Nearly All Kids in Gaza Suffering from Psychological Effects of War
As the international community marked the World Children’s Day on Tuesday, November 20, the Jordanian daily al-Ghadd published a report on how the Israeli regime’s war has affected children in the Gaza Strip.
Following are excerpts from the report:
Almost all children and young adults in Gaza have suffered mental health effects as a result of the war, and psychologists and sociologists believe that the psychological damage of the war will continue to affect them for a long time.
The real experience of the war and the atrocities being committed by the Zionist forces, the deaths of family members, friends and neighbors, insecurity, lack of access to basic necessities and other aspects of war can lead to depression and other psychological issues among the people, especially children and teenagers.
They could affect their life and their behavior for a long time, experts say, calling for efforts to return them to normal life through special psychological programs.
Hamoud Alimat, a sociology professor at a Qatari university, says war leaves deep negative effects on children mentally and emotionally and negatively shape their values and behaviors.
He says they expect their environment to be friendly and need to be supported and their needs to be met.
However, the expert notes, children in Gaza are going through a lot of atrocities and unimaginable experiences.
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Conditions are particularly difficult for children who have lost family members, some of whom were killed in front of their eyes, he says.
Samir Ghuta, a University of Gaza professor, says hundreds of research studies have been conducted on the mental effects of the Gaza war on Palestinian children and families.
According to him, between 75 and 100 percent of Palestinian children suffer from the effects of war.
Stress, anxiety, nightmares, lack of concentration and inability to perform daily activities are just some of the problems these children face in their daily lives, he adds.
Nael al-Adwan, a psychologist, says that what happens in war, such as death, bombing and the destruction of homes, schools and hospitals, leaves children under extreme mental and psychological pressure and causes mental illnesses such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and psychosis.
These would affect all aspects of children’s lives for a long period of time, he notes.
The Israeli regime launched its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.
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So far, more than 43,900 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the brutal aggression.
According to Gaza officials, more than 17,000 children are among the martyrs, while nearly 43,000 children have lost one or both of their parents.
In addition, 3,500 children in the coastal enclave are at risk of dying from malnutrition.
And as far as education is concerned, some 620,000 boys and girls in Gaza are out of school because of the war.
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