Gaza: Nightmare for kids

2003-06-23 18:43

Gaza City - In Gaza City's crowded al-Sabra neighborhood, 12-year-old Abd al-Ghoul's face drops as he remembers his friends who were wounded in an Israeli missile strike which killed a militant from the radical Islamic group Hamas.

Ghoul, like many other children in Gaza, says he is not scared of the strikes carried out by Apache helicopters, like the one on June 13 which blew up Adel al-Lidawi in a car and wounded about two dozen others, including eight children under the age of 10.

But their bravado is easily cracked and child-care professionals in the territory worry about the long-term damage the violence is causing them.

"We see the Apaches and when they fire on a car, we go there right away," says Ahmad, 10. "We're not scared. We're used to seeing wounded people and martyrs."

But another boy cuts him off: "That's not true. You and your little brother peed in your beds the night of the bombing."

Doctor Samir Qouteh of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme says "a large proportion of the children in the territory are psychologically shocked by the bombings and incursions" which Israel says it carries out to stem militant attacks on its own citizens.

He estimates that more than 35 percent of children living in areas where fighting occurs wet their beds and that many "become nervous and can't stay still."

"When a child has a shock, he relives the incident while sleeping, his fears gives him nightmares, his dependence on his parents increases and he can't recover," he said, adding that the Israeli military blockade of the Gaza Strip made it impossible to properly treat them.

In the al-Zeitoun neighbourhood next to the eastern al-Sabra district, eight members of the Rashid household were wounded in the missile strike which killed Lidawi, including several children.

Some have left the city's main al-Shifa hospital, others are still being treated.

At their home, Tahrir Rashid, 7, lay down on a bed, still recovering from being hit by shrapnel in the shoulders and back.

His mother says he was playing in front of the house with his friends when the missile exploded.

"Where can they play when they don't have anywhere else to go? My children wake up in the middle of the night terrified and crying 'the missile! the missile! and they wet their beds," she said.

Zaher Haniya, a counsellor at one of Gaza's day camps, which are for the most part run by Hamas or leader Yasser Arafat's main Fatah faction, said they at least help "decrease the tension created by the siege and bombings."

"It helps the children's psychology, teaches them to co-operate, improves their self-confidence and sense of belonging to a group," he said, estimating that some 60 000 Palestinian children would be attending the camps starting in July.

"But this number is not nearly enough," said Haniya, noting that more than half Gaza's 1.2 million population are children.

- AFX