The unseen damage to Palestinian children by the Israeli occupation

In Gaza, Palestinian children are suffering the most out of everyone. Many are currently living in fear and panic, without protection, after their homes were bombed and destroyed.

For thousands of children, the Israeli war machine has killed one or both parents, or the entire family, so their primary supporters are gone. Their days rarely lack explosions, shelling, smoke, and the destruction of everything beautiful in their lives.

These Palestinian children have been exposed to Israel's continuous wars and cruel policies, leading to suffering from complex continuous trauma. Today more than ever, fear and death continue to accompany them in every breath they take. This is robbing them of their childhoods and innocence, and preventing them from exercising their natural right to live in safety and without fear.

'Who killed my father?'

Abdulrahman Muhammad, a three-year-old child, after seeing his father and his uncle killed by an Israeli bombing, asked his grandmother: "My uncle has no head. Who killed my father? Where did he go?"

The child has asked his grandmother many questions since the death of his father. "Where is my father? When is he coming back home?"

The grandmother replied, "Your father is in heaven." Then he asks, "Where is heaven?"

His grandmother replied, "He is in the heavens with God."

The surprise came in Abdul Rahman's response: "Grandma, ask God to return my father to me; I want to sleep next to him." Everyone burst into tears because of the pain they felt that squeezed this child's heart.

Abdul Rahman repeatedly asks these questions to everyone he meets, searching for answers, hoping someone can explain to him how he can get his father back. How will this experience affect Abdul Rahman's psychological well-being in the long run?

Wishing for death

Seven-year-old Adnan Al-Kafarna is currently staying in a United Nations school shelter in Deir Al Balah in central Gaza.

He described what the Israeli occupation forces did to his family: "They killed my father when he went to buy food for us from the market."

Adnan asks his mother continually not to go to the market because he fears that she will be killed by the Israelis as well.

Adnan said he wishes that he had been with his father and had died with him, as well as his family so that the pain would not continue to afflict his little heart. Adnan's suffering continues to reside with him due to the loss of his father, causing him psychological distress.

'My child is terrified'

Alaa, a 12-year-old girl, said, "We were displaced from the north of Gaza because of the fear and destruction we experienced, where death was everywhere, to move to the central region of Gaza after the occupation warned us and claimed that the central region was safer.

"Here, we had to pass through the checkpoint filled with tanks, and I listened to what the soldiers said through the loudspeakers. 'Raise your hands, and it is forbidden to look left or right.' We watched how they shot and killed people."

The mother recounted, "My child was terrified. Her hand remained cramped for five days. She was presented to the doctor for treatment and was told that what she was experiencing was due to the state of fear and trembling. My child still suffers from a psychological disorder and is seen by a counsellor at the shelter centre."

Waking up to screams

Muhammad, who is 10 years old, said, "I woke up to the screams of the neighbours and the sound of the house being bombed, so we fled from our house and headed towards Al-Shifa Hospital to search for a safe place. Five days later, the hospital was bombed."

His mother said that her child now has psychological and health problems, such as involuntary urination, withdrawal from family, depression, anxiety, and fear from everything, such as loud noises, an inability to sleep, a feeling of fear that accompanies him all the time, and a strong attachment to his parents.

No food for Karim

Five-month-old Karim Ahmed Abu Amra is not far removed from the rest of the hundreds of children who live in Gaza under the harsh conditions of war, within a family that lacks the minimum necessities of life, unable to provide even food for the children.

Karim needs milk and his mother cannot breastfeed him because of the lack of food. The family tried to buy baby formula to feed him, but they could not provide it for him because they could not afford it. The lack of balanced food for the mother and her child threatens the child's life.

Losing Khaled

The mother of Khaled Muhammad Abu Saada is devastated – her three-and-a-half-year-old is dead. Khaled and his mother were staying in a shelter at a UN school after the Israeli Occupation bombed their home at the Bureij refugee camp. However, Khaled is no longer with her.

When she talked about Khaled's death, she burst into tears, saying, "Because of the siege, the war, the lack of food, and the lack of milk and treatment, they killed my child. The joy of my life died, and my heart is in agony."

She added, "Every time the Israeli occupation bombed and struck with its planes, which never stops, Khaled would scream, become afraid, and wake up terrified."

Khaled's brother, four-month-old Ahmed Muhammad Abu Saada, was born during the war in Gaza. He now also lacks access to baby formula and diapers. His mother is afraid that Ahmed will face the fate of his brother Khaled. "I question how long this situation will continue. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemies. What is the fate of our children going to be?"

As psychologists, we should direct our efforts into teaching coping mechanisms to surviving Palestinian children. We should use effective interventions for war-affected children, prioritising holistic support systems, trauma-informed care, and resilience-building strategies. We can also do our best to provide psycho-social support, education, family and community reintegration, address basic needs, and build resilience.

However, Israel's continued war and destruction of Palestinian society and the children of Palestine will always hinder our efforts as psychologists to remedy Palestinian children's mental health challenges.

Every time Palestinian children try to fight back and seek help with their trauma, another Israeli war rages in Gaza.

I do not expect any improvement at the psychological level or in the development of psychological programs without a political solution which leads to ending the Israeli occupation and giving Palestinians self-determination - because the issue is fundamentally a political issue.

Ending the Israeli occupation is the first step towards Palestinian children's long journey to healing and rebuilding their lives.