The Trauma of Childhood in Gaza
For Rahma, who recounted these details in an interview alongside her mother, Heba, the answers are often less soothing than tragic. She hasn't eaten meat in months, her parents said. Her home in southern Gaza has been flattened, satellite imagery shows. Her clothes are mostly under the rubble. The beach, where her parents occasionally took her as a treat before the war, has become her full-time home.
Rahma now lives in a storehouse for fishing equipment with her parents and four siblings, who share the space with several displaced families. She usually eats one meal a day, often lentils or pasta, her parents said. Trying to remember what good food looked like, Rahma plays with the wet sand, shaping it into imaginary meals.
'If someone gave me a choice between crayons and bread,' Rahma said, 'I would choose the bread.'
After 22 months of war, childhood in Gaza hardly exists.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Palestinians gather at charity kitchen in Gaza City amid ongoing food shortages
Scores of men, women and children gathered Saturday at a charity kitchen in Gaza City to get some cooked rice for their families amid severe shortages of food as the Israel-Hamas war drags on.
Wall Street Journal
2 hours ago
- Wall Street Journal
Gaza's Other Crisis—Not Enough Clean Drinking Water
In Gaza, the problem isn't just the daily struggle to find food. It is also finding enough clean water to drink. Most of the enclave's water facilities have been damaged or destroyed in nearly two years of war. Residents trek long distances and queue for hours to fill up jerrycans with groundwater from wells for washing and with desalinated water distributed by water trucks for drinking. Families ration how much water they drink and sometimes drink the groundwater, even though it is often contaminated by seawater or sewage.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
The special meaning behind more than 100 kites in Bradford park this weekend
THE sight of more than 100 kites moving through a Bradford park is hoped to send an important reminder to the world. The names of Palestinian children killed in Gaza will be read aloud as the white kites are held high in Lister Park. The memorial vigil will be held at the bandstand from 2pm on Sunday, August 17. The vigil will begin with the reading of a poem 'If I must Die' by Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, which has been the inspiration behind the event. The procession will then continue through the park with a public reading of names of some children killed through Israel's attacks. The white kites have been created by communities across Bradford. Cutting fabric for the kites (Image: Cecil Green Arts) After starting just a few months ago, the project has brought people together through a series of workshops in churches, madrassas, and other gathering spaces. The project has been supported by Cecil Green Arts, a local arts and theatre company based St Philips Church. Cecil Green Arts is behind other projects such as the annual lantern parade, puppetry events, and much more. The base for the kites (Image: Cecil Green Arts) It is hoped these white kites will stand as symbols of remembrance, hope and solidarity. Wahida Shaffi, one of the event organisers, said: 'Every kite we make is for a child who should still be alive… each kite we raise to the sky is a way of bearing witness, remembering their names and calling for an urgent end to the genocide.' It comes after UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell spoke about the humanitarian situation for children in Gaza at the UN Security Council meeting. The kites (Image: Cecil Green Arts) Speaking on July 16, 2025, in New York, the director said: 'Children are not political actors. They do not start conflicts, and they are powerless to stop them. But they suffer greatly, and they wonder why the world has failed them. 'And make no mistake, we have failed them. "Over the past 21 months of war, more than 17,000 children have reportedly been killed and 33,000 injured in Gaza. An average of 28 children have been killed each day – the equivalent of an entire classroom. Consider that for a moment. A whole classroom of children killed, every day for nearly two years. "These children are not combatants. They are being killed and maimed as they line up for lifesaving food and medicine." She later added: 'Children who survive the war in Gaza will be forever affected by the deprivation and exposure to traumatic events they have experienced. Even before the war began, half of Gaza's child population needed mental health and psychological support. Today, all of Gaza's children need these services.'
