19 Dec, 2015
‘Palestinian children live in trauma without end’ – Al Jazeera English
Rafah, Gaza Strip – Ismail Abu Shebab, a shy 11-year-old taking a break from school, opened his mouth to speak – but the overhead roar of Israeli warplanes made his words nearly inaudible. As the aircraft came closer, Abu Shebab grew silent. “I’m ready to talk,” he said after a few moments.
Abu Shebab suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of Israeli bombing during the 2014 Gaza war. “We were on the street, and there was an explosion that destroyed a house. I was hurt, and my brother died,” Abu Shebab explained. Shortly afterwards, he began to suffer from a nervous tic, panic attacks and bed-wetting.
PTSD is nothing new for the children of Gaza. Anyone born there in or before 2008 has experienced three Israeli wars, and a 2014 study published in the Arab Journal of Psychology found that 92 percent of Gaza Palestinians between the ages of 13 and 18 showed symptoms of the disorder.
Read the rest: ‘Palestinian children live in trauma without end’ – Al Jazeera English
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