Four out of five young people in the Gaza Strip suffer from emotional disorders including depression, the NGO Save the Children warned on Wednesday June 15, reporting a deterioration in mental health in the Palestinian enclave, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Israeli blockade.
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In a study titled 'Trapped', Save the Children says that
'the mental well-being of children, young people and carers has deteriorated significantly since a similar report in 2018, with the number of children reporting emotions having increased from 55% to 80%”
.
The British NGO notes symptoms of depression, anxiety, fear and suicidal thoughts in this report, which is based on surveys of 488 young people - aged 12 to 17 - and 160 parents, and published at on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Israeli blockade.
The blockade was established in June 2007 in response to the seizure of power in the enclave by the Islamist movement Hamas, an enemy of the Jewish state.
Since that date, Israel and Hamas have waged four wars (2008-2009, 2012, 2014, 2021) in the micro-territory undermined by poverty and unemployment.
Save the Children deplores the lack of prospects for change for the 2.3 million inhabitants, 47% of whom are minors.
Of these, 800,000 have only known life under blockade.
"The children (...) explained living in a permanent state of fear, worry, sadness and suffering, waiting for the next cycle of violence
," said Jason Lee, head of the NGO in the Palestinian Territories.
and should alert the international community, he continued.
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For the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), the blockade
"has devastated the economy of Gaza, contributed to the fragmentation of the Palestinian people, and contributes to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and the persecution of Israeli authorities against millions of Palestinians.”
"Young people are paying the price because they have never known Gaza before the blockade, their horizons are in fact limited to a strip of land 40 km by 11 and this limits their chances of interacting with the world and their future opportunities,”
Omar Shakir, HRW director for Israel and the Palestinian Territories, told AFP.
Gaza has become an
"open air prison"
, denounced Omar Shakir, also blaming Egypt for restricting Gazans' access to its territory.