Dr Iman Farajallah, a clinical psychologist born and raised in Gaza, highlights the impact of the prolonged Israeli assault on women’s health. “The ongoing Israeli war has exacerbated women’s plight, denying them access to essential menstrual hygiene products, plunging them into physical discomfort and heightened health risks, particularly for those residing in makeshift shelters like tents and schoolrooms,” Dr Farajallah tells TRT World.

Farajallah, born and raised in Gaza before moving to California two decades ago, knows first-hand what it is like to live under the “Israeli occupation”. “That’s why I became a psychologist – to help others living with trauma,” she said. In a research paper, Farajallah published last year on the impact of war on Palestinian children, she found that children who survive wars do not emerge unscathed and can pay a high price psychologically, emotionally, or behaviourally. Her research found that 95 percent of children from the Gaza Strip showed symptoms of anxiety, depression and trauma. “They watch their family members, neighbours, and friends being killed, this causes anger and frustration in them, they tend to be more aggressive and suffer from depression, anxiety, and continuous traumatic stress disorder,” she said.

Children’s mental well-being is being pushed beyond the breaking point as experts warn of huge consequences. The Gaza Strip is the “most dangerous place” in the world to be a child, according to UNICEF. More than 70 percent of those who’ve been killed by Israel’s offensive since October 7 are women and children. It’s not just the physical injuries and death that those children are experiencing. What happens to the children who survive? To those who’ve lost their entire families and are forced to live with the lasting scars of war? What does the future hold for them?

Around 9,000 Palestinian children have

been injured in Israel’s attacks on Gaza,

with many suffering life-changing consequences.

https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/1726606169073242591

Even before the current war, food entering Gaza was mainly canned goods and processed foods like “tinned cheese, potato chips and instant noodles – ultraprocessed foods that are known to cause health issues”, Iman Farajallah, a Palestinian psychotherapist based in California, told Al Jazeera.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/23/how-israeli-bombing-turned-gazas-desperate-situation-into-a-catastrophe

For Palestinians Who Just Left Gaza, Witnessing the War From Afar Evokes Helplessness and Grief

According to Farajallah, Palestinians from Gaza are more likely to experience mental illness living under conditions of conflict, siege, and occupation since Israel implemented the blockade 16 years ago. After an Israeli military attack on Gaza in 2021, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported that 9 out of 10 children suffered from conflict-related trauma. According to findings from Save the Children, in 2022, 4 out of 5 children in the Gaza Strip reported feeling depression, fear, and grief.

https://theintercept.com/2023/12/09/palestinian-diaspora-gaza-trauma/