11,100 people in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, more than 8,000 of them children and women, had been killed in ongoing Israeli attacks since Oct 7.
