Challenges of Human Dimensions and Psychological Effects of Genocide

More than two years into the genocide war in the Gaza Strip, it has become clear that the catastrophe has transcended material and human losses to the risks of destroying individuals and society. While estimates indicate that the genocide victims have reached around a quarter of a million Palestinians, including martyrs, injured, and missing persons, and that over 90% of homes and infrastructure have been destroyed, these figures only reflect one aspect of a deeper tragedy, where fear, shock, and despair have become part of daily life. The retaliatory nature of this genocide, which aimed to break the national spirit and fragment Palestinian society, reflects a systematic strategy to destroy the future of both individual and community, relying on drowning Palestinians in an endless series of dilemmas, preventing them from overcoming them, so that what the Tel Aviv government calls "voluntary migration" remains intact, despite its failure to achieve it so far.

The Threatened Generation of Children

Field studies indicate that more than 80% of children suffer from severe psychological disorders, including recurrent nightmares, withdrawal, and aggressive behavior. Children feel that death is imminent, and they suffer from a loss of the ability to play normally and learn. These early traumas threaten children's cognitive and social development and indicate the possibility of entire generations continuing to face long-term psychological and social repercussions.

Collapse of Social Fabric

The genocide has been accompanied by the destruction of traditional social structures. Frequent displacement, loss of homes and livelihoods, have led to the disintegration of families and local communities. Rates of domestic violence have risen, homelessness has spread, and the sense of trust in official, public, and civil institutions has diminished, causing the community to live in mutual isolation, with each individual facing daily survival risks alone. This collective fracture threatens the continuity of the social fabric and exacerbates the feeling of helplessness and betrayal among the Palestinians in the sector.

Collapse of Mental Health System

Psychological centers and hospitals have been severely damaged, and the lack of staff and resources makes it nearly impossible to provide regular mental health care. Even health workers suffer from what is known as "burnout" and continuous trauma, which limits their ability to provide essential support to survivors. This crisis makes the community less capable of addressing long-term psychological and social traumas.

Trauma Beyond the Sector

The effects of the genocide war are not limited to the Gaza Strip alone but extend to Palestinians in the West Bank, inside, and refugee camps. The feeling of helplessness, betrayal, and guilt generates additional psychological wounds and leads to a decline in national trust among different communities. Gaza becomes a shocking mirror reflecting the limits of the ability to protect one's brothers, increasing the fragility of the collective national identity and making the reconstruction of social solidarity more difficult.

Long-Term Danger

In the absence of coordinated and effective intervention, the effects of the war will persist for decades: declining community productivity, the spread of chronic psychological disorders, deteriorating learning capabilities, and increasing addiction rates. Continuous trauma threatens the ability to rebuild and sustain the community, fueling political and social cycles of revenge, making any future outlook fragile and uncertain.

What to Do?

Despite limited resources, some programs have succeeded in alleviating psychological effects, such as group support sessions within displacement camps and shelters, but what is now required calls for a radical shift from first aid to psychological and social reconstruction as an urgent essential component of any reconstruction plan. This cannot wait for reconstruction conferences; it requires immediate commencement of serious work for the continuity of health and psychological care, providing support programs for children in schools and shelters to restore hope and the ability to learn, preserving the spirit of childhood.

There is also a need to provide psychological and professional support to health workers and to restore social protection networks and cultural initiatives to regain the sense of dignity and national belonging. Additionally, it is essential to enhance social, cultural, and educational communication initiatives among all Palestinian communities to break the feeling of isolation and revive the spirit of solidarity.

International Complicity and Inaction

The tragedy of Gaza cannot be separated from the international complicity that has allowed the genocide to continue without accountability. International inaction, or direct or indirect support, deepens the psychological and social crisis. In return, the international community bears a legal and moral responsibility to compel the occupying government to cease aggressive operations, ensure humanitarian aid reaches those in need, protect civilians, and support psychological and social rehabilitation programs.

Activating this responsibility is a prerequisite for starting to heal the wounds of the Palestinians and restoring their trust in international justice, especially since Israel has turned its back entirely, with the support of Washington and some Western capitals, on all international court decisions, which has demonstrated the overall failure of the international system.

National Consensus as a Condition for Resilience

Reconstruction of the sector and creating an environment capable of addressing the psychological and social repercussions in Gaza cannot succeed without a national consensus that rebuilds the entire social contract, ensuring the protection of civil peace and the social fabric, and restoring trust among Palestinians inside and outside. Without this consensus, and amid the Tel Aviv government's commitment to the fragmentation of Palestinian society and isolating the sector from its national context, withholding dignified shelter and obstructing reconstruction, efforts for psychological and social support will remain limited in impact, and the effects of genocide on national identity and the community's ability to withstand will persist.

The path to revive hope for our people in the sector and beyond requires a mobilization that embraces not only the energies of the entire Palestinian people but also effective integration with popular solidarity movements in various countries around the world, to address the effects generated by the feeling of betrayal and to reinforce the conviction that the great sacrifices made by our people in the sector will not be in vain, and that it is unacceptable to squander them in secondary factional conflicts that hinder accountability and champion the victims.

These priorities necessitate the parties dominating the scene to heed the popular will and the voice of the victims, and to immediately begin building national institutions, foremost among them a transitional national consensus government, in preparation for holding elections within an agreed timeline.

This step is sufficient to restore the status of citizenship to the core of the social contract and national goals, and it is essential for involving citizens in building their future that starts with rebuilding the individual, ensuring community unity, and preserving the values of solidarity and dignity.

For the Palestinian human being, with his spirit and steadfastness, is the true cornerstone of any viable future, and any plan that does not safeguard human dignity will be incomplete and the wounds of Gaza will remain open before the global conscience.