Gaza — hell on planet earth

While switching through channels on television, I came across scene in which floor awash with blood was being mopped.

While switching through channels on television, I came across a scene in which a floor awash with blood was being mopped. No, it was not related to Eidul Azha or a slaughterhouse, but was sadly a scene of a mortuary in Gaza. The workers at the mortuary had already stored bodies as much as they could and had to clean up the place before more bodies would arrive.

Despite the many Palestinians killed and injured, the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu seems to be very calm as he passes this statement: “We’re sorry for any accidental civilian deaths but it’s the Hamas that bears complete responsibility for such civilian casualties”. Mr Prime Minister, are these really ‘accidental civilian deaths’ and is the word ‘sorry’ enough to get the Palestinians out of the hell that Israel has thrown them in since weeks?

The loss can in no way be covered. What becomes of the children who are spending their days and nights listening to the sound of their city getting bombarded? Will they ever be able to forget the sight of human blood splashing around and losing their loved ones? And how about those children that are watching the Israeli military take away their parents? A TV channel showed a footage in which soldiers of the Israeli army grabbed a mother and were forcing her to get into the van. Her two little girls were screaming and doing all that they could to stop them from taking their mother away. They ran after the military van to get the mother back but failed.

In 2012, Unicef conducted a psychosocial assessment on the impact that the violence had on the children in Gaza. According to the results, children reported physical symptoms like clinging to their parents, sleeping with them, increased sleeping disturbances, changes in appetite, looking stunned and dazed, increase in crying episodes, feeling ill and also increase in nail biting. The children also developed fears of loud sounds, death, being alone, injuries and were scared of leaving their house. Today, doctors in Palestine are confirming that these symptoms are being noticed yet again and have also said that Palestinian children in Gaza suffer from extreme stress as a result of the violence, and often need a lot of support to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder. During any war, it is not only important to understand the current circumstances but also to be prepared for the aftermath which is usually never in the comfort zone.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2014.