Gaza’s Children Face an Unprecedented Mental Health Crisis, Psychologist Warns
A Palestinian psychologist has issued a harrowing warning about Gaza’s children. Nisreen Qawas, who works with the Palestine Red Crescent Society, says an entire generation is being psychologically injured. She argues this is not just a humanitarian catastrophe but a mental health crisis.
Qawas has spent her career helping children in the occupied West Bank. She understood trauma. She had the tools. Then, in January 2024, she received a phone call from Gaza that changed everything.
Five-year-old Hind Rajab was trapped in a car. The bodies of her six relatives surrounded her. Israeli tanks were closing in. Gunfire crackled in the background. She was whispering so no one would hear.
“I’m scared. They’re shooting at us. Please come get me,” she repeated.
The Impossible Task of Comforting a Dying Child
For hours, Qawas tried to keep Hind alive through words. An ambulance was minutes away but lacked clearance to enter. Time slowed to something unbearable in the operations room in Ramallah.
How do you keep a child hopeful when she is alone among dead family members? How do you make her feel safe when tanks surround her? Qawas kept reminding her to breathe, to stay awake, to keep talking.
One thought repeated in the psychologist’s mind: She is 5. Just 5 years old. Barely old enough to tie her shoes. Yet she was alone, asking strangers to save her.
Near the end, Hind’s voice grew faint. She was bleeding from her mouth, tummy, and legs. Qawas told her to use her blouse to wipe the blood. Hind’s response will haunt her forever.
“I don’t want to. My mother will get tired from washing my clothes.”
Even then—terrified, wounded, and alone—she was thinking about her mother. Those were the last words Qawas heard.
Hind was killed that day. Two Red Crescent colleagues also died when their ambulance was struck while waiting for clearance. They were just minutes away.
A Crisis That Defines a Generation
Hind’s story is not an exception. It is one of tens of thousands. Since October 2023, at least 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza. This is almost certainly an undercount, as many remain buried under rubble.
The survivors face impossible conditions. More than 1.2 million children need immediate psychological support. Nearly 100 percent require mental health intervention—unprecedented in humanitarian history.
Children have experienced repeated forced displacements. They face famine and preventable diseases. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have been destroyed. More than 39,000 children have lost one or both parents.
“Healing is impossible when the threat never stops,” Qawas writes. “Trauma doesn’t fade under these unbearable conditions; it accumulates. The consequences could be irreversible.”
What Must Be Done
Immediate action is imperative on multiple fronts. A real, permanent ceasefire is the essential first step. Without it, no therapy can compete with ongoing violence.
But a ceasefire alone is not enough. Healthcare and education systems must be rapidly restored. Psychosocial and mental health support cannot be an afterthought. It must be central from the very beginning.
The consequences of inaction extend beyond individual suffering. Unaddressed trauma calcifies into chronic conditions. It passes to future generations. The psychological injury of an entire generation will shape Palestine’s future for decades.
Hind’s last words will haunt Qawas forever. “The world failed her,” she writes. “It has failed the children of Palestine. But there’s still time to save the ones who remain.”
Through a new film, “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” her story will travel across borders. It carries the truth of what children endure day after day. It is not just another story. It is a call we must answer.
