Elham Asaad Buaras
A shocking 96 per cent of vulnerable children in Gaza believe their deaths are imminent, according to a recent study by a non-profit organisation.
The research highlights the severe psychological toll inflicted on Gaza’s children by relentless Israeli airstrikes, displacement, and loss endured over the past year.
The needs assessment, conducted by the Gaza-based NGO Community Training Centre for Crisis Management (CTCCM) with support from the War Child Alliance charity, surveyed over 500 children, parents, and caregivers. The participants were from families that included at least one disabled, injured, or unaccompanied child.
The findings paint a grim picture: 92 per cent of respondents struggled to cope with their harsh realities, 87 per cent reported severe fear, and 79 per cent experienced recurring nightmares. Almost half—49 per cent—expressed suicidal thoughts due to the ongoing war, while others exhibited signs of aggression, withdrawal, and overwhelming anxiety.
The study underscores that more than a year of displacement, loss, and incessant bombings has left Gaza’s most vulnerable children deeply traumatised.
“We asked injured, separated, and disabled children and their caregivers about the toll of war on their lives. Their answers are devastating – but sadly, not surprising. This study reinforces what we have seen, heard, and witnessed for more than a year. Children are traumatised by this war, and we must respond,” a CCTM spokesperson stated.
The survey, conducted in June across 504 households, also revealed that 88 per cent of families had been displaced multiple times, with 21 per cent forced to relocate six or more times.
Amid skyrocketing food and essential goods prices due to the ongoing blockade and insufficient humanitarian aid, most families survive on just £100 a month—approximately £3.28 a day. The economic impact is dire, with 80 per cent of breadwinners unemployed, and 24 per cent of households now led by children aged 16 or younger.
“This report lays bare that Gaza is one of the most horrifying places in the world to be a child. Alongside the levelling of hospitals, schools, and homes, a trail of psychological destruction has caused wounds unseen but no less destructive on children who hold no responsibility for this war,” said Helen Pattinson, CEO of War Child UK.
She urged urgent international intervention, stating: “The international community must act now before the child mental health catastrophe we are witnessing embeds itself into multi-generational trauma, the consequences of which the region will be dealing with for decades to come. A ceasefire must be the immediate first step to allow War Child and other agencies to effectively respond to the intense psychological damage children are experiencing.”
Local health officials in Gaza have reported that over 44,000 Palestinians have died in Israel’s retaliatory offensive, with women and children comprising more than half of the fatalities.
(Photo credit: RafahKid/Flickr CC)
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