Exposure to violent conflict can produce fear, horror, and lifelong trauma in young children. As the Israel-Hamas war intensifies, the conflict is taking a horrendous toll on children from both regions. Several heartwrenching visuals of children crying, running through the streets, and cowering in bomb shelters after airstrikes have surfaced online. Now, another heartbreaking image of a scared little girl hiding in a storage unit after surviving the Hamas attack has gone viral.
The official X handle of Israel shared the girl's picture and stated that she can only fall asleep by hiding in a storage unit for linen. The girl is so traumatized that she can no longer sleep in her own bed.
''This little eight-year-old girl can only fall asleep by hiding in a storage unit for linen. That's how she and her younger brother survived for hours during the Hamas massacre when terrorists went door to door in Kibbutz Alumim murdering entire Israeli families. Since then she no longer sleeps in her bed,'' the post read.
See the post here:
Meamwhile, Gaza's children are also showing signs of trauma two weeks into Israel's intense bombardment, with no safe place to hide from the falling bombs and little prospect of respite. Children make up about half of Gaza's 2.3 million population, living under near-constant bombardment with many packed into temporary shelters in UN-run schools after fleeing their homes with little food or clean water.
"Children ... have started to develop serious trauma symptoms such as convulsions, bed-wetting, fear, aggressive behaviour, nervousness, and not leaving their parents' sides," said Gaza psychiatrist Fadel Abu Heen.
Reacting to the image, one user wrote, ''No one deserves to go through all this.'' Another commented, ''My heart is broken.'' A third said, ''Traumatic for such Little innocent kids. hope she recovers from this soon. Stay Strong .''
A fourth added, ''The constant fighting and violence have caused immense pain and suffering for both sides. It is a never-ending cycle of destruction and loss, leaving behind a trail of broken families and destroyed homes.''
Health authorities in Gaza said at least 4,600 people were killed in Israel's two-week bombardment that began after a Hamas Oct. 7 rampage on southern Israeli communities in which 1,400 people were killed and 212 were taken into Gaza as hostages.
