May is a time to raise awareness of those living with mental or behavioural health issues and to help reduce the stigma so many experiences.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict exacts a heavy price, particularly on the region’s children.
Also Read: Israel having free season on Palestinian civilians including Children and Journalists
During Mental Health Awareness Month, we support people and children with mental illness and their families in Gaza, who suffer immensely (physically and mentally) from Israel’s disregard for their lives.
Trauma and mental health in Gaza
91% of Gaza children suffer from PTSD after the Israeli attack, last year Israel killed more than 65 Palestinian children in a war crime.
Also Read: Children of Palestine: A childhood lost to trauma without an end
As psychosocial support in Gaza is limited and the specialist support for children is hardly available, Nine out of ten children in the Gaza Strip suffer some form of conflict-related trauma after the Israeli military attack ended over a month ago, said the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.
Geneva
Euro-Med Monitor documented the suffering of the two most vulnerable groups in the besieged Strip; women and children. The report, entitled One War Older, said that around 50% of the two million people in the Gaza Strip are children under 15 years, and 49% are female.
In addition to the large numbers of deaths and injuries among children and women, 241 children lost one or both parents as a result of the bombing, about 5,400 children lost their homes (completely destroyed or severely damaged), and 42,000 children had their homes partially damaged.
According to UNICEF Prior to the escalation in the last violence in Gaza, 1 in 3 children in Gaza already required support for conflict-related trauma. But the need for mental health and psychosocial support services for children has undoubtedly only grown. Meanwhile, the deterioration of water production capacity in Gaza due to electricity shortages means tens of thousands of children will require humanitarian assistance to access safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
