Children in Gaza dealing with ‘horrific reality of loss, trauma’: UNICEF spokesperson [Video]

The children of Gaza endure the trauma of Israel’s unrelenting war. Aid groups warn of a spiraling mental health crisis. and a desperate need for psychological aid.

Saleem Oweis, spokesperson for UNICEF’s Middle East and North Africa office says children in Gaza are “forced to deal with the horrific reality of loss, of trauma, of total destruction.

“The whole story is even darker than what we see. [The trauma] runs deeper as they grow up,” he told Al Jazeera.

Oweis said that before October 7, some 5,000 children in Gaza needed some kind of mental health support. Today, all children in Gaza need mental health support and in many cases, specialised support as the war has had “a profound impact on their psychological wellness.

“The services on the ground are almost non-existent. The only psychiatric hospital in Gaza has been out of service early on in this escalation and that means the basic needs of mental health can’t be met,” he said.

As long as children continue to witness and experience the war, “it’s really hard to deal with the trauma.

“The first of the eight principles of trauma is to remove the person from the environment of the trauma. That’s impossible in Gaza; there’s no place that feels safe,” Oweis said.

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