In the shadow of trauma: Voices of Gaza's children

With reporting from Hanan Farajallah

Children around the world often dream of lofty ambitions like becoming astronauts or football stars. However in Gaza, dreams are often simpler, overshadowed by the grim realities of occupation, war, and survival.

Here, children yearn for an end to war, a return to their homes, and enough bread to stave off hunger. Despite their tender age, these dreams are woven with threads of hope, binding their desires for a semblance of normalcy.

Missing Mahmoud

Youssef, a 13-year-old from Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, was forced to flee his home when Israeli occupation forces invaded the camp. Youssef's family sought refuge in a United Nations school.

Then the Israeli Occupation forces invaded the school and arrested his father in November 2023. As for the rest of the family, the army detained his mother with other Palestinian women in one of the classrooms and detained Yousef naked with his brother Mahmoud and other children in another classroom.

Youssef was injured in the leg, but the worst was yet to come.

Youssef said he watched his 10-year-old brother Mahmoud burn to death after being set on fire by an Israeli soldier at the shelter. His mother told his story: "The occupation soldiers burned my child; Youssef's brother was burned to death in front of him. Youssef was not allowed to show his fear - instead the soldier detained him alone, naked."

During social activities at the school shelter, Youssef was always quiet, not showing any reaction to the things happening around him. When he speaks, he says "what I miss most is going to school. With my brother." And not to wait so long in line for bread.

Youssef, injured and traumatised, now grapples with psychological scars, manifested in anxiety, isolation and a fear of fire. He continuously bites his nails and hands, tearing out his hair, and has sleeping difficulties and eating problems.

He cannot tolerate noise and is always alone, anti-social. His emotions are frozen, and he runs away from everyone.

Sarah's story

Sarah, a 10-year-old from Beit Lahia, recounts the horrors she witnessed as her family fled the onslaught of the Israeli occupation. When you look at Sarah, you see a child with warm eyes full of fear and memories. She lived in a large house in Beit Lahia with her parents and brother until the Israeli Occupation stormed her hometown, devouring and sowing death in every corner.

She escaped with her family to another town in the south, Tal Al-Hawa, where the family believed they would be safe. However, nowhere is safe in Gaza.

The Israeli Occupation forces entered Al-Quds Hospital in Tal Al-Hawa at the end of November 2023. They arrested the men and separated the women from the children. After two days, they allowed the mothers and children to leave for Al-Shifa hospital.

However, Sarah innocently wanted her dad. She asked one of the Israeli soldiers if her dad could accompany her, but instead the soldier killed her father in front of her eyes.

"When the Israeli occupation soldier saw me crying and refusing to leave, he grimaced in rage, brutally killed my dad and cruelly grabbed my hair from my forehead and forcefully slammed the back of my head into the wall while laughing. Then he shouted at me to go with my mom to Al-Shifa hospital before he killed me too," she recounted.

After arriving at Al-Shifa Hospital, famine spread in northern Gaza. Sarah's mother would go by herself to search for food for her children. One day, amid the bombing, Palestinians who went to the Kuwait roundabout area to collect some food, including her mother, were killed.

Sarah remained alone with her brother, living next to her displaced neighbours. In March 2024, the Israeli occupation forces attacked Al-Shifa hospital and ordered everyone, including women and children, to leave the area towards the south of Gaza.

Fear consumed Sarah and her heartbeat did not stop. She held her 16-year-old brother's hand, the only family member left alive, so she would not lose him too. But running to safety from one place to another, she lost her brother.

Sarah arrived at Nuseirat camp in the middle of Gaza and is staying with another family who is taking care of her. However, Sarah is searching for her brother in every face she meets, wishing one day she can find him and he can be back with her.

Left orphaned and traumatised, Sarah struggles with speech patterns, flashbacks, loss of concentration, nightmares, sleep walking, screaming, hyperactivity, excessive talking, not eating, forgetfulness, and physical symptoms such as stomach pain, diarrhoea, and muscle pain.

Ragad's trauma

Ragad Siam, a nine-year-old girl from the middle of Gaza, lives near the Israeli separation line between the north and south of Gaza. Raised in a family of five, Ragad's father is deaf, and her mother passed away from cancer when Ragad was just five years old.

She has an older sister who is 19, and a younger sister, Juri, who is seven. Following her mother's death, Ragad was cared for by her stepmother until she tragically lost her in a car accident at the age of seven years old.

The series of losses left Ragad deeply affected, becoming anti-social and suffering from depression. Her situation worsened when the Israeli occupation forces bombed her home during the ongoing war. Her family was pulled out from under the rubble of her house alive.

Ragad survived, but lost hearing in her left ear. She received a donated hearing aid from relatives on October 13, 2023. However, while fleeing Israeli bombardment towards the south of Gaza in March, Ragad lost her hearing aid at the Nuseirat camp, leaving her unable to hear properly once again.

The war has brought further hardships to Ragad's family. Her father, already deaf, is now jobless. Her older sister has become the primary breadwinner, selling bread to support the family.

The constant sound of bombings and explosions has severely impacted Ragad's mental health, causing nightmares, nail-biting, fear, and involuntary urination. She has become increasingly withdrawn, unable to interact with others or respond to her surroundings. Her family often searches for her as she frequently isolates herself.

Menna and Shaaban's regrets

Menna Nidal, a 13-year-old from Bureij camp in the middle of Gaza, shares the harrowing experiences her family has endured, constantly fleeing for their lives from one area to another.

"In March 2024, we were forced to flee our home when the Israeli occupation forces bombed our neighbour's house, causing significant damage to our own. We fled to my aunt's home in the Nuseirat camp, but soon the bombing reached us there as well. We then sought refuge at my uncle's home on Salah al-Din Street. Two weeks later, the neighbouring area was bombed, and we barely escaped with our lives as the entire complex was destroyed, killing many families."

After a ground invasion in the middle of Gaza, Menna and her family were forced to move to Rafah. "We sought refuge with relatives in Rafah for over a month and a half. But soon, the Israeli occupation forces began threatening and bombing the area, so we returned to Nuseirat camp. Shortly after, the Israeli occupation forces invaded the north of Nuseirat camp without any warning, forcing us to flee again."

Life became extremely difficult for Menna and her family, who lived without water, electricity, or food, constantly fearing for their lives and fleeing from one area to another. To survive, they alternated between staying in two different areas: spending days in their bombed house and nights at a relative's home.

Things worsened when Israeli forces once again invaded Nuseirat and Al-Zawaida camp in central Gaza, leading to further evacuations. Eventually, the family had no choice but to live under the rubble of their home in Bureij camp.

Menna recounts the night of the attack that changed everything. "The second night was the night of dark death for us. The Israeli forces bombed our house again, killing my mother and siblings. My father was severely injured, and I sustained minor injuries, breaking my left leg."

Describing the horrific night, Menna trembles with fear. "We were asleep, and at 3am, I woke up to a sound unlike anything I had ever heard. I slept beside my siblings Shahad, Shaaban, and Majdi that night. Shaaban, afraid, chose to sleep at the shelter centre, so I took his mattress because we didn't have enough beds. I woke up to the screams of my mother and brothers, and then suddenly, there was silence.

My mother was killed instantly by a missile that hit her head. My brother Magdy's limbs were severed, and he died instantly. I kept screaming and calling out. Then I heard a voice saying, 'I am here, Baba. Be patient, and do not be afraid. The neighbours will hear us and come to our rescue.'

We stayed from 3am until 6:30am until the neighbours, relatives, and ambulance arrived to take us to the hospital."

Menna's father now suffers from a spinal fracture and is paralysed. "There is no health care, and we are still homeless to this moment," Menna said, crying.

"Why did you go, Mom, and not take me with you?"

Her surviving brother, 17-year-old Shaaban, keeps repeating, "The last cry of my mother is still stuck in my mind." Menna covers her ears, horrified by the memories. Shaaban adds, "I used to love life because my mother was there, but now I love death, and I wish I had died with my mother."

Trauma continues

The stories of Youssef, Sarah, Ragad, Menna, and Shaaban are not isolated incidents. Thousands of Palestinian children have faced similar traumas during this recent war on Gaza.

Witnessing death, destruction, and displacement, these children are left to navigate a world marred by war, violence, and loss. This is the bitter reality and genocide inflicted by the Israeli occupation forces in its ugliest forms.

The path to healing for Gaza's children lies in ending the occupation. Only by dismantling the oppressive forces that have wrought such devastation can Palestinian children hope to rebuild their shattered lives.

It is a journey fraught with challenges, but it is one that must begin if these young souls are to find solace and reclaim their stolen childhoods.