“According to Palestinian health officials, of the more than 10,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza in the past month, about 4,000 were children. Gaza is becoming a ‘graveyard for children,‘ U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday.
And even as the World Health Organization warns about the spread of infectious diseases in Gaza, some researchers are concerned that those children who do survive might be scarred for the rest of their lives.
Researchers say the cumulative trauma of chronic ethnic-political violence has a profound and lasting impact on children’s mental health and development, affecting their functioning and outlook on the world as young adults. Studies show that even youth who seem to become desensitized to the violence around them remain deeply scarred — unless, that is, they are given a chance to recover.
This is especially a concern for children in Gaza, who were already struggling with significant mental health issues well before this conflict. For years, numerous studies have documented unusually high rates of mental and behavioral health issues among Gaza’s youth, who make up nearly half of the population in the territory. Most of them have never known a life without the threat of violence and conflict.”
Learn more on “How a history of trauma is affecting the children of Gaza” via NPR.
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