Psychological and Social Suffering of Another Generation of Palestinian Children Living under Occupation: An Urgent Call to Advocate

• Published in: Health and human rights 2024-06, Vol.26 (1), p.147-150
• Main Authors: BOSQUI, TANIA, ABDULRAHIM, SAWSAN, AFIFI, RIMA A., AGER, ALASTAIR, BETANCOURT, THERESA S., CARR, ALAN, HADFIELD, KRISTIN, ISMAIL, GHENA, JORDANS, MARK J.D., JABBOUR, SALAM, KHAZENDAR, ZEENA, MARSHOUD, BASSAM, PUFFER, EVE
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Advocacy; Apartheid; Arab Israeli relations; Arabs - psychology; Child; Children; Childrens rights; Colonialism; Genocide; Health services; Health status; Healthy food; Hospitals; Human Rights; Humanitarian aid; Humans; International courts; International law; Medical personnel; Mental health; Mental health professionals; Military occupations; Palestinian people; Poverty; Psychological trauma; Public health; Stress, Psychological; Suffering; VIEWPOINT; Violence
• ISSN: 1079-0969; 2150-4113; 2150-4113

Palestinian children today are the fifth generation to have lived under Israeli occupation, characterised by violence, restricted movement, and displacement. Children in Gaza, referred to as the world’s largest ‘open-air prison’ by Human Rights Watch, have been suffering from a decades-long land/air/sea blockade. In the first 100 days of the most recent Israeli bombardment of Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, over 20,000 Palestinians were killed, half of them children.[1] In direct contradiction to International Human Rights Law and the Convention for the Rights of the Child, 300,000 homes have been destroyed and over 90% of children under two have been pushed into severe food poverty.[2] Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has been called a “children’s graveyard” by the United Nations Secretary-General and the International Court of Justice has ruled that it is “plausible that Israel’s acts could amount to genocide”.[3] Healthcare and pathways for humanitarian aid have been systematically blocked, with almost 500 healthcare workers killed, 26 hospitals damaged or destroyed, and border crossings closed.[4] At the same time, Israeli violence in the West Bank has escalated, including settler attacks, night-time military raids, and detentions. Amidst this horror–and set against a background of accumulated and intergenerational trauma over decades of occupation, settler colonialism, and apartheid–the physical and mental health of the population, particularly children, will inevitably take a devastating hit. This urgent call to advocate, written by a group of mental health and public health practitioners and researchers with experience in war-affected settings, is in response to this devastation.