80% of Gaza children suffer depression after 15 years of blockade

800,000 children in Gaza have only ever known life under blockade, affecting their mental health, says report.

Gaza City – Four out of five children in the Gaza Strip suffer from depression, sadness and fear caused by fifteen years of the Israeli blockade on the territory, “Trapped” a report published by Save the Children has found.

The report interviewed 488 children and 168 parents and caregivers in the Gaza Strip, following up on similar research that was conducted by the organisation in 2018.

The following is from the previous Court Painter post of May 19 2021.

There are one million children living in Gaza

Demographic statistics from Gaza show what medics, aid workers ,journalists and the Israeli government have long been aware of. That Gaza has an overwhelmingly young population, in fact so young that the majority of its population may well now be children.

In 2016, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics stated children constituted 49.6 of the population of the Gaza Strip, with slightly less across the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a whole. The median age being 17 years old . If we consider that Gaza has a population growth rate of 3% a year, among the highest in the world, very shortly if not already over 50% of Gaza’s population will be under 18-years-old.

Accurate statistic gathering in Gaza is understandably a difficult endeavour.

Excerpted/edited from April 17,2019 Red Pepper article :Gaza is a children’s prison There are one million children living in Gaza, trapped and under fire. By Omar Aziz

It is now May 19,2021….check out the news!

BBC NEWS: Of the 219 people who have been killed in Gaza, at least 63 are children, according to its health ministry. Of the 10 people killed in Israel, two children are among the dead, the country’s medical service says.

Artist concept of project on exterior of Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Artist concept of project on exterior of Tel Aviv Museum of Art