Fear, trauma return to children in Gaza as fighting resumes

James Elder, UNICEF’s global spokesperson, says children have returned to a state of fear and trauma as Israeli air attacks resume across the enclave.

“You can see the gentle change; a little childhood was returning in them” during the truce, said Elder from southern Gaza. 

“That has gone now. The trauma, the fear in their little eyes as they see a look in their parents that they may be losing their ability to protect them – and that’s terrifying.

“You see people shudder, particularly children. You just see that reflex action that has now become a learned behaviour of fear seeping in,” he added.

More than 6,150 children have been killed in the besieged Strip since the start of the war, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.