According to an NGO, after 15 years of closure, the majority of youngsters in Gaza suffer from ‘distress.’
The percentage of individuals who reported experiencing symptoms of “depression, sadness, and terror” increased from 55% to 80%.
CITY OF GAZA:
15 years after Israel imposed a harsh blockade on the Palestinian enclave, Save the Children reported on Wednesday that four out of five children in Gaza experience emotional anguish.
In June 2007, as the heavily populated enclave was being controlled by members of the Islamist Hamas movement, Israel applied the punishment. Both Israel and Egypt continue to impose harsh restrictions on the movement of persons and goods in and out.
The mental health of children in Gaza has continued to decline, according to a report by the British organisation Save the Children, entitled “Trapped.”
According to the survey, the percentage of people expressing symptoms of “depression, sadness, and terror” has increased from 55% to 80% since 2018.
Jason Lee, the director of Save the Children in the Palestinian territories under occupation, said: “The children we interviewed for this report described living in a constant state of fear, worry, sadness, and grief, anticipating the next outbreak of violence, and finding it difficult to sleep or concentrate.
The physical manifestations of their suffering, such as bedwetting and the loss of their capacity to communicate or perform simple chores, are shocking and ought to serve as a wake-up call to the world community, the official continued.
The 2.1 million people who live in Gaza are mostly children. According to Save the Children, there are almost 800,000 young people in the area who “have never known life without the blockade.”
“Open-air jail”
Israel maintains that the embargo is required to defend its population from Hamas, which the majority of the West has designated as a terrorist organisation.
Since 2007, Israel and Hamas have fought four conflicts, the most recent of which was in May 2021.
Israel has issued more work permits in the past year to Gazans looking for higher paying jobs inside the Jewish state. Additionally, it has loosened some limitations on the movement of products into and out of the region.
However, the blockade has largely remained the same, with Palestinians typically unable to leave Gaza through the Erez crossing into Israel.
When leaving Gaza for Egypt through the Rafah crossing, there are also significant impediments.
Human Rights Watch claimed that “Israel, with Egypt’s help, has turned Gaza into an open-air prison” in a statement marking the anniversary of the blockade.
Omar Shakir, the director of HRW for Israel and Palestine, told AFP: “Because they are unaware of a Gaza before the closure, young people bear the burden of the siege.
Their perspectives are forcibly limited to a 40 by 11 kilometre (25 by seven mile) strip of land, which Shakir claimed prevents them from having the opportunity to interact and engage with the outside world.
