KEY POINTS
- Israel resumes strikes after a six-week ceasefire.
- Israeli strikes left over 400 Palestinians dead on Tuesday.
- Massive trauma for the one million children in Gaza.
- Gaza residents facing exhaustion, and deteriorating mental health.
GENEVA, Switzerland: The United Nations on Friday warned that approximately one million children in war-torn Gawa are going through “massive trauma” amid the renewed Israeli strike on the Palestinian territory and dire aid shortages.
Humanitarian activists have described the situation in Gaza as alarming, with the civilian death toll rising sharply since Israel resumed aerial bombardments and ground operations this week, following a six-week ceasefire.
Sam Rose, the senior deputy field director in Gaza for the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees UNRWA, highlighted the shock for already traumatised children who are once again beneath the bombs.
“This is a massive, massive trauma for the one million children living in the Palestinian territory, he told reporters in Geneva speaking from Gaza.
The collapse of the ceasefire, which had been in effect since January 19, comes as the population in Gaza is already severely weakened after 15 months of brutal conflict, triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
“It’s worse this time,” Rose warned, “because people are already exhausted, they’re already degraded, their immune systems, their mental health, (and) populations on the verge of famine.
“Children who had come back to school after 18 months out of school, now back in tents,… hearing the bombardment around them constantly. “It’s fear on top of fear, cruelty on top of cruelty, and tragedy on top of tragedy.”
Gaza nightmare
James Elder, a spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, said the traumatised children normally start to process their trauma when they begin returning to normalcy.
“Psychologists would say our absolute nightmare is that they return home and then it starts again,” he told reporters.
“That’s the terrain that we’ve now entered,” he said, warning that Gaza was the only “example in modern history in terms of an entire child population needing mental health support”.
According to the Gaza health ministry, 504 people have been killed since Tuesday, including more than 190 under the age of 18.
The strikes, the most intense since the truce began on 19 January, targeted areas across northern, central, and southern Gaza, including Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the wave of strikes Tuesday was “only the beginning” and that Israel would press ahead until it achieves all of its war aims destroying Hamas and freeing all hostages held by the group since October 7, 2023.
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A Bulgarian worker with another UN agency was also killed this week, as was a local staff member of Doctors Without Borders, the medical charity said Friday.
Shortages
Humanitarians have warned that the situation on the ground has worsened due to Israel’s decision earlier this month to cut off aid and electricity to Gaza, following the deadlock in negotiations to extend the ceasefire.
“We were able to bring in more supplies during the six weeks of the ceasefire than … in the previous six months,” Rose said.
Currently, he said, there is only enough flour supply in Gaza for another six days.
He warned that if aid is not restored, “we will see a gradual slide back into what we saw in the worst days of the conflict in terms of looting … and desperate conditions among the population”.
