19 Oct 2023 | Al Jazeera

One child is killed every 15 minutes in the Israeli bombings of Gaza, according to a Palestinian NGO, highlighting the toll the current war has exacted on children.

More than 100 children have been killed every day since Israel started bombing the besieged Palestinian enclave on October 7 in the wake of the deadly Hamas attack. More than 3,400 Palestinians have been killed in the deadliest Israeli assault in decades.

“We are witnessing a genocide in real time,” a spokesperson for The Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) said.

What effect is the war having on children?

Parents, like Esra Abu Ghazzah, try to find ways to calm their children from the bombings and destruction around them. The 30-year-old mother told Al Jazeera her children, aged eight and two, have started to vomit after air strikes, and are also wetting the bed. Both are responses to heightened fear.

The Abu Ghazzah children are part of the 95 percent of Palestinian children in Gaza who are living with the psychological effects of war.

A research paper written by Palestinian psychologist Dr Iman Farajallah found that children who survive wars do not emerge unscathed and can pay a high price psychologically, emotionally and behaviourally.

For Samah Jabr, a 35-year-old mother of four in Gaza City, her eldest son, Qusay, who is 13, is her main worry. She told Al Jazeera: “He is very agitated and lashes out a lot these days. He jumps at any sound,” she said. “He can’t bear anyone speaking loudly, even if they’re joking. I try to tell him that this war will end.”

Others may not want to leave their mothers’ sight, explains Farajallah. “They won’t even leave the room to go to the bathroom or kitchen without their mothers, and I’m talking about teenagers here.”

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/19/israels-war-against-gazas-children-explained