The war in Gaza has already over 31,000 Palestinian lives. Children make up more than 13,000 of the dead. Almost 74,000 people have been injured, including thousands of children. 

Beyond the death and the physical injuries, the war is also taking an undeterminably high toll on the mental health of all inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. 

Alaa is a young teenager from the Zaytoun neighborhood in the Gaza Strip.  She and her family, along with most of the population in Gaza, have been displaced to Rafah, all searching for safety from Israeli bombardments. Rafah is now overrun with internally displaced people (IDPs) seeking shelter.  Home to only 300,000 people before the start of the war, it now hosts some 1.5 million Palestinians.

Alaa’s story of displacement, fear, and sadness is shared by hundreds of thousands of other children.

Background on Settler Violence in the West Bank

History books may not write about Talaat, a Palestine Refugee born in the middle of the war on Gaza. But the story of his birth is certainly worth telling.  story of how his mother, Umm Talaat, was unable to find clothing to cover his tender, newborn skin. Having survived such a traumatic delivery, Umm Talaat recounts the tale of her son’s birth amid the violence and displacement in Gaza.

The story of physiotherapist Abdul Rahman

Three months into the war in Gaza, as violence raged around him, Abdul Rahman left his family in search of food. The father of two children - whose youngest was just a few months old - never returned. Without a chance to say goodbye, Abdul Rahman was killed. Poignantly, the former UNRWA student was laid to rest at the UNRWA Abu Helo School in Al-Bureij camp.

In yet another strike on a UN installation in the Gaza Strip, this time on the UNRWA Nuseirat Boys' Preparatory School, a bombardment by Israeli forces early on 6 June killed at least 35 people  and injured dozens more.

The UNRWA school-turned-shelter at Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip, housed some 6,000 internally displaced people. Many hailed from Al-Bureij and Al-Maghazi refugee camps, which they were forced to flee because of the war.

On 7 March, Issam was killed in his family home in the al-Hakar neighbourhood of Deir al-Balah, Gaza.  Tragically, Issam’s son also died, while his wife and four other children were severely injured. Issam’s father, brother and sister also lived with him – and his father, sister, and his brother's entire family were likewise killed.