Knowing when you have to hide
As the conflict in Gaza continues, Alex Snary, Director of World Vision’s Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza office, prepares to address children’s emotional trauma once again.
By Alex Snary, Director, World Vision Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza
As civilian casualties continue to mount in the Gaza Strip, opinions vary greatly on the causes of the current round of conflict. Yet there’s one thing most would agree on: children have played no role in creating this discord. And children, whether Israeli or Palestinian, should not be harmed as a result of it.
Yet the children are being deeply harmed. I’m not just talking about cut faces and broken arms. These children are witnessing things that they will never forget: missiles and artillery attacks, the destruction of their homes and neighborhoods, the dead bodies of brothers, sisters, parents, friends and playmates. The trauma they’re exposed to can take years to recover from, and is forever imprinted in the memory.
A recurrent nightmare
For some Israeli and Palestinian children, this current round of violence is just the latest. Only a few months ago, World Vision was winding down the Child Friendly Spaces we’d established in Gaza in response to the last round of conflict in 2012.
These were safe places where children could rest and heal from their trauma. They shared the stuff of their nightmares by drawing pictures of missile attacks and dead loved ones. When they were ready, they received counseling. Even the children who were most troubled eventually joined in with the songs and games. And after many months, most were ready to begin living again.
Now these newly-healed wounds have been ripped open again. Imagine what this latest round of military violence is doing to Palestinian and Israeli children alike - having been freed from fear, they’re experiencing a world of horror all over again.
The UN estimates that as a result of the current violence some 25,000 children will need psychosocial support like the kind I’ve described. For children in Gaza, there’s virtually no safe place - open spaces on rooftops and beaches can quickly turn deadly. Children have had to develop survival skills that no child should need.
When the red light shows
I talked with a group of seven-year-old girls the other day, asking if they were afraid when the planes fly over. “Yes,” one girl said. “And it’s particularly scary when the red light on the F-16 comes on. That’s when it’s about to fire the missile, and that’s when you have to hide.” It’s tragic to think that across the border, Israeli children are experiencing similar terror when rockets come their way.
There are fewer and fewer places for these children to hide. Parents tell me that life in the Gaza Strip is like being trapped inside a giant prison. More than 1.5 million people live in an area only 40 kilometres long and a few kilometres wide. United Nations shelters are already bursting and family homes in the few areas considered safe are already full of relatives.
No child – whether Israeli or Palestinian – should have to live this way. They all have the right to live in safety, free from violence, fear and want. Children and communities in Gaza are especially vulnerable due to the effects of more than five years of blockade. But children on both sides are suffering gravely from fear and anxiety due to the violence in their part of the world.
Change Must Happen
We call for an immediate halt to this vicious cycle of violence from both sides in this conflict, not just this time, but for all time.
Only after the bombs and missiles have stopped flying can we reopen our Child Friendly Spaces and conduct a full assessment to begin repairing the physical and emotional damage that has been done.
Until then, we are distributing medical supplies, and thankful that at least some of the 8,000 women trained to help children deal emotionally with the violence and chaos are active. For the sake of the children in this region, what we need is a game changer: lasting and just peace in the entire region, for today’s children – and also tomorrow’s.
World Vision is providing medical supplies and preparing to reopen CFS and distribute food supplies as soon as it is safe to do so.