A new study has revealed that 51% of Gaza’s children and 31% of its adults are suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder one year on from Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip.
The results were presented by Taysir Diab, Deputy Director General of Professional Affairs for the Gaza Community Mental Health Program at a meeting to discuss how GCMHP and GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) could work closer together.
A recent assessment conducted by Save The Children in Gaza also found that an average of 75% of children experience unusual bedwetting on regular basis and up to 89% of parents said their children suffer consistent feelings of fear.
More than 70% of children said they were worried about another war.
David Hassell, Co-Country Director at Save The Children, said: “They have lived through events that would given even the most hardened adult nightmares.
“The continued blockade and threat of renewed conflict makes it very difficult for children to recover from the trauma they have experienced.”
In the area of al-Shoka, Save The Children found that nearly half the children interviewed wet the bed every night.
During the war in 2014, 551 children in Gaza were killed and 3,436 were injured. An estimated 1,500 children lost their parents and thousands more were made homeless, along with having their schools damaged or destroyed.
A large number of Gaza’s children also suffer from a number of permanent disabilities due to the many wars that have taken place in the region over the years. This has resulted in a disproportionately high number of disabled among Gaza’s young population.
Israel’s military destruction of Gaza’s only rehabilitation clinic, Al-Wafa, has only further deteriorated the situation. Children in need of rehabilitation, prosthetics and surgery are now unable to get the help they need.
Steve Sosebee, President of the Palestinian Children Relief Fund (PCRF), said: “Even if we have the resources to pay for services for children who need them, the place they would go for rehabilitation doesn’t exist anymore.”
Save The Children’s CEO, Justin Forsyth, said: “The world cannot sit by and watch while these children’s hopes for a better future are crushed by the blockade and the looming threat of another conflict.
“Political leaders on all sides should stop posturing and start acting – they need to work together to agree to a plan for a lasting peace deal that includes ending the blockade on Gaza.”
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