The children of Gaza woke up on October 7th to the sounds of shells and missiles. They did not realize at first why this morning was different and terrifying, and who had stolen the peace of the place, they did not realize that it would take a long time and that they would be forced to face death, loss, and deprivation again.
Suddenly, the lives of the children of Gaza were turned upside down. They were uprooted from their school seats. The pens they used to write their future were now used to write their names on their bodies so that they would be identified if they were hit by bombing.
Most of them were displaced with their families from their homes, leaving their toys and beautiful memories, to find themselves either in schools, hospitals, in their relatives’ homes, or in tents, searching for safety that is not available anywhere within the Strip, according to what Gaza residents tell.
The children of Gaza were deprived of sleep, which for them became synonymous with death. They became afraid to close their eyes lest a missile miss them and the ceiling would close on them, turning their residence into a grave. They joined 3,650 children who have died so far, while about a thousand are still missing.
The scenes of children being rescued from under the rubble and the terror in their eyes inside hospitals as they await treatment are sufficient to reflect the extent of the panic they are living in. Some of them have their bodies consumed by fire, some of them have lost a limb, or one or more members, or even their entire family, only to find themselves alone in the midst of this. Bloody conflict.
Long term cost
Since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, “Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children. It is a living hell for everyone,” said UNICEF spokesman James Elder. “Our worst fear is that the number of children killed will reach dozens, then hundreds, and eventually “Eventually thousands were achieved in just two weeks. The numbers are horrific.”
During a press conference, Elder pointed out the psychological trauma suffered by the children of Gaza, saying: “When the fighting stops, the cost to the children and their communities will be borne by future generations. Before this latest escalation, more than 800,000 children were identified in Gaza, or three-quarters of the total.” “The number of children in the Strip is in need of mental health and psychosocial support, before this latest nightmare.”
He pointed to what the 4-year-old daughter of a UNICEF employee is suffering from, as she shows “severe symptoms of stress and fear, and she is now harming herself, such as pulling out her hair and scratching her thighs until they bleed. However, her mother does not have the luxury to think about her children’s mental health.” “.
UNICEF noted that almost every child in the Gaza Strip “was exposed to extremely painful events and traumas” in the recent war.
This is not the first war that the children of Gaza have witnessed, and prior to the escalation of violence in 2021, according to UNICEF, a third of children “already needed support for conflict-related trauma. Without a doubt, children’s need for mental health and psychosocial support services has greatly increased.”
A 2022 report by Save the Children concluded that the psychosocial well-being of children in Gaza was at “worryingly low levels” after 11 days of fighting in 2021, leaving half of Gaza’s children in need of support.
During the current war, UNICEF noted that almost every child in the Gaza Strip “has been exposed to extremely traumatic events and traumas, characterized by widespread destruction, continuing attacks, displacement, and severe shortages of basic necessities such as food, water and medicine.”
Hidden wounds
No child will emerge unscathed from this war. Anyone who has not been physically injured yet will not be spared psychological trauma from the sounds of shells and missiles, scenes of death and destruction, and the loss of family and loved ones. Symptoms of trauma may appear directly or in the long term, according to what the psychologist, Dr. Rima Bejjani.
She added to Al-Hurra website, “Trauma affects the child’s mental and psychological levels, how his personality develops, his confidence in himself, the situation, and those around him. As for the direct symptoms, they differ from one child to another, according to his personality, the extent of his family’s interaction with him, and the degree of the tragedy of the situation.”
Among the direct symptoms, Bejjani says: “Extreme anxiety, inability to sleep, and involuntary urination, as well as panic from direct and indirect sounds related to the sounds of shells and missiles, additional attachment to one’s family, and having nightmares during sleep.”
Bejjani points out that some children do not react to the situation immediately, but they show symptoms of psychological trauma in the long term. She explains: “After the end of the war and its repercussions, its residue remains deep within them, so it is necessary for them to undergo psychological treatment so that they do not continue with the pattern of anxiety that they live in, which may Its level rises until it explodes suddenly. The child may live a normal life, but the simplest things remind him of war, so he returns to a state of great anxiety and its symptoms include panic attacks and depression.”
Symptoms of shock may appear immediately or in the long term, according to experts
She added, “There is no doubt that children who have lost one or both of their parents will suffer from the loss of support in addition to the loss of stability represented by displacement from one place to another. They will also suffer from the destabilization of their psychological personality and loss of confidence in their surroundings, at a time when they lose all the components of a normal life, that is, they grow up in… A completely unhealthy situation, and in the future some of them may develop self-defense capabilities, but some of them will develop hostile tendencies.”
The director of the “Key to Life” Association, the psychological and social specialist, Lana Kaskas, also believes that “when a child is exposed to any type of trauma, a traumatic memory is formed in him, and when confronted with any similar stimulus later, he will recall his previous feeling and the thoughts that he had at the time, as well as his actions, meaning if he felt… If he was frightened during the war, or his feelings froze, or he had nervous reactions, he will experience the same moments when he hears stimuli that remind him of the war.”
In an interview with Al-Hurra website, Qasqas points out that losing children to their families makes them feel a sense of injustice and great, unnatural and expected deprivation, and “its effects, when they grow up, leave psychological problems and chronic post-traumatic stress disorders, and perhaps anxiety about separation.”
Deep scars
The symptoms of psychological trauma can continue, according to Bejjani, “if the child does not undergo treatment, they will accompany him throughout his life as if the war had not ended,” noting that “children do not have the ability to separate their emotional interaction from what is going on around them, while the parents live in a state of fear that turns Without being able to help their children develop their abilities to confront.”
For her part, Qasqas says: “This type of trauma burrows deep into the memory, and recovery from it requires treatment, including relaxation techniques.”
It is noteworthy that 70 percent of those killed in the Gaza Strip during the first three weeks of the war were children and women, according to what was reported by the United Nations Relief and Works Organization for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Adele Khader, considered that “the killing, maiming and kidnapping of children, attacks on hospitals and schools, and preventing the access of humanitarian aid constitute grave violations of children’s rights.”
“Without humanitarian access, deaths from attacks could be just the tip of the iceberg,” Khader said. “The number of deaths will rise dramatically if incubators start to fail, if hospitals go dark, and if children continue to drink unsafe water and are unable to get food.” “Medicine when they get sick.”
70 percent of those killed in the Gaza Strip during the first three weeks of the war were children and women, according to UNRWA.
Since 2007, the Strip has been subject to a strict land and sea blockade by Israel, under which civilians, along with goods such as food and medicine, are prevented from moving easily across the border, which has contributed to high levels of poverty and the population being exposed to harsh economic conditions.
UNICEF spokesman Elder pointed out that the threats to children go beyond bombs and mortar shells, saying that “infant deaths due to drought pose an increasing threat in Gaza, where water production is estimated at five percent of the required quantity, due to the breakdown or damage of desalination plants.” Water or lack of fuel.
Elder reiterated the call, “on behalf of the 1.1 million children in Gaza living in this nightmare,” for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the opening of all access points for sustainable entry of humanitarian aid.
Hundreds of Hamas militants, classified as a terrorist movement, infiltrated Israel from Gaza in an attack that killed more than 1,400 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to the Israeli authorities.
Israel responded to the attack with intense bombing of Gaza, killing more than 8,796 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the latest statistics of the Hamas Ministry of Health in the Strip.
2023-11-02 00:56:00
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