humanitarian news and analysis
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
RAMALLAH, 15 January 2009 (IRIN) - Palestinians in Gaza, who are becoming increasingly traumatised as Israel’s bombardment of the tiny coastal enclave continues, are reaching out for psycho-social support via toll-free crisis-lines run by NGOs and aid agencies.
Residents have been trapped in their homes since the Israeli offensive began on 27 December 2008, without electricity and running water, while sanitation systems have collapsed. Some 56 percent of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents are children.
The telephone network - both land lines and the mobile phone network - has been severely damaged but it is still possible, for example, to dial 121 from a Jawal (Palestinian mobile phone company) phone and access the hotlines. Communications tend to improve at night when the number of calls increases.
One of the most popular crisis-lines is run by Sawa, meaning “together”, a Palestinian NGO in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
“We are receiving 200-250 calls per day,” its director, Jalal Khadar, told IRIN. His staff of 14 are working 24 hours a day to field the calls, which are treated confidentially.
Sami (not his real name), a 13-year-old from Rafah, called for support after he witnessed his three friends die in an aerial bombing near his home.
“I was playing with my friends when the plane attacked - they were cut to pieces,” Sami told the social worker fielding his call, according to a transcript Sawa retained from the call. “It would have been better to have died with them,” he said.
Social worker Abed Rahhal, 28, told IRIN: “We do our best to listen. About 70 percent of the callers are children and most children tell me they are afraid to die.”
“There is nowhere safe”
Rahhal also fielded a call from Hanan (not her real name), another 13-year-old from Rafah, after the house adjacent to hers was bombed, shattering the windows and doors of her home.
''I was playing with my friends when the plane attacked - they were cut to pieces. It would have been better to have died with them.''
Ten family members are staying in her grandfather’s home, she said, after Hanan’s family was forced to evacuate their home in Gaza City due to the shelling and bombing.
“We are dying - there is nowhere safe,” said Hanan over the phone. “We are so frightened.” IRIN was able to listen to Hanan’s call.
“I instruct the callers to take shelter in stairwells, or at least to stand together against the walls,” said Rahhal.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in partnership with the Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution in Gaza, is operating a 24-hour help-line offering support to residents. “Most parents report panic and fear amongst their children,” UNICEF spokesperson Monica Awad, based in Jerusalem, told IRIN.
World Health Organization (WHO) mental health officer Ragiah Abu-Sway, based in Jerusalem, told IRIN by phone: “The circling drones make people agitated and nervous. For sure this is psychological warfare.”
[ENDS]
Report can be found online at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82377
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Gaza children increasingly traumatised according to experts
RAMALLAH (WEST BANK), 13 January 2009 (IRIN) - As the Israeli aerial and ground bombardment continues in Gaza, the number of trauma cases is growing, say specialists.
“The whole community is vulnerable to the intensity of the attacks and the loss of family members that will not only cause post-traumatic stress disorder, but other mood and anxiety disorders as well,” World Health Organization (WHO) mental health officer Ragiah Abu-Sway, based in Jerusalem, told IRIN by phone.
“The reality is that this current violence is already compounding high levels of trauma in children in Gaza,” said World Vision UK’s head of emergency affairs, Ian Gray. “There’s the initial impact on children, which we’re already seeing - frequent bed-wetting, nightmares, and a heartbreaking loss of hope - but there’s also the long-term trauma that will devastate for years to come.”
Specialists say the sound of bomb explosions could cause pregnant women to miscarry or have premature or still births. However, bombs are not the only source of trauma: “The leaflets and phone calls [from the Israeli military calling on residents to evacuate their homes] are also traumatising,” said Abu-Sway.
According to the Gaza health ministry, as of 12 January 910 Palestinians have been killed, including 85 women and 292 children. Some 4,250 people have been injured, including 1,497 children and 626 women.
“People are vulnerable, frightened and defenceless,” psychiatrist Eyad Al-Sarraj, director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme which operates three mental health clinics in Gaza, told IRIN by phone. “People are in a state of heightened anxiety, on constant alert due to the bombing.”
Trapped
Residents have been trapped in their homes since the Israeli offensive began on 27 December 2008, without electricity and running water, while sanitation systems have collapsed.
“Children are scared, cold - particularly at night - and trapped,” UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson Merixie Mercato, based in Jerusalem, told IRIN. “It’s going to take time and a great deal of support for them to recover.”
Since the ground invasion began on 3 January, 85 percent of the mobile phone network is down and a huge number of fixed lines are damaged or lack electricity, reported OCHA. This further isolates the population and causes them heightened anxiety, say specialists.
As of 12 January, 28,116 residents had fled to 36 UNRWA (UN agency for Palestinian refugees) shelters, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which says tens of thousands have sought refuge in other locations.
However, there are few safe places to flee to: As Hamas runs the civil police, schools and hospitals it is difficult for civilians to find an area without a Hamas institution, say local residents.
Dwindling food, water supplies
Dwindling food and drinking water supplies are causing widespread panic, according to residents.
Hashem (who did not want to give his last name), a 24-year-old pharmacist from Gaza City, feels isolated without electricity, depending on his friends in the West Bank to relay the latest news via telephone.
“I can hear the bombing from inside my house in Tal Al-Hawa. Every window in our home has been shattered,” Hashem told IRIN by phone. “People are hysterical, suffering from terrible anxiety - there is no safe place in Gaza, even at home.”
Three of the five community mental health centres run by the health ministry are operating in Gaza for a limited duration during the mornings. One centre was damaged by the bombing and another, surrounded by Israeli forces, cannot be accessed, said WHO’s Abu-Sway. UNRWA is offering psycho-social counselling at its emergency shelters, he said.
UNICEF, in partnership with the Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution in Gaza, is operating a 24-hour toll-free help-line offering support to Gaza residents. “Most parents report panic and fear amongst their children,” UNICEF spokesperson Monica Awad, based in Jerusalem, told IRIN.
[ENDS]
Report can be found online at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82335
“The whole community is vulnerable to the intensity of the attacks and the loss of family members that will not only cause post-traumatic stress disorder, but other mood and anxiety disorders as well,” World Health Organization (WHO) mental health officer Ragiah Abu-Sway, based in Jerusalem, told IRIN by phone.
“The reality is that this current violence is already compounding high levels of trauma in children in Gaza,” said World Vision UK’s head of emergency affairs, Ian Gray. “There’s the initial impact on children, which we’re already seeing - frequent bed-wetting, nightmares, and a heartbreaking loss of hope - but there’s also the long-term trauma that will devastate for years to come.”
Specialists say the sound of bomb explosions could cause pregnant women to miscarry or have premature or still births. However, bombs are not the only source of trauma: “The leaflets and phone calls [from the Israeli military calling on residents to evacuate their homes] are also traumatising,” said Abu-Sway.
According to the Gaza health ministry, as of 12 January 910 Palestinians have been killed, including 85 women and 292 children. Some 4,250 people have been injured, including 1,497 children and 626 women.
“People are vulnerable, frightened and defenceless,” psychiatrist Eyad Al-Sarraj, director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme which operates three mental health clinics in Gaza, told IRIN by phone. “People are in a state of heightened anxiety, on constant alert due to the bombing.”
Trapped
Residents have been trapped in their homes since the Israeli offensive began on 27 December 2008, without electricity and running water, while sanitation systems have collapsed.
“Children are scared, cold - particularly at night - and trapped,” UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson Merixie Mercato, based in Jerusalem, told IRIN. “It’s going to take time and a great deal of support for them to recover.”
Since the ground invasion began on 3 January, 85 percent of the mobile phone network is down and a huge number of fixed lines are damaged or lack electricity, reported OCHA. This further isolates the population and causes them heightened anxiety, say specialists.
As of 12 January, 28,116 residents had fled to 36 UNRWA (UN agency for Palestinian refugees) shelters, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which says tens of thousands have sought refuge in other locations.
However, there are few safe places to flee to: As Hamas runs the civil police, schools and hospitals it is difficult for civilians to find an area without a Hamas institution, say local residents.
Dwindling food, water supplies
Dwindling food and drinking water supplies are causing widespread panic, according to residents.
Hashem (who did not want to give his last name), a 24-year-old pharmacist from Gaza City, feels isolated without electricity, depending on his friends in the West Bank to relay the latest news via telephone.
“I can hear the bombing from inside my house in Tal Al-Hawa. Every window in our home has been shattered,” Hashem told IRIN by phone. “People are hysterical, suffering from terrible anxiety - there is no safe place in Gaza, even at home.”
Three of the five community mental health centres run by the health ministry are operating in Gaza for a limited duration during the mornings. One centre was damaged by the bombing and another, surrounded by Israeli forces, cannot be accessed, said WHO’s Abu-Sway. UNRWA is offering psycho-social counselling at its emergency shelters, he said.
UNICEF, in partnership with the Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution in Gaza, is operating a 24-hour toll-free help-line offering support to Gaza residents. “Most parents report panic and fear amongst their children,” UNICEF spokesperson Monica Awad, based in Jerusalem, told IRIN.
[ENDS]
Report can be found online at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82335
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