GENEVA: The United Nations warned on Friday that all of Gaza’s approximately one million children were facing “massive trauma” as fighting in the war-ravaged territory resumed, and amid dire aid shortages.
Humanitarians described an alarming situation in Gaza, amid a growing civilian death toll since Israel resumed aerial bombardment and ground operations this week after a six-week ceasefire.
Sam Rose, the senior deputy field director in Gaza for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, highlighted the psychological shock for already traumatised children to one again find themselves beneath the bombs.
This is a “massive, massive trauma for the one million children” living in the Palestinian territory, he told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Gaza.
The breakdown of the ceasefire that took effect on Jan 19 comes as the population is already dramatically weakened from 15 months of brutal bombings.
“It’s worse this time,” Rose warned, “because people are already exhausted, they’re already degraded, their immune systems, their mental health, (and) populations on the verge of famine. “Children who had come back to school after 18 months out of school, now back in tents,... hearing the bombardment around them constantly.
“It’s fear on top of fear, cruelty on top of cruelty, and tragedy on top of tragedy.”
‘Nightmare’
James Elder, a spokesman for the UN children’s agency Unicef, said traumatised children usually only start to process their trauma when they begin returning to normalcy. “Psychologists would say our absolute nightmare is that they return home and then it starts again,” he told reporters.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said 504 people had been killed since Tuesday, including more than 190 under the age of 18.
It has also been a deadly period for humanitarians, with seven UNRWA staffers killed just since the ceasefire broke down, bring the total number killed from that agency alone to 284 since Oct 2023.
A Bulgarian worker with another UN agency was also killed this week, as was a local staff member of Doctors Without Borders, the medical charity said on Friday.
‘Massive shortages’
Humanitarians warned the situation on the ground has been made worse by Israel’s decision earlier this month to cut off aid and electricity to Gaza over the deadlock in negotiations to prolong the ceasefire.
“We were able to bring in more supplies during the six weeks of the ceasefire than ... in the previous six months,” Rose said, but warning that progress was “being reversed”.
Currently, he said, there is only enough flour supply in Gaza for another six days. Asked about Israel’s charge that Hamas has diverted the more than sufficient aid inside Gaza, Rose said he had “not seen any evidence” of that.
Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2025
