How Perpetual War Transforms Childhood in Gaza
For more than two years, the children of Gaza have lived in a state of continuous trauma. Between October 2023 and July 2025, over 17,000 Palestinian students and pupils lost their lives, while tens of thousands more were injured. Universities are closed, 90% of schools are destroyed, and 39,000 high school students were unable to take their final exams. In this context, between 70 and 90% of children show signs of post-traumatic stress, depression, or severe anxiety. Their suffering is not limited to clinical symptoms but extends to a constant fear of death, anticipatory grief, and a loss of meaning.
Life under blockade and repeated bombings has created what researchers call a “continuum of trauma.” Children know neither respite nor safety, and their development is marked by hypervigilance and insomnia. Families, also affected, pass on their own distress, worsening the anxiety of the youngest. Children ask precocious existential questions, such as “Why am I still alive?”, revealing deep anguish in the face of an ever-present death.
Yet, despite this reality, forms of resistance emerge. Children cling to their education as an act of survival, studying in the rubble or sharing notebooks by candlelight. They also find comfort in faith, family stories, and the culture of sumud, a collective perseverance that helps them maintain hope. Schools, though in ruins, remain places of solidarity where children learn to read as much as to overcome fear.
Conventional psychological interventions, often designed for isolated traumas, struggle to address this crisis. Community programs, such as The Eye to the Future, show encouraging results in reducing emotional disorders, but their sustainability is threatened by the destruction of infrastructure. Far from being mere victims, children become active witnesses to their history, using drawings and stories to assert their identity and denounce injustice.
Researchers emphasize the urgency of a comprehensive approach, combining psychological support, school reconstruction, and recognition of violated rights. Without justice or stability, the invisible wounds of these children risk persisting long beyond the ruins. Their resilience, though real, must not obscure the absolute necessity of ending the conditions that make it indispensable.
Information Sources
Original Reference
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-026-01670-8
Title: Death Anxiety and Trauma in Forcibly Displaced Children in the Gaza Strip: A Critical Review of Emerging Research, 2024–2025
Journal: Current Psychiatry Reports
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Authors: Anies Al-Hroub