The picture of death is not something people wish to see every morning. However, for the past three weeks, dead bodies have been “flaunted” in Gaza. The only questions lingering in the minds of people are“will we survive another night?”, “when will these stop?”
Despair written on the faces of parents as they try to comfort their scared and confused children.
The war, now in its fourth week, has given the world a glimpse of Israel’s full rage on Hamas and consequently the Gaza Strip.
Buildings, offices, bakeries have been razed to the ground. Even religious places; mosques and churches have not been exempted from Israel’s display of ire and retaliation.
Aside practically reducing a great percentage of the enclave into rubble, at least 8005 Palestinian have been killed, including 3324 children.
An eye for an eye, they say, but in Gaza’s case, the balance has been tipped against the besieged enclave and its inhabitants, who are paying a great price for Hamas’ incursion.
Sadly, children are not left out in this bloodbath. Thousands have met their early graves.
The death toll far exceeds that of Israel. In Israel, more than 1,400 people have been killed.
Even before the outbreak of the war, children of the Gaza Strip did not live the typical lives of children. Right from birth, they have lived under a partial Israeli blockade and poverty so they are very much aware of what suffering is. The prospect of a better future was already dim from the onset.
It is often said that children are the future leaders but for Palestinian children, there is no future to look up to in the first place, not o talk of them leading it.
Their suffering has been exacerbated by the total blockade and continued Israeli airstrikes.
Gaza’s “future leaders” have been annihiliated in a battle they know nothing about.
According to Save the Children, a global humanitarian organization, the number of children reported killed in Gaza in the last three weeks has surpassed the number of children killed across the world’s conflict zones since 2019.
Unfortunately, those who are not dead have lost their homes, are dealing with injuries, face shortages of food, water as well as medicine.
Their education has also been stalled.
It is an established fact that children also suffer not only bodily injuries but are also wounded in their confidence, speech and mental and social cohesion.
Israel must know that its revenge is going to have a grave and long-lasting effect on their psychological and emotional wellbeing.
According to research conducted by Dr Iman Farajallah, a psychologist in the United States, children who survive wars do not emerge in one piece and can pay a high price psychologically, emotionally, or behaviourally.
Her research found that 95 percent of children from the Gaza Strip showed symptoms of anxiety, depression and trauma.
Some may display restlessness, regression or violent behaviour. The environment greatly affects them, with some plagued with nightmares.
This trauma, stays with them into their teens and even adulthood.
“We are not talking about individuals living in peaceful, healthy environments here. When you steal hope from these kids, steal their livelihood and childhood, what do you expect the product to be?”
Dr Iman Farajallah
Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is from Tigray in Ethiopia shared his own experiences of growing up around war as a child.
“As a child trapped in the shadows of war, I intimately knew its smell, sounds and sights. I empathize deeply with those now caught in the middle of conflict, feeling their pain as if it were my own.”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Israel and its allies must know that their actions today is greatly been imprinted in the conscious and sub-conscious minds of Palestinian children.
Can Israel Be Held Accountable?
International law requires the peotection of civlians including children during an armed conflict. However, this is currently not the case in the ongoing war.
As such, International Criminal Court prosecutor, Karim Khan disclosed that that the ICC has “active investigations ongoing in relation to the crimes.
“We are independently looking at the situation in Palestine. We are looking at the events in Israel… We need cooperation. We need assistance,” he said.
“But we’re going to have the determination, the stamina and the professionalism to make sure we separate allegation from facts,” he added.
It remains to be seen when the long arm of justice will bring some respite to these scathed future leaders.
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