Gaza kids still experience distress after 2014 Israel war: NGO
The majority of the children living in those areas in the Gaza Strip that were hit the hardest during the 2014 Israeli war on the sliver are still showing signs of severe emotional distress, says an NGO.
The international non-governmental organization (NGO) Save the Children announced in its latest assessment on Monday that up to 89% of parents in the areas impacted by Israeli bombardments reported that their children still suffer consistent feelings of fear.
The NGO also said that more than 70% of Palestinian children living in the areas surveyed said they worried about another war.
Save the Children interviewed more than 300 families in Gaza’s worst-affected neighborhoods to see how the Israeli war impacted them a year later.
It also found that more than 70 percent of the children, according to their parents, experienced bed wetting and nightmares.
“They have lived through events that would give even the most hardened adult nightmares. The continued blockade and threat of renewed conflict makes it very difficult for children to recover from the trauma they have experienced,” said David Hassell, the co-country director of Save the Children.
The Israeli regime started military strikes on the blockaded Palestinian territory in early July 2014 and later escalated its attacks with a ground invasion. The war ended in late August that year.
Nearly 2,200 Palestinians lost their lives and some 11,000 were injured in the Israeli assaults. Gaza’s health officials say the fatalities included 578 children and nearly 260 women, adding that more than 3,100 children were also injured.
There have been three major Israeli wars on Gaza in the past seven years.
Director of Save the Children Justin Forsyth says that “many children in Gaza have now lived through three wars in the past seven years, the last one notable for its brutality. They are emotionally and, in some cases, physically shattered.”
A year on after Israel’s latest war, around 100,000 Gaza people are still homeless, while the reconstruction of health facilities, water networks and schools is yet to begin.
The Gaza Strip has been under a crippling Israeli siege since 2007. The blockade, which has cut off the territory from the outside world, has led to an economic and humanitarian crisis in the densely-populated enclave.
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