96% of Palestinian children live in constant fear of death, study finds

According to a study carried out among 500 families by the Community Crisis Management Center (CTCCM), in collaboration with the NGO War Child, 96% of vulnerable children in Gaza live in constant fear of death. The survey focused on households with at least one disabled, injured or unaccompanied child.

“My 6-year-old daughter refuses to sleep alone,” says Samira, mother of three children. “She wakes up screaming, convinced that our house is going to collapse.” A testimony that echoes that of hundreds of other parents, overwhelmed by the distress of their children.

The symptoms are multiple: night terrors, enuresis, mutism… “These children develop survival mechanisms which alter their development,” explains Sarah Thompson, psychologist for the NGO. The vast majority show signs of post-traumatic stress.

In the makeshift shelters in southern Gaza, where thousands of displaced people are crowded together, the situation is getting worse. Without running water or electricity, families struggle to maintain some semblance of normalcy. “How can you reassure a child when you don’t know if you will survive the next day?” whispers a mother. This generation, marked by incessant bombings and forced displacement, raises the question of the future. In a region where conflicts follow one another, these childhood traumas risk fueling an endless cycle of suffering and violence.