according to Unicef, one million children need psychosocial support in Gaza

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that more than one million children need urgent psychosocial support in the Gaza Strip, a figure that represents almost the entire Gazan child population and double the number before the start of the offensive. when some 500,000 needed this assistance.

“The mental health of Palestinian children is severely affected with symptoms such as extreme levels of persistent anxiety, loss of appetite, sleeping problems, emotional outbursts or panic attacks every time they hear a bombing,” the UNICEF representative in Palestine, Jonathan Crickx.

Since the beginning of the conflict, UNICEF claims to have provided psychosocial and mental health support to more than 40,000 children, while before the war this figure managed to reach nearly 100,000 minors.

Crickx, who was in Gaza last week and saw the situation of the minors on the ground, warned that the current humanitarian and security conditions prevent continuing to provide this aid and assured that the “only way” to ensure this assistance is with a “durable” ceasefire.

“Behind each of these statistics, there is a child who faces a new and horrible reality,” revealed the representative, who assured that the situation is “much worse” for those minors who have lost one or both parents, since that many family members are not being able to take care of them due to the lack of food, water or shelter.

At least 17,000 unaccompanied minors from Gaza

According to the official source, at least 17,000 minors in Gaza are currently unaccompanied (without their parents or family and without the care of any adult) or separated from their parents (not necessarily from other relatives).

The United Nations agency estimates that this figure represents 1% of the displaced population, which reaches 1.7 million people.

Given this situation, the representative recalled that it is essential to offer these minors not only psychosocial support, but also an identification and tracking service that allows them to locate their families, as well as keep them connected with them so that they can be reunited once the situation improves. With EFE

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