The Palestine-Global Mental Health Network, along with its international consortium of international Palestine Mental Health Networks, is launching an urgent campaign demanding that Israel be held accountable to the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prioritizes the inherent right to life and ensures the best interests of all children.
UNICEF reports that the war on Lebanon continues to wreak havoc on the lives of children, causing serious physical injuries and lasting psychological trauma. According to data from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, since October 2023, 166 children have lost their lives and at least 1,168 have suffered injuries. The numbers of those affected increase daily.
Since the 4th of October this year, the violence has claimed the life of at least one child and caused injuries to 10 more every day. Although many children have physically survived the prolonged bombings, they are experiencing severe psychological distress due to the surrounding turmoil. Numerous children in Lebanon are showing concerning symptoms of emotional, behavioral, and physical distress. UNICEF workers report encountering children overwhelmed by fear and suffering from increased anxiety, including fears of separation and loss, withdrawal, aggression, and difficulties in concentration. Many are experiencing disrupted sleep, nightmares, headaches, and a decreased appetite. Without the protective and stable environment of schools, these children lack the necessary spaces to play, learn, and begin healing.
Save the Children International, in its October 2024 report, has observed that one year of Israeli bombardment has shattered childhoods in Gaza. The occupied Palestinian territory, specifically Gaza, is the deadliest place on earth to be a child. Every day, children face violence, fear, loss, displacement, hunger and devastation.
Israel is killing Palestinian children with US-funded bombs and bullets at an unprecedented rate. They are dying because of forced hunger and disease. They have lost homes, loved ones, and the safety to which they have a right. Those who survive live a life that no child should have to. The longer the war continues, the harder it’ll be to piece their lives back together.
In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Palestinian children face escalating violence and displacement due to Israeli attacks and brutal Israeli settler violence. Since October 2023, Israel has killed three times as many Palestinian children compared to the year before. A Palestinian child is being killed by Israel every two days on average.
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