The problems created by war in Gaza are not only a matter of poverty for the children. It has another, greater importance: the devastating psychological effect of war on minors.
Ola is two years old, she can't stop repeating, while crying "Where is Ola?"
Peacefully taking tea in their tents, suddenly we hear searing cries of panic and fear. A plane was flying overhead, a civil one, but for the children of war, a plane, of whatever type, has another meaning.
Neighbor, Abu Ali, tells us: " It's the same for all the noises that resemble shots and explosions. They provoke hysteria among our children".
"Our children play war by day and dream war at night," explains another neigbour.
A group of children play on the street. One boy who looks around seven years-old catches our eye. He's much more violent than the others. On two occasions he interrupts the game by the withdrawing. He always wants to hit his playmates.
His mother explains:
"I used to live in Bait lahia. At the time of the war, I took refuge with my four children in my neighbors house. When the Israeli soldiers burst into the house , I hid Omar, 7, and Ahmad, 4, behind the refrigerator in the kitchen. My daughter and I hid behind the house. When I went back, my sons where practically terrified. Later, Omar told me that he had seen them kill our neighbor. The children had seen everything. Their blood had frozen with fear. I took them regularly to be treated in hospital, they received treatment for shock but they are still in need of care".
Amar is three, both hands bandaged. His mother explains:
"During the last war, I was alone with my two children in the house. My husband was at the front one morning, while they were sleeping. I went to try and find water, then the planes came. I left everything and ran to the house. It was on fire. I rushed inside, they had passed out, clasping each other against the wall. I got them out and took them to Al shifa hospital. Marwa, my daughter is still being treated for the smoke which she inhaled. As for Amar, look at his hands!". She lifts off the bandages, the fingers are stuck together, some to the palm.
"And me, as you see, I am handicapped. I can only look after them with difficulty", she said. Amany has lost an arm and an eye. Her face is disfigured. "My wounds don't date from the last war", she said.
All the Palestinian children have and still suffer from the war. Even if all of them haven't had their hands burnt, their lungs smoked out or their blood frozen. Even if all weren't present at a murder. They have neither home, nor homeland - a child needs security and stability. The Palestinian children were born in exile. And war chases them from exile to exile. There remains only the memory that cannot be destroyed: the orange trees, the olive trees, the coast, the port of Gaza.
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