- Title: GAZA-CHILD TRAUMA Gaza children 'emotionally shattered' one year after conflict
- Date: 23rd July 2015
- Summary: VARIOUS OF "SAVE THE CHILDREN" TEAM MEMBER SINGING WITH GIRLS
- Embargoed: 7th August 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: West bank
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA43M5DXQ1GLHX2PDWULOLS8CB3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: For many children in Gaza therapy sessions with workers from charity organisation Save the Children are becoming a regular occurrence.
The Aweda family children meet regularly with workers, where they play games, and create artworks, all as a means to treat their trauma.
These children are among a high number of young people living in the Gaza strip who are showing signs of trauma and severe emotional stress, as a result of last year's war with Israel.
According to a recent report published by the global charity, more than 70 percent of children in the worst-affected areas of Gaza suffer from regular nightmares and bed wetting and live in fear of further fighting, while half do not want to attend school because they are afraid to leave home.
Alia Aweda's four children were all showing these signs, and so she decided to seek help from the charity.
"Right after the war, they started to show negative behaviour. They were stressed, aggressive, they attacked each other, their sleep was disrupted and they got scared from loud sounds even if a piece of furniture is moved suddenly they get scared. I took them to (save the children) for emotional support and they took several sessions. They improved after every session but not 100 percent,'' she said.
A ceasefire last August ended 50 days of fighting between Gaza militants and Israel, in which health officials said more than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed. Israel put the number of its dead at 67 soldiers and six civilians.
Israeli air strikes and shelling hammered the densely populated Gaza Strip, dominated by the Islamist Hamas movement, causing widespread destruction of homes, schools and other buildings.
For children like 9-year old Asalah Aweda, the memories of the war haunt here each evening.
"At night when I don't have a light I get scared. I dream that our house is being bombed and I used to dream in something very scary about our house and very strange things,'' she said.
At Save the Children's Gaza offices group therapy sessions are also offered to those in need of them.
"The memory of the war is still in the imagination of the kids. A couple of days ago, we had the first anniversary of the war and the children were remembering that they would hear the bombardment on their houses, the lights from the bombs are in these areas, they'd remember that they had to pass next to dead bodies, saw blood and so on. Their imagination is still full of painful events that they still remember and didn't leave their memory,'' said Nibal Halas, a therapist working with the children.
Homelessness and repeated exposure to violence, coupled with soaring unemployment for parents and limited mental health support, have prevented children from recovering from the mental trauma of war, according to Save the Children.
Around 100,000 people in Gaza are still homeless a year on from the conflict, while major reconstruction of health facilities, water networks and schools has yet to begin, the charity said.
"I'm scared to sleep because I'm scared from having nightmares and I'm scared of the sound of aeroplanes and scared that the war will start again,'' said 10-year old Alaa Mouhamed, attending the group therapy session.
Hamas and other militant groups launched thousands of rockets and mortar bombs from the Palestinian enclave into Israel.
According to the charity's report more than 500 children were killed and more than 3,400 injured during the conflict, while an estimated 1,500 lost their parents.
"Save the Children organization did a survey in 8 areas in Gaza, which was the most damaged, highest injury count and the kind of attacks on it. The purpose of the survey was to determine the mental impact on children a year after the war on Gaza,'' said Mazin Hashweh, a representative from the charity.
Of the 1.8 million people living in Gaza - a population growing by 50,000 a year - nearly two-thirds are dependent on aid in some form or another. It is the United Nation's longest-running relief operation, set up in 1949. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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