Trapped and Scarred: The Compounding Mental Harm Inflicted on Palestinian Children in Gaza

Due to the current level of hostilities and insecurity, as well as the restrictions on providing meaningful follow-up support to children, it is not possible to conduct research meaningfully and responsibly on the same scale. However, given the concerns over the expected decline to children’s mental health and their ability to cope, Save the Children is presenting insights to its previous research.

These demonstrate that further severe mental harm has been inflicted on Gaza’s children over the past few months, compounding the pre-existing mental health crisis.

Without an immediate and definitive ceasefire, an end to the siege, including unimpeded humanitarian and commercial access, there will not be any immediate and permanent removal of the stressors in children’s lives. Children who survive will face further severe long-lasting mental harm, with severely diminished ability to recover. Children’s futures, in addition to their lives, are an unacceptable cost of this conflict.